grampster
Member
I had sort of an epiphany last night. (Couple of glasses of "Winter White" from Lelanau Farms will help in that regard).
There is a spiritual element to this, so bear with me oh ye unbelievers.
Actually, my original thoughts revolved around the natural order of things. That is to say that as humans we wander around in a world that consists of things and critters that are corporeal in and of themselves. In other words everything is an "object" and actually not harmful to anything or anybody in a state of rest. (generally) It is only when an outside influence is exerted upon an object does the possibility of benefit or harm begin to exist.
I was thinking about this in the vein of... is alcohol good or bad. I decided it was not either as long as it was not consumed. Man himself, through the choice he makes to use it causes good results (conviviality, humor, joy etc) or bad results (alcoholism, violence etc.) Alcohol at rest is neutral. Those among us that are spriritual perhaps recognize that everything in the world is a gift given by the Creator, for our use, dictated by our free will. We can use His gifts singly or in combination or to create different substances in combining them such as beer or good scotch.
It is in the end the choice exercised by the individual that causes any object to deliver good or bad results. It also occured to me that for a man to reject a gift provided by the Creator (booze is bad, therefore I will not use it) that this should be an individual choice based on a man's understanding of himself and his relationship to his concept of Creator, who gifted him the objects of the world. The man who rejects alcohol should thank his Provider for His providence and then privately pour it out on the ground and go about his life, peacefully, with no aspersions being cast upon his neighbor.
So, what has this to do with guns? Easy. A gun is merely a joining together of a number of natural worldy objects which the end result is a firearm. Men made choices to build the gun. But by itself, at rest, is as inanimate as a bottle of scotch or chocolate donut. It is when a man picks up a firearm and makes a choice about its use, is when the harm or good results, as with all objects.
Therefore any argument about guns, or anything for that matter, should always devolve down to.... it is the choice of the sentient being that picked it up as to its end use, for good or bad.
Don't blame the object, rather, educate the man.
There is a spiritual element to this, so bear with me oh ye unbelievers.
Actually, my original thoughts revolved around the natural order of things. That is to say that as humans we wander around in a world that consists of things and critters that are corporeal in and of themselves. In other words everything is an "object" and actually not harmful to anything or anybody in a state of rest. (generally) It is only when an outside influence is exerted upon an object does the possibility of benefit or harm begin to exist.
I was thinking about this in the vein of... is alcohol good or bad. I decided it was not either as long as it was not consumed. Man himself, through the choice he makes to use it causes good results (conviviality, humor, joy etc) or bad results (alcoholism, violence etc.) Alcohol at rest is neutral. Those among us that are spriritual perhaps recognize that everything in the world is a gift given by the Creator, for our use, dictated by our free will. We can use His gifts singly or in combination or to create different substances in combining them such as beer or good scotch.
It is in the end the choice exercised by the individual that causes any object to deliver good or bad results. It also occured to me that for a man to reject a gift provided by the Creator (booze is bad, therefore I will not use it) that this should be an individual choice based on a man's understanding of himself and his relationship to his concept of Creator, who gifted him the objects of the world. The man who rejects alcohol should thank his Provider for His providence and then privately pour it out on the ground and go about his life, peacefully, with no aspersions being cast upon his neighbor.
So, what has this to do with guns? Easy. A gun is merely a joining together of a number of natural worldy objects which the end result is a firearm. Men made choices to build the gun. But by itself, at rest, is as inanimate as a bottle of scotch or chocolate donut. It is when a man picks up a firearm and makes a choice about its use, is when the harm or good results, as with all objects.
Therefore any argument about guns, or anything for that matter, should always devolve down to.... it is the choice of the sentient being that picked it up as to its end use, for good or bad.
Don't blame the object, rather, educate the man.
