Oannes

David Stockhoff · 21 Mar 2012, 13:18 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:18:34 -0400
Subject: (urth) Oannes
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W62E8484A5B18F0BAA1154ECF400 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W62E8484A5B18F0BAA1154ECF400 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4F69D52A.5040908 at verizon.net>

On 3/21/2012 8:56 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
>> Jerry Friedman: I agree that there's no clear evidence of God's
>> interactions with other gods.  But there's no clear evidence of
>> monotheism till Second Isaiah (Is. 44:6), I'm told, so it seems
>> likely that the authors of the books agreed with the characters
>> that there were other Gods, but the Israelites were supposed to
>> worship just one.
>
> Nice summation.
I've always wondered what was supposed to have happened to those "other 
gods."
>
>> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes: Correct. Wolfe is not writing apologetics; he is
>> writing fantasy/sf in which the truth is, repeatedly and by different
>> devices, hidden, and its revelation is salvific.
> Agreed, though I still think the main device Wolfe uses to reveal the
> validity of the Truth of Christianity is its absence.
That's a nice observation.
>
>> I would go so far as to say that there is _less_ ickiness and cruelty in
>> Christianity than in most other religions (I might except Zen Buddhism)
>> -- incluiding Marxism, which is a religion screaming that it isn't.
>> The fact that we in the Western World do not take slavery, the murder
>> and rape of peasants by nobles, and so on as just "the way things are"
>> is due to the civilizing influence of Christianity.
>
> I could cautiously agree with a few qualifications. I think you have to
> specify "modern" Christianity. For most of Western history, slavery and
> other evils were tolerated within Christian societies,including by the
> clergy.
>
> Also, there are many religions which can be considered more inherently
> benign than Christianity; a few Asian faiths, certain native American
> belief systems, Universal Unitarianism, etc.
>
> But the thing is, most peaceful religions simply don't spread the way
> the militant religions out of the Middle East do. So it might not be fair to
> compare Christianity with Sikhism or Hopi beliefs, etc. I would agree that
> modern Christianity is more benign than modern Islam or Judaism.
>
I have to wonder what that means. Is the religion separate from the 
society? What branch does one consider representative? Does theory trump 
practice?

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