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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
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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