> > Are you responsible for the actions of your children once they reach
> > adulthood and attain free will?
> > This is a terrible assumption, in my opinion. Nobody attains free
> > will ("free will" itself is a canard, painted as an opposite to
> > "fate", when they're really the same damned thing); we're born with
> > the ability to make decisions, and as our mind develops, we can make
> > more complex decisions.
> >
> > "Adulthood" as it exists in most of Western civilization is pretty
> > broken, too; upon puberty, we should be helping kids to start making
> > 'adult' decisions, but instead we continue to treat them as children.
> > Then 18 rolls along and we suddenly let go. "You're on your own!"
>
> I agree with you, but in the content of this discussion it's
> irrelevant. Point is, at some point your children attain
> independence of decision-making from you, and from that point on,
> you are no longer responsible for their actions. Society marks
> that as age 18, which is a really bad way to do it, but there
> aren't any obvious better ways.
I would like to point out that this whole line of discussion seems to be
predicated on the fact that, Deity having created the universe and
everything in it, he/she/it has a parental responsibility.
What if the analogy is more along the lines of the individual who made a
wildlife preserve?
Creatures live, die, kill, love, etc all along perfectly natural lines.
Perhaps Deity doesn't love humans any more, or any less, than a deer. There
are certain parts of humanity which seem prone to violence, perhaps there is
a reason for this...
Natural or Supernatural order y'know <g>
David