Comments on: Voluntary Slavery http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/voluntary-slavery Rants and musings about things political, philosophical, and religious. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:51:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Anthony E. Larson http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/voluntary-slavery#comment-56035 Anthony E. Larson Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:16:18 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/?p=690#comment-56035 If you wish to know where we stand as a whole, rather than individually, you may wish to refer to events in the book of Helaman and 3 Nephi. Our present is prefigured in their past. We are modern couterparts of the Nephites in that era. As you point out, by "likening" them to our day, we can see where we stand. If you wish to know where we stand as a whole, rather than individually, you may wish to refer to events in the book of Helaman and 3 Nephi. Our present is prefigured in their past. We are modern couterparts of the Nephites in that era. As you point out, by “likening” them to our day, we can see where we stand.

]]> By: Daniel http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/voluntary-slavery#comment-56034 Daniel Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:49:40 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/?p=690#comment-56034 Looking at it from another perspective… All my life in the Church, I was told that freedom came from 'living the commandments', which basically meant doing what other people told you to do. I was also told that if I ever 'rejected the Lord's counsel', I would become enslaved by drug addiction, sin, bad television, hemorrhoids, and so on. I have since found both these ideas to be incorrect. By embracing reason and rejecting superstition, I am now free to make good choices without being concerned about the hypothetical opinions of supernatural beings. My former belief system now seems like a kind of voluntary slavery in which I short-circuited my critical thinking capacity in the service of an (ostensibly benevolent) organisation. But since my deconversion, my life and my understanding have improved, and I'm still the good moral agent I always was. So it cuts both ways. I do think Connor's last paragraph is spot on, perhaps tragically so. Looking at it from another perspective…

All my life in the Church, I was told that freedom came from ‘living the commandments’, which basically meant doing what other people told you to do. I was also told that if I ever ‘rejected the Lord’s counsel’, I would become enslaved by drug addiction, sin, bad television, hemorrhoids, and so on.

I have since found both these ideas to be incorrect. By embracing reason and rejecting superstition, I am now free to make good choices without being concerned about the hypothetical opinions of supernatural beings. My former belief system now seems like a kind of voluntary slavery in which I short-circuited my critical thinking capacity in the service of an (ostensibly benevolent) organisation. But since my deconversion, my life and my understanding have improved, and I’m still the good moral agent I always was. So it cuts both ways.

I do think Connor’s last paragraph is spot on, perhaps tragically so.

]]> By: Connor's Wife http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/voluntary-slavery#comment-56033 Connor's Wife Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:22:52 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/?p=690#comment-56033 It's a darn good thing it's not!!! ;) It’s a darn good thing it’s not!!! ;)

]]> By: Obi wan liberali http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/voluntary-slavery#comment-56030 Obi wan liberali Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:49:48 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/?p=690#comment-56030 Boy was I off. I thought this was going to be a marriage related post. :) Boy was I off. I thought this was going to be a marriage related post. :)

]]> By: Frank Staheli http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/voluntary-slavery#comment-56029 Frank Staheli Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:49:05 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/?p=690#comment-56029 To me the most obvious form of voluntary slavery right now is debt. The Federal Reserve is so culpable in encouraging debt that it makes me want to spit on them. Nonetheless, home buyers and real estate investors should have realized that in the long-run, the Fed-inspired inflationary rise in prices could not sustain itself. Banking that your house is going to be worth more than when you went into hock to buy it is a dunderheaded idea, and now thousands of families are suffering as they get to the end of their mirages. My family is feeling the economic pinch in gas, food, and other prices, as well as a huge loss of value in our 401K, but boy are we glad that we took LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley's advice in 1998 to get out of debt. It's hard enough now as it is. Occasionally, we get infected with the "I want a bigger home" bug, but hopefully we've immunized ourselves against it. To me the most obvious form of voluntary slavery right now is debt. The Federal Reserve is so culpable in encouraging debt that it makes me want to spit on them. Nonetheless, home buyers and real estate investors should have realized that in the long-run, the Fed-inspired inflationary rise in prices could not sustain itself. Banking that your house is going to be worth more than when you went into hock to buy it is a dunderheaded idea, and now thousands of families are suffering as they get to the end of their mirages.

My family is feeling the economic pinch in gas, food, and other prices, as well as a huge loss of value in our 401K, but boy are we glad that we took LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley’s advice in 1998 to get out of debt. It’s hard enough now as it is. Occasionally, we get infected with the “I want a bigger home” bug, but hopefully we’ve immunized ourselves against it.

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