MILESTONE.

[callistahogan]

I REACHED 30K!

I seriously didn't think I would reach it today, but I did. This is partly due to my ingenious strategy of figuring out how many pages makes up approximately a thousand words (in OO, it's between two and three pages, by the way), and then not letting myself stop writing until I've filled that amount of pages. Or, you know, until I finish one page.

This is helpful because, instead of waiting to take a break after a thousand words, I wait to take a break until after a page is done. Then, while I'm taking my break, I can calculate about how many pages I need to fill before I have written a thousand words.

Rinse, repeat.

This strategy is working quite well. I hope to use it tomorrow and who knows? I wrote four thousand words in about four hours (would have taken me less than that, probably, had I not gotten sidetracked by Dancing With the Stars), so I might be able to double that tomorrow.

I hope so.

--

In other news:

This morning in English class, we were discussing Elie Wiesel's Night and somehow it turned into some sort of whole theological debate, about whether God can be paralleled to Hitler or not, whether Moishe the Beadle's words to Eliezer were saying "You are God" or something else, and all of that incredibly dense stuff that people spend lifetimes studying.

I found it interesting, but after the Hitler comment, I spoke up, and I think I made a lot of sense. Of course, I could be wrong, but I just had to say something. There are so many differences between Hitler and God, definitely, and I could write a whole post on that sometime. Oh, and a whole post on a parallel I saw, about how Voldemort pretty much parallels Hitler in ways. I might write that.

Hmm.

*goes off to think*

Comments

[wheatear.livejournal.com]

It is always just for God to do as he wishes with his creation.

Naturally. The concept of 'just' becomes meaningless when applied in this way, just as the concept of 'good' loses its meaning when anything God might do is always good.

That's a very negative view you have of children. I personally think that we are inclined towards both. Finding out would be a matter of empirical study... there's probably some psychology research somewhere which looks into this.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Naturally. The concept of 'just' becomes meaningless when applied in this way, just as the concept of 'good' loses its meaning when anything God might do is always good.

No, I didn't say that. I gave the reasons why God destroyed the earth at that time.

***

You do not need a degree in psychology to know that children are prone to do wrong things from the youngest ages onward. That's why they need to be taught things like to share, or to stop hitting someone else, or not throw tantrums when they don't get what they want. Anyone who has ever babysat a two year old can see this quality on display. The level of anger they can reach over the simplest things is scary to behold. It's because they are physically incapable of causing much harm that keeps them from doing so.

All kids are like this, regardless of what country they live in or what culture they are raised into. It's just the way we are.

[wheatear.livejournal.com]

You said that it is always just for God to do as he wishes with his creation. This implies to me that anything God does with his creation is just - which robs the concept of its meaning. Did I misunderstand you? Could you explain what you meant by that?

Regarding children - have you never seen young children being spontaneously nice to each other then? Have you never seen them display sympathy towards others? If we have no altruistic inclinations at all from a young age, then I'm baffled as to how we developed the moral system we have now in the first place.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I should have clarified - anything that is consistent with the character of God. I'm no theologian, but I think at the most basic level, God is characterized in the Bible as being both just and good. (Leaving aside the question of whether we believe that's true or not.)

***

Oh, of course children can be wonderful. (And every parent wishes they'd behave that way always!) I never fail to marvel at children. The world would be dull and colorless without them.

So I am not saying we are only completely rotten. Of course we have good qualities too. All I'm saying is that we seem to be born with a very strong bent toward wrong - even stronger than the bent toward good.

As hard as everyone tries, the world is still a mess. This is true in every culture, in every age, as far back as civlizations have existed. And since civilizations are made up of individuals, where else can we start looking at this problem but with the individual person?

There seems to be something within the human soul that causes us to screw things up royally. I know that's true in my life, and I don't know anyone who doesn't struggle with that as well.

[wheatear.livejournal.com]

God is characterized in the Bible as being both just and good. (Leaving aside the question of whether we believe that's true or not.)

But this is the question at issue. Were God's actions during the Flood just? I'll ask you now: can you explain how it was just for God to kill millions of infants during the Flood?

It is not enough to say that God is just; therefore his actions must always be just. That's what I thought you were saying before.

So I am not saying we are only completely rotten.

Well, that's nice to know. XD

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

I think I've gone as far as I can go with my limited knowledge and ability. Like I said, I am neither philosopher nor theologian. These questions have been pondered by the greatest minds in history and it's always been a difficult topic. I don't know that there is any simple answer.

But if you are interested in thinking about this more, here's a good article from someone way smarter than I could ever hope to be. There is also plenty more info. on that site, on a variety of topics.

Love of God, Judgment of God

[wheatear.livejournal.com]

Okay. Thank you for the link. :)

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. It's nice to have an online conversation with differing views that still ends up civilized and respectful.