Re: "Good" (toDave)
Ian Dorion (dorioni@intellinet.com)
Mon, 31 Mar 1997 23:09:27 -0600
David Court wrote:
>
> Dave wrote:
> > > Secondly, your challenge to tell you something "good" in the first five
> > > books in the Bible hasn't been answered because it is a ridiculous and silly
> > > question frankly. I will attempt to answer it out of respect to you, but
> > > would first ask you to define "good" for me.
> > >
> > > Thank you.
> > >
> > > Dave.
>
> > (DAVE 3/31) Ian: Actually, many of you (errantists) claim that God is not
> > a "good" god - you yourself have alluded to this fact - so, you must have a
> > definition for "good" - what is it? Why is God "evil"? You must have a
> > definition for these terms. I haven't said anything about "virtues" of the
> > Bible - I don't even know what you mean by that. If you mean the virtue of
> > "love", that certainly isn't something exclusive to the Bible - neiother is
> > generosity, kindness, compassion etc. - these are all "virtues" of the
> > Bible, but are virtues of our lives period, are they not?
> >
> > If you are saying things about "family values", I can show you MANY families
> > who hold the same "values" about their families as I may, yet who aren't
> > Christians - obviously, these "values" you allude to are also not exclusive
> > to the Bible or to Christians.
> >
> > You have avoided my question here - you want something "good" from the first
> > five books of the Bible, yet you won't define "good" - how can this be
> > answered then?
> >
> > Regards.
> >
> > Dave.
>
> (Christ-Ian 3/31) Dave, I am speaking of the five books of Moses. I have
> studied them
> very thoroughly and I have found nothing that I would term 'good' in any of
> these five
> books. Instead I have found an angry, egotistical , insane god. There are no
> family
> values (at least not my family values) in any of these books. There may be
> biblical
> values but if there are, they stink pretty bad.
>
> There may be some 'good' things in the bible but I have not arrived at them
> as yet. In
> so far as defining 'good', I can't do that from these five books. It does
> not exist.
> Therefore, it is up to you to tell me what you define as 'good' or what
> family values
> are in these five books.
>
> (DAVE 3/31 LATER) Ian: You state "I have found nothing...'good'...". when
> asked to define "good", you state "In so far as defining 'good', I can't do
> that from these five books". What does this mean? You have already
> concluded there is nothing "good" - so you MUST have a prefabricated
> definition of "good" before you started - a frame of reference if you will.
>
> That's like me saying "Ian, it's not there" - when you ask what I'm looking
> for, I say "I can't tell you cause I haven't found it". So, how do I know
> it's "not there"?
>
> You are avoiding the issue Ian. How can you conclude there is no "good" in
> these books, if you don't even know what "good" is?
>
> Regards.
>
> Dave.(Christ-Ian 3/31) O.K. Dave. Let's call 'good' love., honesty, mercy and fidelity
to start with. I understand you not being able to define it, after all, you happen
to be a Christian. Frankly, I'm a little tired of your evasiveness and I'm ready to
snip this.