Although I ought to be writing Conscience - I just can't get into it. So I think I'll write about this instead. I am a complete heretic about Osama. Of course I think al-Quaida and fundamentalist Islam is appalling, and I find them scarey, irrational and an offence against humanity. However Osama, I don't know, there's something about the man, he just gives me an impression of integrity. When I flip over the channels on Sky there are any number of screaming mullahs (what a subject for Francis Bacon) who do not appear to be teaching about peace and love and submission.... but Osama has always appeared a more reasonable, sensitive person, in appearance I say, because obviously what he says is pretty nutsy. So why do I find something almost likeable about his appearance and deportment? Is this my contrarianism - or is it that there is no inherent compatibility between integrity and "proper behaviour"?
Of course, he does have integrity - he has his beliefs and he adheres to them. But we always see integrity as a positive virtue - letting your yea be yea and your nay be nay... but it is perfectly possible to have integrity about tremendously wicked beliefs. A thought that hadn't occurred to me before. He has his beliefs and he is acting on them in the way he feels is right. It is this that gives him that appearance of dignity, a sort of satisfaction about a job well done. Mark says he thinks Osama always looked tremendously smug - and that's probably a different side of the same object, he was satisfied with himself, that he was doing the "right thing". Maybe what was attractive was the sense that he was at peace with himself, he had a thought-out considered position, and he was living it.
Now inevitably, the question will arise amongst those who try to judge these things, about Osama's ultimate destination. Obama (no wonder Americans are confused) or some other US commentator made some comment about him having to face the ultimate judge.... obviously in conventional judgement ObL has gone straight to hell. But if God judges our hearts, God will know why he came to the conclusions he came to, and God may have a different idea. Maybe God will honour his sincerity and 'integrity'... In my theology I hold to the idea that people come to the Father through the Son not necessarily by becoming Christians, but through Jesus's intercession for them, his sense that they have lived lives according to his example, even if they have not known him. This would somewhat nix ObL's chances of eternal bliss on the Christian estate.... of course as a Muslim he would have known a version of Jesus through the Koran, but I wonder whether he paid much attention.
Curiously, this has brought me back to Conscience related issues: integrity is an issue - did ObL do the wrong things for the right reasons too? They were much more dramatically wrong than what David does.
Of course there may be a simpler reason for my suspect liking for Osama - I did find him quite attractive, and this obviously prejudices one in his favour. OMG I have now outed myself quite definitively.
Of course, he does have integrity - he has his beliefs and he adheres to them. But we always see integrity as a positive virtue - letting your yea be yea and your nay be nay... but it is perfectly possible to have integrity about tremendously wicked beliefs. A thought that hadn't occurred to me before. He has his beliefs and he is acting on them in the way he feels is right. It is this that gives him that appearance of dignity, a sort of satisfaction about a job well done. Mark says he thinks Osama always looked tremendously smug - and that's probably a different side of the same object, he was satisfied with himself, that he was doing the "right thing". Maybe what was attractive was the sense that he was at peace with himself, he had a thought-out considered position, and he was living it.
Now inevitably, the question will arise amongst those who try to judge these things, about Osama's ultimate destination. Obama (no wonder Americans are confused) or some other US commentator made some comment about him having to face the ultimate judge.... obviously in conventional judgement ObL has gone straight to hell. But if God judges our hearts, God will know why he came to the conclusions he came to, and God may have a different idea. Maybe God will honour his sincerity and 'integrity'... In my theology I hold to the idea that people come to the Father through the Son not necessarily by becoming Christians, but through Jesus's intercession for them, his sense that they have lived lives according to his example, even if they have not known him. This would somewhat nix ObL's chances of eternal bliss on the Christian estate.... of course as a Muslim he would have known a version of Jesus through the Koran, but I wonder whether he paid much attention.
Curiously, this has brought me back to Conscience related issues: integrity is an issue - did ObL do the wrong things for the right reasons too? They were much more dramatically wrong than what David does.
Of course there may be a simpler reason for my suspect liking for Osama - I did find him quite attractive, and this obviously prejudices one in his favour. OMG I have now outed myself quite definitively.
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