Re: Salinger turns to the Dark Side

Jim Rovira (jrovira@juno.com)
Wed, 30 Jun 1999 18:33:38 -0400 

Ach, that's a good question and this is sticky.  The crux is on the
nature or class of existent beings.  In the Biblical records, you have
several different classes of angels (most of the ones we deal with serve
some kind of a messenger form), human beings, and the Divine.  There may
well be and probably are other types of beings, but those are the only
ones we know about.  When you get into Hebrew word studies, at times one
of the words for "God" is used to refer to angels (elohim, I think, but I
know more Greek than Hebrew, and only know a little Greek :) ).  What's
really interesting is that human beings, themselves, are referred to as
"gods" in one passage in the Psalms.  

However, Hebrew culture did interact with several polytheistic cultures,
and the viewpoint of the Hebrew prophets was largely one of derision. 
These "gods" are presented as, basically, the projection of human pride
onto a grand scale.  What we are worshipping, really, when we worship
other gods is ourselves (an interesting observation in view of that
mention of the Psalms).

Paul, in the NT, questioned the existence of other "gods," and concluded
that what was most likely happening was that demons were being worshipped
instead of genuine other "gods."  Now, a demon is a type of angel.  A
"god," then, in this context, would be another type of being entirely. 
"gods" as worshipped in a pantheon of Gods -- be it the Greek, Roman or
Hindu pantheon, are beings that exist for different purposes and are of a
different nature than Biblical angels (fallen or unfallen).

So the upshot of all this is that "other gods" do not exist (as they are
depicted in various pantheons), but that they are being mistaken for
angelic beings.

Jim    

On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 09:02:45 -0700 (PDT) Thor Cameron
<my_colours@hotmail.com> writes:
>Appreciate the response, buddy.
>The only point of contention that I still have with you though, is the 
>idea 
>that Satan is a God.  From your own point, I do let the texts speak 
>for 
>themselves.  Please, tell me, in Christian texts and common mythology, 
>how 
>is Satan NOT a 'god'?  In name only, my friend, in name only.
>Thor

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