Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!rex!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mib@geech.ai.mit.edu (Michael I Bushnell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: A first cut at Tolerance (long - sorry) Message-ID: Date: 8 Mar 91 05:19:51 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Free Software Foundation, Cambridge, MA Lines: 19 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article murphy@mips.com (Mike Murphy) writes: I hesitate to criticize mib after his eloquent plea for understanding in another post, but his description of Joseph "voluntarily" entering Egypt is different from the one that comes to my mind. When I read Genesis, I see Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery, and that is how he entered Egypt. It is true that he accepted his situation and became happy there, but I think that's more of a statement about how God can turn even bad circumstances into good than about Joseph's desire to go to Egypt. Also, Israel (i.e. Joseph's family) only came to Egypt because there was a famine in their land and Egypt had food. Heck, when I make as dumb a blunder as this, you should certainly point it out. Joseph went to Egypt as a slave, and, with God, turned it into great good. The entire movement of Israel to Egypt was definitely not voluntary, though it was ultimately a "comfortable" place for them to be. Sorry for posting such a dismal blunder... -mib