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From: pez@pyuxn.UUCP (Paul Zimmerman)
Newsgroups: net.origins,net.religion,net.religion.christian
Subject: Yosi Hoshen on evil men as creators of the evil god
Message-ID: <327@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Sep-85 08:43:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.327
Posted: Thu Sep  5 08:43:55 1985
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Piscataway, N.J.
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Yosi,
	You say I am making the same presumption as the religionists'
side. I wonder how the God whorshipers feel about that. I would think
they feel as I do, each believing that it is the other who is making
the wrong assumption. Yet you say that both of us are doing this.
You contend that it is the evil of men that invented a fictitious
evil God to enslave other men, and justify their evil in the name
of the evil (but said to be ``good'') God.

	I must say that I believed this myself for a time, but I came
to realize otherwise. As an example, take the efforts of human beings,
planned and re-planned with every precaution taken, which go awry for
no apparent reason. Machines that break. Projects that fail. Things
that simply fall apart from what gets refered to as natural decay.
Now, I ask you, which is sillier? Believing that this natural decay
simply exists as a unique unbalanced force given the name ``entropy,''
or believing that this decay is the deliberate action of a malicious
force, an evil deity, a Damager-God? The God whorshipers attribute
good things to the work of God, but I can't see a very good reason
for it. Conversely, I attribute the evil, damaging events to God for
the reasons I give above. This is even documented in the Bible, with
many examples already offered (the Tower of Babel, the hardening of
Pharaoh's heart, the entire Book of Job), so we know we are both
talking about the same God. On the other hand, Yosi, you attribute
neither to a deliberate willful force. Given the nature of good things,
which we have to work for, and evil things, which seem to happen BY
THEMSELVES, with what seems to be a will of their own, can you in all
conscience say that good and evil can be treated equally in terms of
what we attribute them to?

Be well,
-- 
Paul Zimmerman - AT&T Bell Laboratories
pyuxn!pez