Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: notes version 1.1usg 6/21/82; site ihlpf.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!microsoft!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!ihnp4!ihlpf!lab
From: lab@ihlpf.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: "Re: Not about abortion - (nf)"
Message-ID: <172@ihlpf.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-Jul-83 03:02:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihlpf.172
Posted: Tue Jul 19 03:02:10 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 19-Jul-83 19:26:13 EDT
Organization: BTL Naperville, IL
Lines: 47

#R:qubix:-38300:ihlpf:22600023:  0:2710
ihlpf!dap1    Jul 18 23:14:00 1983

Larry,

It seems that the only God you will accept is one who can create the universe
in one fell swoop (you said so yourself) and then look upon his creation as
repugnant.  This God does only what he wants and is in essence a complete
hedonist.  His "love" consists of wiping out innocent infants (although you
seem to know of some twisted logic which declares even babies as "deserving")
and this is seen as "justice".  He creates a Hell for everlasting torment for
those who have the gall to think that all this is not perfectly fine and uses 
the excuse that they must be "separated" from all the "good" folks who admire
this kind of behavior.  For no good reason this separation must also consist
of burning brimstone and eternal agony (Oh yes, I guess this was just one of
his "whims" which we aren't supposed to complain about).  Most people would
call this "revenge".

After all this, you say that those of us who look upon this with distaste
simply "won't" rather than "can't" reconcile such a God with goodness and
mercy.  What precisely IS your definition of goodness and mercy?  Where did
you EVER mention the notion that God will take care of us "even as the lilies
of the field" (we who are repugnant worms in his eyes).  If goodness and mercy
is only defined as everything that God does, then sure, he's a merciful God,
but I no longer have a conception of what that "mercy" consists of.  

You know, Larry, I'm exactly your opposite.  I really don't care if God created
the universe or not.  I don't think such things are all that important.  All
I ask is a God who respects his people and is concerned with what goes
on here rather than producing mass killings just because he feels like it.
In other words Larry, you won't accept a God who can't create the universe and
I won't accept and love a God who looks upon the whole human race as repugnant.
(you're right, I WON'T accept such a God.  What I CAN'T accept is that if there
was such a God that he also loves those repugnant beings he so enjoys toying
with on his holy whims).

I apologize for my tone in this note but this really got my dander up and
I daresay that even if I were a Christian, such notions would get my dander
up.  I will try to revert in the future to my more reasonable tone.

P.S. Larry, I'm still waiting to hear on whether you think you would still be
Christian if you were brought up in a moslem family in Iran.

P.P.S.  Wouldn't it be interesting if one of his "whims" was to send all
Fundamentalists to Hell on judgement day?  Judging from his past erratic
behavior, I figure there's about a fifty-fifty chance, perhaps greater in
the cases of extreme fanaticism.  After all, his ways are sometimes mysterious.