http://en.fgulen.com/content/view/609/5/
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Intention is the spring of all actions. Whether conscious or not conscious, intention gives a person the right to claim responsibility for particular actions; it is also the firm ground of will and power to bring about particular results. Everything related to man himself and the world in general, in its inception or continuance, depends on some intention. Without intention, it is impossible to bring something into being and ensure its continuance.
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what do you think ?
for a believer intention is enough to get heaven
or
An intention which leads to the appropriate intended action, being taken may save a person. An intention which does not result in determination, in an ardent effort to bring about the intended result, cannot do so. The article you quote from appears to be approaching this from a religious perspective, so I'll attempt an answer from that side of it first. Mr Gulen's primary example of intention is of armed Jihad, so I have to take issue with him from the start - any war conducted in God's name is following an extremely subjective line of reasoning. As Dylan put it, "If God's on our side, he'll stop the next war".
He states that: "Deeds that appear very small and insignificant can engender huge positive or negative consequences, based solely on the underlying intention" but offers no logical justification to back this up. It would seem a truism that cause and effect occur independently of intention - if I kill a man it doesnt really matter if I meant it or not, as the effect (death) is the same.
Similarly, "All actions undertaken in the consciousness of serving God... increase our rewards and raise us to a higher spiritual level" seems just as flawed - it doesnt take a great deal of thought to find examples of insanity carried out in God's name. And again, intent is incidental to the effect.
Elsewhere he appears to be bordering on fundamentalist polarisation - deeds and intentions are either right or wrong, our position in the afterlife either heaven or hell. As with all belief systems in this vein, where is the line? If I fail to help that old lady across the road today will it tip the scales and cast me a godless heathen forever? Where is the grey area?
Outside of the religious perspective, it seems obvious that one can have perfect intentions and still ruin the world - it is our actions alone that define us. If we are to believe the Western press (and who in their right mind would?) then Bush and Blair start wars with the best of intentions, bringing democracy to the world - it just happens that their methods involve wholesale slaughter. On this basis, perhaps their intentions would not secure as safe a passage to the afterlife as they might believe.
Andy
| palavra wrote: |
http://en.fgulen.com/content/view/609/5/
what do you think ?
for a believer intention is enough to get heaven
or
An intention which leads to the appropriate intended action, being taken may save a person. An intention which does not result in determination, in an ardent effort to bring about the intended result, cannot do so. |
You know there is a saying: Hell is full of good intentions. Good intentions are not enough.peace be upon you all.
Intentions DO count in Islam. So if you were planning to do a good deed, but couldn't do it, your intention still means you got the same reward as if you had done it. Bad deeds however only count if you actually do them. The intentions don't count because people do get random crazy thoughts.
That's just my five cents...
may God bless you.
I realize that you might have the best of intentions when you do something. But, what were you trying to do in the first place? I also understand that even when you feel you're trying to do something good, things go wrong. I just don't believe that a person's intentions will save them. If I beat my children with the intention of making sure they turn out to be responsible adults, am I doing the correct thing? NO! Nothing benefitial will come out of a beating, good intentions or not.
No, we are saved by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ, However, we will be judged by our deeds, and not by our intentions, Intentions are good, but intention without action dont mean a hill of beans.
| Quote: |
Intention is the spring of all actions. Whether conscious or not conscious, intention gives a person the right to claim responsibility for particular actions; it is also the firm ground of will and power to bring about particular results. Everything related to man himself and the world in general, in its inception or continuance, depends on some intention. Without intention, it is impossible to bring something into being and ensure its continuance.
|
what do you think ?
for a believer intention is enough to get heaven
or
An intention which leads to the appropriate intended action, being taken may save a person. An intention which does not result in determination, in an ardent effort to bring about the intended result, cannot do so.[/quote] Ah yes, believe in Jesus, that's the one - I'm sure he'll save us. But what if we actually believe in this concept of democracy? The majority of people in the world do not believe in Jesus, so where does that leave the Christian democrats? In the same place the western churches have always been, a theocratic dictatorship extolling the the virtues of a God they have never seen, down the barrel of a gun (sword, cannon etc.)
Also, the quote above seems to negate the concepts of spontaneity and instinct, both of which can produce good deeds without prior intentions. Don't get me wrong, I believe intentions are a powerful force in the world, but they do not account for all of mankind's benevolence. If we accept the basic capacity for good in all of us (not unreasonable if you consider the depth of manipulation involved in achieving adulthood, ie enforced suppression of 'goodness') then kindness can occur as a reaction just as easily as a product of reason.
Oh, and call me an atheistic bigot if you will, but does citing faith in a deity actually constitute rational argument?
Andy
