If God does not exist, meaning the living God Who exists outside the space-time universe, then envy, the most-cold-blooded sin of all, becomes both permissable and fashionable.
In his book, “Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior,” Helmut Schoeck calls our humanist age the “age of envy.” By this he means that fewer people than ever are ashamed of being envious, seemingly believing that the fact of their envy is proof that social injustice has been done, that the envious one is in fact justified in crucifying the object of his envy. Schoeck comments:
“Suddenly it has become possible to say, without loss of public credibility and trust, ‘I envy you. Give me what you’ve got.” (p. 148)
But what if the object of envy is the real masculinity of a straight male, or his ability to beget children? Do we dare consider that envy is the driving force behind the “gay” movement to feminize straight males, ridicule those who refuse to submit, and sexually pervert their children?
And what ugliness fuels the virtually nonstop crucifixion of Christianity, the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, “right-wing fundamentalists” et al but envy.
Evil is so frightening because it looks just like us. This being the case, if instead of Jerry Springer’s face and the faces of Katie Couric, Hollywood limo progressives, and Obama and his handpicked henchmen, to name but a few, Americans saw instead the face of the envy-bitten, black-toothed, ever-oily Grimma Wormtongue there would be no more confusion. No more tuning into Jerry and Katie or idolizing Obama and Hollywood progressives.
Talk about the problem of "the tail wagging the dog!!!"
Just goes to show that any expectation that "man is the measure" is doomed from the get-go.... That expectation is utterly false.
Such a belief reflects pure idiocy — a refusal to be human.
The Christian tradition teaches that Envy is a mortal sin, thus something to be shunned and feared if we find it in ourselves — because it is literally soul-killing.
Indeed, it is second only to Pride in its destructive power.
The list goes like this:
PrideThat envy can be justified as a "norm" of human behavior pretty much suggests to me that the "human project" left up to the discretion and direction of envious souls is utterly hopeless.
Envy
Anger
Sloth
Greed
Gluttony
Lust
And that those who think Envy reflects some truth about the universe of human existence are destined for the Second Death, lest they mend their ways....