God and the Devil

Seems I'm not the one that missed the point of Job.

Sent from my XT1049 using Tapatalk

Gisteron wrote: Without trying to defend western faiths, it is still hard to argue that Buddhism is in many ways superior. It of course, like any other, makes grand assertions about the nature of things without any shred of evidence, so it is by no means better at that, yet it is also little more sophisticated in its morality and in my opinion indeed less moral overall, incredible though that may sound... I could explain why, but that would get us even more off-topic, so I shan't until prompted.

And I love You for your reply. I was raised Baptist, on the path to ministry. I love the message of Christ, to live in absolute love of everyone. He's truly still a beautiful inspiration to emulate.

Streen wrote:

steamboat28 wrote: Prior to that, if we look at the Book of Job ... Satan is as his name implies, just God's District Attorney. Nothing more.

If that's what you think, you missed the point of the book of Job.

So in other words understanding one tangentially important relationship between two characters in a story differently than you do amounts to fundamentally misunderstanding the entire point of the story. You know, were it not for what you are about to say, I might be inclined to have more patience for you lecturing people on matters of literary analysis. But I don't, because shortly afterward you go on to produce this:

Job was an example for Christian's [sic] to follow.

Alright, enough with the family-friendly passive-aggressive sarcasm now. This is just bullshit and I have no kinder way of putting it. The book of Job is one of the oldest texts of the Tanach. I'm not sure how old the story itself is but the version we are familiar with predates Christianity by over half a millennium and that is a trivial thing to look up so you have no excuse.

The event wasn't Satan's creation, it was God's plan to show us how to follow Him.

God was bragging to Satan about how much of a sucker Job was. Satan told God to basically put his money where his mouth is. God went along with it. People died, others suffered. But fortunately, because nothing else matters to him, God won the bet and lest the unimportant human know he was just a toy in God's little game God came down to give a grand might-makes-right speech. And this "whatever happens to you, suck it up" is what the story teaches, rather unambiguously. Oh, and a story it is, not an "event".

... So you see, God USES Satan.

Yes, he uses Satan to prove a point to Satan. My spoon also uses me to feed me.

Jesus and Lucifer are brothers.

Oh HELL no. Jesus was God's "only begotten son". Lucifer was an angel (one among many) who wanted to take over. If Lucifer was God's son, then so were all the other angels.

Again, according to LDS theology, "only begotten" means that he was the only son born in flesh.
And yes, all the angles are Gods children, including you and I. We are the "spirit" brothers and sisters of Jesus, Lucifer, and each and every person who has ever or will ever be.
That is why they refer to one another as "brother" and "sister" at their church services.

Gisteron wrote: Without trying to defend western faiths, it is still hard to argue that Buddhism is in many ways superior. It of course, like any other, makes grand assertions about the nature of things without any shred of evidence, so it is by no means better at that, yet it is also little more sophisticated in its morality and in my opinion indeed less moral overall, incredible though that may sound... I could explain why, but that would get us even more off-topic, so I shan't until prompted.

You might be surprised how much influence buddhism has had on the jedi code... You might want to research the Eight Fold Path and the Four Noble Truths , if you haven't already.

Oh, I'm well aware of that, Whyte Horse. To read and write about it was part of the IP back when I did it. Now were these influences the creators of the Jedi Code used? I don't know, maybe. Doesn't much seem like it, but then I guess one can twist it anyhow to fit. At the end of the day, association doesn't matter, in my opinion; it doesn't make anything either bad or beneficial by itself. I have no commitment to any label that would be strong enough for me to suspend my moral senses or any kind of thinking for it.
In other words: Let's say Jediism has a significant portion of its roots in Buddhism. Now what?