kh (04/17/83)
Sayings like "How can a finite mind understand an infinite God?" and "Who is any of us to argue with God?" are just attempts to evade the serious problems that theism presents: omniscience vs. free will, why bad things happen to good people, etc. Quotations from Old Testament prophets that had the same problem dealing with the hard questions don't help. The Old Testament books aren't consistent in their conception of God, anyway. If God is omniscient, why does he have to test Abraham or Job? If God allows all these terrible things to happen to Job (not to mention his children), why should Job bother to worship this god? (For an interesting interpretation of "Job", read "J.B." by Archibald Macleish.) There is a simple solution, actually, to all these problems: there is no god. There is nothing more to the world than what is around us. There is no omniscience, so there is no problem with free will. There are different opinions of what is "sin" and what is "virtue" because these are concepts invented by men, not divine Truths. Job (and his family) had a run of bad luck. The "God hypothesis" may have been an adequate attempt at explaining the mysteries of the world, but science has provided better explanations for these. And science has the added benefit that it works. It has provided major advances in the quality of life. It is testable. What has God done for you lately? Kenny Hirsch duke!unc!kh kh.unc@UDel-Relay Chapel Hill, N.C.
dje (04/19/83)
Kenny Hirsch asks "If God is omniscient, why does he have to test Abraham or Job?" In the context of Abraham, the Hebrew word for "tested" is "Nisah," which has the (additional) connotation of EXPERIENCE. In this case, the experience was Abraham's: he had to see for himself how far he would act on his faith in God. Of course, an omniscient God would know how Abraham would choose to behave; Abraham himself didn't know until he made the choice. Kenny writes that "there is no god" is a solution to the questions of free will and responsibility. I agree. It's easy to resolve these questions by not believing in a God. I believe it's also possible to resolve the same questions even if one does believe in God. And whether or not to believe in God must be up to the individual. Dave Ellis Bell Labs, Piscataway NJ ...!harpo!npoiv!npois!houxm!5941ux!dje ...!{ariel,lime}!houti!hogpc!houxm!5941ux!dje