VERSION|0.5.1|SUBJECT|Rev Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James Piccadilly, handy for Fortnum and Mason   |CONTENT|[b]Rating[/b] 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

[url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap130110.html][img=images/2013/01/pic130110.jpg popup=false float=right][/url]Crime is in the news: crime [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/07/violent-crime-lead-poisoning-british-export]caused by lead poisoning[/url], and crime [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20953644]caused by re-offenders[/url]. This raises the question of how much of my own actions are through my own choice and how much is just my brain making me do it.

Christian thinkers have been thinking about these problems for centuries and have come up with some impressive words to describe them. We call our nature, our "ontology." There, I bet you're really impressed by [i]that[/i]. Things are always understood better when they have a word ending in "ology." Things that are not part of our nature, we call our "not ontology."

If you commit violent crimes because it's in your nature, or "ontology" as we professional Christians call it, then there's not a lot you can do about it. You were created a sadistic psychopath and you're just stuck with it. Alternatively, if you only commit violent crimes because you were damaged by your environment then that's a different matter. You probably still have a "conscience." This is the little voice that, as you are about to commit a violent crime, suggests that you don't commit a violent crime.

Some people think that having a conscience is just a way to put all sorts of unnecessary restrictions on them, like not being able to commit violent crimes. That's not the case. Having a conscience means you weren't created a sadistic psychopath after all. You can rejoice that it isn't in your nature, your "ontology," to commit violent crimes and therefore you have the freedom to not do what your environmentally damaged brain is telling you to do.

So if you want my opinion, I recommend listening to your conscience a bit more often.

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p013l5g3]Listen/Read[/url]|CATEGORIES|55,49|IP-ADDRESS|94.168.119.214|DATE|1357808465|CREATEDBY|admin
