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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!
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To: The Philosopher who wrote (40622)6/16/1999 3:14:00 PM
From: Jacques Chitte  Read Replies (3) of 108807
 
The external authority question is a thorny one. Secular authorities derive their power by either gaining the populace's respect or their fear, thus making them authorities. In any case, there is a "reality check" possible on secular authorities.
Now an extrahuman moral authority - we run into the problem of "what authority, how delineated"? I would say that for a group of people to accept an external moral authority, there needs to be pretty good common-sense verification that we have indeed chosen the correct authority.
You spoke of having an epiphany - of having a God-contact that transformed the way you think about God. Was It kind enough to plug which one of Its books is the current fave?
It seems to me that there is a big step of faith involved in going from an epiphany to the embracing of a religion with its tradition of moral dicta. The statement needs to be made and ratified (if only within your heart) that the God and the Book are a package.

And here is where I balk. I have a tough time accepting a moral code because someone recommended it - even if that someone is intelligent, thoughtful, a nice guy and has obviously been touched by something Cool. And thus far I haven't found a mundane collateral test to distinguish (discern, in the Christian vernacular) among moral options.
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