(Ron) Definition of Inerrancy

Michael W. Fisher mwfisher@cts.com
Sun, 6 Sep 1998 02:45:51 -0700 (00905093151, 000201bdd97b$222fba80$9d495ecc@mwfisher.cts.com) 


From:	Brian Dean On Behalf Of Ron Criss, sent:	Saturday, September 05, 1998
7:50 PM



>JEFF

>So let's define god as being one standard good.  We also know that

>there's a devil who's zero standard good.  Suppose I discover some

>hypothetical creature that would measure 1.1 goods on this scale?



RON
  This is a good example of western dualistic thought.

Elf
As compared to what, Eastern dualistic thought?

Ron
 If you have
concept A there must be an equal and contradictory opposite! One has to
be "good" and the other "evil". For instance if celibacy is good then
marriage must be evil and vice versa.

Elf
Well, a Heglian dialectical style of analysis has its uses, but it's not at
all clear that that is what Jeff is doing.

Ron
  The devil, or Satan, is not evil personified.

Elf
You see, that's the trick. He doesn't have to be. For the purposes of the
illustration it doesn't really matter what exact label you put on the "zero"
construct, although it would seem that Satan is, if not "evil personified",
is as evil as one can get, generally, in the Christian dialectic.

While it would seem necessary, as most Christians try and define their God,
that that God is probably as good as good can get, since he's supposed to be
perfect.

Try a different approach to making the scale.

Set God to the zero value, as having "zero badness", and less good than God
critters having some value less than zero. Then Satan can be any value less
than zero you choose. Angels would be just below God (I guess) with
individual humans falling somewhere in between the Angels and Satan.

Jeff's question then becomes, what if he finds some critter with a value
greater than zero?

Ron
 He is a creature of God,

Elf
Ah, now this is the fun part.

You know Satan is "a creature of God" and NOT the other way around (God a
creature of Satan) . . .how?

Are you god yourself that you can tell one supernatural critter from
another?

I.e., you have the secret of the universe such that you have developed some
infallible detector of good supernatural critters with good intentions?

Ron
just like you and me,

Elf
Is he? How do you know? Is Yahweh made of ordinary matter? Are the angels?

How do you know?

Based on some tattered bits of millennia old paper or vellum, written in
dead languages by people of long dead civilizations and cultures?

Ron
 who has in his case consciously chosen to do evil.

Elf
Still begging the question of how you know all this.

Do you believe everything you read? Don't just tell us "you know it because
of scripture". Even a merely human con man knows how to tell his audience
what they want to hear, and how to make them feel good about the con.

Are you telling us that YOU can tell the difference between an extremely
powerful supernatural being than can read your very thoughts (or however it
would do the trick), can perhaps manipulate your thoughts (hey, we can't do
such things, but these are supposed to _super_natural critters after all AND
HAS WRITTEN - from the position of superior power and knowledge- the Bible
specifically to deceive little homo sapiens such as yourself?

How, please tell us, do you do that?

And DON'T just beg the question by telling us you can "feel" what's right.

If it's you versus an unknown God or god like critter whatever you think you
"feel" can't be trusted since (I know I'm repeating myself, but I've found
it necessary in such matters) such a critter can, by definition, fiddle with
your feelings and thoughts at its whim.

Don't you just love the logical results of Eastern (Persian) dualism?

Ron
He is not a perfect being, even perfectly evil. He is not God's equal
and opposite number.

Elf
Once again - you know this .  .  . how?

If there were two equal and "opposite" god critters fighting, for some
unfathomable reason over us human critters, just what would be the big - and
clearly obvious - tip off?

I'd like to know.

And once more, I admonish you not to beg the question. Ya'll look so
pathetic when you start sputtering and chasing yourselves around in circles.

{Just FYI, this is what is known as a Reductio Ad Abusrdum. And don't feel
bad if you can't find a way out. No one has yet.}

 <snip last bit of superstitious rambling>

Ciao!!

The Elf