rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (07/19/83)
>>>>> Randy states: "Just as there is no evil without good, so there cannot be good without evil( no rose with no thorns.)" <Bob's reply:> Randy, I would like to add that in the beginning there was good without evil. Then Satan(adversary) fell and rebelled against God, taking along a third of the angels in heaven. You see God gave all His creatures a freedom of choice. Satan has the following: ...... Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 89 <<<<<< So, then, where DID evil come from? If God is indeed the Creator of all things, then He must have also created evil. Or, God created Satan and Satan had the seeds of evil within him. God also in some sense had to create Himself. I won't go into a fire-fight about the logic involved in this, because I KNOW the meta-physics transcends my understanding. Why does God have to be personified, anyway?? Why can't people accept that maybe what they call 'God' is the collection of natural laws that the Universe follows? In that sense, He did "create" everything. I just offer this as an alternate view... Bob also quotes (as is his nature) many, many verses from the Bible. This is a practice to which I take great exception. I don't claim to be a Bible scholar, but I have read a great deal of it, on many levels (religious, literary, historical, etc. ). There are some parts I have poured over (the Pentetuch(sp?) 3 times, the Gospels twice, Revelations 3 times, etc.. ). However, everything I read, I try to take in the context of everything else I have read. I DON'T QUOTE VERSES FROM THE BIBLE BECAUSE IT'S TO EASY TO TAKE THEM OUT OF THE INTENDED CONTEXT. There are paradoxes in it, but they are not contradictions ("Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord" vs. "An eye for an eye... "); meaning is to be derived from the juxtaposition of the opposites. I know that I seem to rail against Western philosophy quite a bit, but there are occasions where it loses in a big way. This is one. The Bible is a whole, greater than the sum of its parts. Selecting quotes and then adding parenthetical comments (which allows any meaning to be implied), dimishes it. >>>> Randy, I wrote this from a christian perspective. I know you and others are not christian. The word of God(the bible) is the christians authority. I pray that you will receive it as such, and at least give consideration to what I have written and not just up and reject it. So from the christian aspect Satan is not another side of God but a spiritually fallen creature. <<<< Great. (Christian and Bible should be captilized, Bob. I'm sure it was your machine...) %apply [parse:no-condescension,no-euphemism,no-propaganda] <%apply\out>: Randy, I am a Christian. I don't understand your belief system, so I know that you and others are not Christian. The Bible is my faith, and it is all that I require. Even though for not being a Christian you are doomed to hell, I pray that you will see the error in your ways, and not just reject what I have written as non-Christians always do; you may still be saved. So, in my belief system (which is right, whereas yours is wrong) Satan is not another side of God, but a spiritually fallen creature. <exit %apply> I don't intend any malice with this interpretation; this is what that paragraph really said to me. I went to a Southern Baptist school in 4th & 5th grades; my mother's mother and sister are both born-again Christians (after having lived less than exemplary lives previously. <Why does everyone think this sort of thing is so great? Isn't it better to have been a good person from youth than to have to have been on the other side of the fence to know what is right? Or is this another application of the prodigal-son-type thinking? > ). I understand the attitude very well, but I will not accept it as being the best way to operate. What's right for me is not necessarily right for anyone else, so I won't force that person to do things my way. I will explain my philosophy, but I will not prostelytize, and I will not condemn anyone to a place of punishment in my system simply because I don't understand that person's system. By the way, I try to treat everyone with love and respect. I never deliberately harm anyone. If I'm not a Christian (which, by normal etymology would seem to be a person who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ), then what am I? -- Randwulf (Randy Haskins) genrad!mit-eddie!rh or... rh@mit-ee (via mit-mc)