From the "Epistle to Diognetus" (ca. 120-200 CE): "Before his [Christ's] advent, who among mankind had any notion at all of what God is? Or do you accept the vapid and ludicrous suggestions of your own pretentious philosophers?--some of whom assure us that God is fire (thus giving the name of God to what they will surely come to one day themselves!), some that He is Water, and others one of the other various elements of His creation. If any of those ideas were admissible, there would be no reason why anything else in the world could not be declared to be God. Assertions of that sort are no more than the hocus-pocus, the 'hey, presto!' of professional illusionists, for no man living has ever seen Him or known Him; it is He Himself who has given us the revelation of Himself." I have been accused of posting these excerpts to inflame people's emotions; thus I submit three critical issues regarding this excerpt that are the only aspects I should, in light of such accusations, give consideration to. I apologize ... it is not my intention to exclude possibly brilliant perspectives, except apparently miles of textual justifications are required . 1. Does such a statement accurately reflect Christian dogma? 2. What presuppositions are required to hold this statement as truth? 3. Does this idea, written eighteen-hundred years ago, still apply within the theatre of modern Christianity? Again, I'm sorry if the criteria exclude some super-bright answers. Furthermore, I'm sorry if I sound like your bloody history teacher during finals week. I can't help it ... well, I can, but we'd hate to offend anyone, eh? thanx, Tiassa ------------------ The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General at the Expense of the Particular .... (Perdurabo; The Book of Lies)
If the excerpts inflame people's emotions, then they are doing what they are supposed to do. My thoughts on this particular excerpt are that before "God", other gods were necessary to explain the forces of nature and other inexplicable things. As we learn more about the forces of nature and the nature of life, we outgrow the notions of gods and goddesses, but I don't think we'll ever entirely get away from them. You know the image of the donkey tied to a cart and the carrot that dangles before him to drive him forward? I believe that we (humans) have a sort of built-in carrot that drives us onward. We are forever questioning ourselves and our environs. For each answer we find, another question pops up. We use gods and goddesses as place-holders until we find the answers, for nature, which we are part of, abhors a vaccuum. ------------------ I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will fight, kill, and die for your right to say it.
So ... uh, What's up, Doc? I might haze the subject some, I think, were I to ask if the carrot was the gods and goddesses, or the motivation which defines our ideas of gods and goddesses. Or am I splitting hairs? thanx, Tiassa ------------------ The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General at the Expense of the Particular .... (Perdurabo; The Book of Lies)
The carrot is the motivation, the objective which gives us reason to take that next step yet remains continually just out of reach.
