In Reply to: Re: We might have been robots posted by anovagrrl on September 24, 2003 at 09:19:13:
It seems to me in TF these were very mixed up ideas. Berg taught us that to think of ourselves was selfishness and that if we truly loved God we'd give up everything and be a martyr for the cause. That used to really confuse me. I now realize how wrong that is. Everyone is born somewhat selfish - if we weren't somewhat selfish, no one would have anything and it would be to the detriment of all. For example, we're going to think of us and our families first, that's going to be normal. In TF, we fought that feeling and considered it wrong or not God's highest. When in actuality, God's highest was and is to look after ourselves and our family first. We're no good to anyone if we're no good to ourselves. Of course, then there is arrogance and egomaniacs - like movie stars - that's a whole other kettle of fish. This is self indulgance to the max.
I am reading an extremely interesting book titled Terror and Liberalism by Paul Berman (he's a liberal so it's not liberal bashing - I read liberal stuff too). He has a whole chapter devoted to what he calls the cult of death and irrationality and how it takes hold of entire movements. I'm drawing a lot of parrallels.
I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the nature of politics today, especially arising out of the middle east.