Re: missing communication: Schroedinger and abortion

----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard J. Van Till" <hvantill@sbcglobal.net>
To: "ed babinski" <ed.babinski@furman.edu>
Cc: "bivalve" <bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com>; "ASA" <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 3:23 PM
Subject: Re: missing communication: Schroedinger and abortion

> On 10/13/04 1:39 PM, "ed babinski" <ed.babinski@furman.edu> wrote:
>
>> ED: There is an old non-Christian parable that suggests God is like an
>> elephant but people from different religions are like blind men touching
>> the elephant in different places and trying to describe the entire
>> elephant as merely one part of the whole animal's anatomy. One feels a
>> leg and says an elephant is like a tree trunk, another feels an ear and
>> says an elephant is like a fan, another feel's its trunk and says an
>> elephant is like a snake. Is that what you mean by saying that Muslims,
>> Hindus, Buddhists, and the like, "experience God differently?"
>
> Yes. One Sacred Being, but many portraits -- each incomplete and less than
> wholly accurate -- each portrait having been crafted by creatures with
> limited knowledge and a particular cultural history. I think the
> children's
> book, Old Turtle, by Douglas Wood, conveys the idea well.

One problem with this imagery is that it pictures God, or "The Sacred," as
an essentially passive object of human investigation and reflection. But if
it is God whose actions are primarily responsible for human knowledge of God
then it is at least possible that such knowledge, while ultimately intended
for the benefit of all people, would be communicated first of all to one
part of the human race. Such an idea of election is of course offensive to
some people but that has little to do with its plausibility.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/

 
Received on Thu Oct 14 17:27:12 2004