From: Andrew J. Weill (aweill@netcom.com)
Date: Wed 18 May 1994 - 07:30:08 EEST
On Wed, 18 May 1994, Devin Cutler wrote:
>
> I mean, let's face it, if the Jews were constantly receiving direct updates
> from Yaweh on a weekly basis, Judaism (or any other religion) would probably
> become a very uniform affair. Regional differences in religions arise because
> of human interpretations (which differ) regarding how God wants people to
> act.
>
To which I must say: I respectfully disagree. There are numerous sects
of Jews (many of whose members believe they are getting weekly or daily
updates from God) and whose views differ diametrically. Yes, there are
certain common points. But no one could confuse me (a very Reform Jew)
with a Hasidic Jew. This is because there are cultural modifications to
every religion. Direct updates from God will always be understood in
context of the local culture, and even then there is considerable room
for diversity.
I don't believe in Divinations which give simple answers to complex cultural questions. Imagine a Divination by a Christian: "How should we treat homosexuals?" The answer comes back: "Treat them according to My word." (A typical Divination response, in my view.) Certain priests will say this means to condemn homosexuality in accordance with Leviticus; others would argue that this means to tolerate differences in accordance with the larger messages of Biblical teaching. Divine communication is an inherently uncertain business, even (or perhaps more precisely, particularly) in Glorantha.
---Andy Weill
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 10 Oct 2003 - 01:34:25 EEST