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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: QUESTIONS FROM A FRIEND
Message-ID: <3881@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 7-Mar-85 23:04:58 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3881
Posted: Thu Mar  7 23:04:58 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Mar-85 06:21:57 EST
References:  <347@oakhill.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 31

In article <347@oakhill.UUCP> davet@oakhill.UUCP (Dave Trissel) writes:

>I find it odd that a God which a) knows everything beforehand, b) had the
>patience to create the entire universe and c) has unbounded love does
>something as primitive as getting angry.  One would expect such a God to
>at least be slightly emotionally more mature than us mortal humans which are
>merely creations.

>This seems to be a perfect example of where man creates God in his own image.
>"Well, God gets angry so when I'm angry its certainly excusable."

>Another notable Biblical passage refers to God regretting that man was ever
>made. Its hard to think that an intelligent God that knows the future would
>regret the consequences of their own doing.

The business about G-d making man in his own image seems to relate precisely
to these details of emotion.  The problem I see with this whole argument is
that it assumes that any deity would have to exist in time in precisely the
same way that we do, i.e., linearly.  But if God exists "outside of time",
then he would see all of history "simultaneously"; the phrase "knows
everything beforehand" would therefore be misleading because it implies that
the act of knowing takes place in time.  And besides, the appeal to the
reasonability of God is precisely the kind of back reasoning from man the
copy to God the divine model the Mr. Bennet deplores.

>If there is such a universal entity such as God I would think that such
>Biblical passages would be blasphemous, or at least highly amusing.

Is not amusement one and the same with anger?  Are they not both emotions?

Charley Wingate     umcp-cs!mangoe