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oi antz, are you a universalist? If not, how do you see things working out perfectly for everyone? And as for God not knowing that Satan would step out of line: in light of his supposed omniscience and general competence, I find that highly unlikely.

I'm not sure you understood my question, so let me try to put it differently: Why would an omniscient, omnipotent God have enemies to struggle against and forgive in the first place? Let me present a somewhat fitting analogy: imagine that you were the director in charge of an enormous...

Honestly, how does this fit together with the concept of an omnipotent, omniscient God???

I reject neither, in a way. Ideas/Archetypes are different from humans. They can split apart (the Proto-Indo-European Dyeus became the Germanic Tiwaz, the Greek Zeus, the Baltic Diewaz and so on and so forth), or they can meld into one (the Universal Isis, Hermes Trismegistus blending Hermes and...

The cycle of life does not point to the resurrection of the dead. As I said: the grain that grows in the spring is not the same plant that provided the seeds: it's the plant's "child", so to speak. One generation of plants has passed away, scattered its seeds, and then a new one grows in its place.

In that case, prophets would pretty much fill the role that's assigned to shamans in pre-metropolitan societies, don't you think? It was not exactly a sought-after profession that people craved, but more like a calling.

That depends on who you ask. There are certainly factions that would consider the concept of Creation and Creator being one to be blasphemous - but on the other hand, there's the Kabbalah, and there, the concept of an immanent-yet-transcendent deity is pretty much alive.

What's more, I think the geographical propensities should be taken into account. Monotheism is quite closely associated with the desert, a terrain where the most distinguishing and important feature is the open sky above, with the merciless sunlight burning into your very thoughts.

You're alive! ALIVE!

It's what I derived from your comment about "whole families of murderers" and the suggestive question of "what to do with them". So we can agree that the children butchered by Joshua and his men were innocent? Good. Even back then, that wasn't the only way. It's not as if people were incapable...

Why? Your quote (origin unknown) doesn't really seem to be at odds with what I wrote.

If memory serves, there is no such thing as disloyal (let alone "fallen") angels in Judaism. Which makes sense, seeing how another setting doesn't really line up with some of the most basic features of monotheism.

"If we can judge God, then we are greater than Him": how did you jump to that curious conclusion??? What does some sort of hierarchy have to do with ethical/moral evaluations? What's this "greatness" you speak of? What does it have to do with anything?

As for the sun: Mark addressed that one already, but I'd like to add that I'm greatly impressed by the processes that take place in stars: They are the elemental generators of the universe, fusing atoms into all of the stuff that surrounds us, and releasing it into space in their "death...

I must echo Mark's sentiment: honestly, grain? That's the reproductive cycle of plant life, not the dead rising from their graves. Even as a symbol or an analogy, it fails spectacularly once you study the biological processes involved there. The cycle of life does not return to its point of...

I didn't know what you were talking about, but after looking at Youtube, I was, like... WHAT ON EARTH??? "Jinger"? JINGER? JEDIDIAH?????? Why not Jenghis Khan, while they were at it? Or Jabrielle? Jeorge? Jertrude? Jenesis?

Why, let me guess: It's incompatible with a traditional/orthodox exegesis of the Bible? ;)

That's incorrect, plain and simple. Unless "it's in the Bible" equals "more evidence" than anything archaeology and historiography can come up with.

IMO, depictions of Deity very much reflect the historical perspectives of the people who came up with that particular vision. What's interesting about the Old Testament, then, is not how the deity depicted therein corresponds to other Semitic deities of that day and age (IOW, vengeful deities...

IMO, the many deities are many - just like we are many. Each of them has his or her own distinct place in our collective idea-space.