Sorry about the long reply time, but I moved back home
for Christmas, and have had trouble setting my email
back up... anyway, here is my reply:
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 09:33:25 -0800
From: KMO <kmo@amazon.com>
Subject: virus: One of Us
> I think that asking God for next week's winning lottery
> numbers would be a superior test of his omniscience (or at
> least precogniscience) and would place significant financial
> resources at your disposal in the process.
> Still, I don't know that I'd spend my one question testing
> God's authenticity. I imagine that the situation posed in the
> song is one in which you are face with Him in all his Glory,
> i.e. in a situation in which it is obvious that you are in
> the presence of God.
> I'd want the answer to my one question to be something that
> could illiminate some deep-seated anxieties or dissatisfactions.
> I don't know what that question would be.
Actually, I wasn't attempting to test God at all -- like
you say, given the situation, I think that would be
pointless.
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 97 14:45:37 -0500
From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: virus: One of Us
> I certainly can't guess why- it's going to be raining
> somewhere tomorrow.... _I_ can answer that question....
You've hit the point right on the nose, Wade. Now the
question is this: *why* am I asking a question to which
I already know the answer?
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 15:10:03 -0700
From: David McFadzean <david@lucifer.com>
Subject: Re: virus: One of Us
> Maybe you're like me in that you wouldn't expect to
> get any comprehensible answers out of God.
> Me: Why?
> God: Why not?
> Me: How did you create the universe?
> God: I willed it.
> Me: Why did you make it appear like you don't exist?
> God: More fun that way.
(HA!!! -- this is brillant!)
> Me: What were you thinking?!
> God: I wasn't thinking in the way that you mean thinking.
> Me: What do you want?
> God: I have no needs.
> Me: What would be a good question to ask God?
> God: All questions are good questions.
> Me: Are you trying to be funny?
> God: Maybe.
I love it! I'll certainly add this as another reason
to ask this question -- and having just read Job, I
can tell you that this is probably closer to the truth
about the Christian God than you might think... allow
me to quote Job 9 for you:
1Then Job replied:
2"Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can a mortal be
righteous before God?
3Though one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer
him one time out of a thousand.
4His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted
him and come out unscathed?
5He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns
them in his anger.
6He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble.
7He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the
light of the stars.
8He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves
of the sea.
9He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the
constellations of the south.
10He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that
cannot be counted.
11When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I
cannot perceive him.
12If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him,
`What are you doing?'
13God does not restrain his anger; even the cohorts of Rahab
cowered at his feet.
14"How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to
argue with him?
15Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only
plead with my Judge for mercy.
****
16Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe
he would give me a hearing.
17He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for
no reason.
***
18He would not let me regain my breath but would overwhelm
me with misery.
Anyway, my reason for this question comes from my
second operating axiom: To travel is better than
to arrive. I have no desire to be given a point
blank answer without a struggle -- I enjoy the
*process* of learning, not the knowledge itself!
ERiC