Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxn.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!ihuxn!jho From: jho@ihuxn.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Response to Tim Maroney - The character of God. Message-ID: <858@ihuxn.UUCP> Date: Thu, 18-Oct-84 14:07:34 EDT Article-I.D.: ihuxn.858 Posted: Thu Oct 18 14:07:34 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 21-Oct-84 09:32:53 EDT References: <239@qantel.UUCP> <1094@ihuxm.UUCP> <243@qantel.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 47 I would like to make some comments concerning Tim Maroney's reposted article: "Even If I DID Believe", and Ken Nichols's response to this article. Tim's article presents a very thoughtful analysis of the negative sides of the character of the Jewish-Christian god as described in the bible. I have studied the bible (OT) for about 11 years, and have not paid attention to the darker side of the god of the bible. I found Tim's presentation to be enlightening on this matter. Although I complement Tim for his article, I have some minor reservations. I think that occasionally the tone of Tim's article is unnecessarily harsh. (This criticism does not only apply to Tim, but also to others. I think using more polite presentations will improve the level of the discussion in net.religion). I also think that focusing on the negative side of the character of Jehovah, as described in the bible, gives an incomplete description of the character. Another approach would be to compare the character of Jehovah to other mythological gods. Since we do not have absolute standards, a comparison may help understand the characters in question. Now to Ken Nichols's rebuttal. Though Ken's response is very detailed and eloquent, I suggest that Ken misses the point. Ken assumes axiomatically that Jehovah is good, and, therefore, his actions can not be construed as bad. Such an approach is satisfactory if you take that axiomatic stand as a starting point. Unfortunately, that approach is unacceptable to the skeptics. Since, I assume, Ken you are trying to address the skeptics among us (you don't have to convince the believers), you may have to drop, for the sake of this discussion, the a priori assumption on the goodness of god. An example may illustrate the problem we have with the character of god. Let us assume that Tim's article does not address the character of Jehovah, but rather the character of the north mythology god Odin (AKA Wotan), and the book that he is quoting from is not the bible, but rather the book of Odin. I think that all of us, the skeptics as well as the believers, would have to conclude, based on the information from the book of Odin, that Odin's morality is far from perfect. (Tim Maroney, where art thou?) -- Yosi Hoshen Bell Laboratories Naperville, Illinois (312)-979-7321 Mail: ihnp4!ihuxn!jho