From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!hplabsb!soreff
Newsgroups: net.religion
Title: Re: Comprehending an infinite God
Article-I.D.: hplabsb.1545
Posted: Wed Apr 13 12:03:34 1983
Received: Fri Apr 15 06:35:36 1983
References: qubix.210

Reply to Larry Bickford:
<flame on>
Doesn't it seem peculiar to you that your god is "merciful" in that it
opts to defer punishment for transgressions of laws that it wrote itself?
Where is the legitimacy of its power from in the first place?
Why should anyone be more thankful for the absence of hostile actions from
a malicious deity than for being left alive by the last mugger they met?
If some ruler were to write a law code that was impossible to follow, then
make all the rules punishable by death, occasionally torturing a follower
to see how far they could push them, then to announce his/her great mercy in
reducing the occasional sentence, I would not consider them very merciful.
A deity of that form, if it existed, doesn't need prayer, thanks, or praise,
It needs replacement. It's broken.
<flame off>
	-Jeffrey Soreff (hplabs!hplabsb!soreff)