To all my Jewish friends, L’Shana Tova. Ariel and I went to synagogue this morning. Did lots of standing up and sitting down. Praised God in the highest. Have to say, it seems God needs a TON of ego-stroking to get through the day. What’s up with that?
PAD
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L’Shana Tova Peter. May you be inscribed in the book of life.
And about God, to quote Oolid Caloophid (sp?), “Who Is This God Person, Anyway?”
Fine question. Maybe it has something to do with only working on “creator owned” material…
And as a gentile, I’ll just wish you a “Happy New Year.”
L’Shana Tova.
Honestly, I think this is more us Jews sucking up–Inscribed in the Book of Life, and all of that.
L’Shana Tova.
Honestly, I think this is more us Jews sucking up–Inscribed in the Book of Life, and all of that.
L’Shana Tova.
Honestly, I think this is more us Jews sucking up–Inscribed in the Book of Life, and all of that.
Have to say, it seems God needs a TON of ego-stroking to get through the day. What’s up with that?
He may be weary. Deities do get weary…
A Happy New Year to you and your family.
Did lots of standing up and sitting down.
Hmmm, are you sure you didn’t wander into a Catholic Church by accident? Did the subject of bingo ever come up?
Our God is an vengful, angry…insecure God?
What’s with God needing ego-stroking? Haven’t you read ‘Preacher’, Peter?
Following knuckles, as a recovering Southern Baptist:
Happy New Year to you and yours 🙂
“Our God is an vengful, angry…insecure God?”
An insecure God?
Could it be that God is the big, new, insecure everyman character out there. “In the same vein as such great characters like Peter Parker, Ronnie Raymond and Kyle Rayner comes the everyman of the new millenium: The Amazing Yahweh!” Nah, it’ll never fly.
Anyway, Happy New Year to you and yours, Mr. David.
L’Shana Tova! I’m not a Jew, but close – I’m a Methodist….But seriously, best wishes for a happy new year.
Poor God must have quite a hangover.
Poor God must have quite a hangover.
Minds me of the issue of Jhonen Vasquez’ “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac”, in which Johnny succeeds in committing suicide and, due ti his unique circumstances, winds up in Heaven for a while. God is a fat man in a La-Z-Boy. Johnny tries to ask a few questions, but God doesn’t seem interested.
GOD: Could you maybe come back some other time? I’m tired.
JOHNNY: Please? Just some simple answers?
GOD: Naah… I don’t wanna.
JOHNNY: What the Hëll’s Your problem, God??
GOD: I created the universe and now I just need some downtime.
JOHNNY: That was BILLIONS of years ago!! Don’t you think you should get up and pay attention to what’s been happening in the world?!?
GOD: Oooh, sorreeee!! I only created the UNIVERSE! You’re right, I should be out running LAPS!
You guys should have more respect for your Creator.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you and yours, Peter!
Maybe it was Moses and all of the other OT Judges who were insecure, and they passed “the tradition” on to their followers. If I were born into a world of slavery and non-stop oppression, I’d pray alot too!
“You guys should have more respect for your Creator.”
Personally, I respect a God who can appreciate a joke at his own expense even more. 😛
I’m not Jewish myself, but L’Shana Tova nonetheless.
-Rex Hondo-
Does God need his “ego stroked”? Interesting question. As a Christian that has also occurred to me. I personally came to two conclusions:
1.) Worship of God is simply recognizing what is true: God is incredible beyond my comprehension. Really by any definition that accepts that “god” is significantly beyond our human dimension, there should be some sense of awe. But according to the Jewish and Christian traditions, God is the source of all life, the very epitome of perfection. As such, if I am really in tune with God, I can’t help but worship. It is not stroking his ego. It is simply gasping at the wonder of it all.
2.) A failure to worship God (which yes, if you read the Biblical account God takes seriously) is really an act of self destruction on par with trying to live in space without a spacesuit and oxygen. Again, it is not simply a matter of God needing the affirmation. It is if we turn away from the source of life, love, peace, rest, joy, justice, perfection, we cut ourselves off from all that is good. To put it differently, a failure to worship is to rebel against the good king who protects us and side with the rebels whose sole goal is destruction. So there is a valid wrath/anger God should have against those who rebel against him. (It is not simply a failure to say enough “praise Gods” but the belief that we can do better than God that is the problem, at least in my opinion.)
I am not offended by PAD’s comment. I think it is a question that anyone who reads the Bible should naturally ask. I offer them as one person’s perspective on the matter and wish PAD a Happy New Year.
Iowa Jim
Trust IowaJim to bring the light tone of the thread crashing down.
Have to say, it seems God needs a TON of ego-stroking to get through the day. What’s up with that?
It’s proof that He’s Jewish.
Peter David: Have to say, it seems God needs a TON of ego-stroking to get through the day. What’s up with that?
Luigi Novi: The answer is simple. God doesn’t need it. Humans just act like he does, because they’re projecting mortal corporeal sensibilities onto an omnipotent timeless being. It’s like when Q shows up on the Enterprise and make a reference to Worf being ugly or shows up on Voyager and makes a reference to their predicament being a result of putting a woman in charge of the ship. It’s something an omnipotent being would never say, but an omnipotent being written by non-omnipotent writers would say. It’s like a human looking at a colony of ants and saying, “Hey, that one is uglier than that other one.”
It’s human projection.
But L’Shana Tova, anyway, Peter. 🙂
Tom Keller: Trust IowaJim to bring the light tone of the thread crashing down.
Luigi Novi: Oh, lighten up yourself, Tom, he did no such thing. Just because everyone else make a one or two-line post doesn’t mean Jim has to. Others here are more than free to skip over his post if they want, and resume the “tone” by making the posts they want after it.
Peter David: Have to say, it seems God needs a TON of ego-stroking to get through the day. What’s up with that?
Luigi Novi: The answer is simple. God doesn’t need it. Humans just act like he does, because they’re projecting mortal corporeal sensibilities onto an omnipotent timeless being. It’s like when Q shows up on the Enterprise and make a reference to Worf being ugly or shows up on Voyager and makes a reference to their predicament being a result of putting a woman in charge of the ship. It’s something an omnipotent being would never say, but an omnipotent being written by non-omnipotent writers would say. It’s like a human looking at a colony of ants and saying, “Hey, that one is uglier than that other one.”
It’s human projection.
But L’Shana Tova, anyway, Peter. 🙂
Tom Keller: Trust IowaJim to bring the light tone of the thread crashing down.
Luigi Novi: Oh, lighten up yourself, Tom, he did no such thing. Just because everyone else make a one or two-line post doesn’t mean Jim can’t choose to make a more thoughtful or in-depth one. Others here are more than free to skip over his post if they want, and resume the “tone” by making the posts they want after it.
I look at Q and sometimes think: “This snarky guy is the best that the Continuum could send?” “Either he lost a bet or they want to see what happens to one of their own around humans.”
L’Shana Tova to you too
Nah, the whole up and down thing is just a clever ruse to get us to excercise AT LEAST some of that food away. Shana Tova, all!
You know, as a nearly-30 year old recovering Catholic with Jewish friends and family, I have a hard time keeping up with the Jewish calendar (in an old dog vs. new tricks kind of way). It seriously bums me out because every time I think I’ve got it down pat, I completely forget something obvious.
So I ask this in all seriousness: is there a ‘Judiasm For Dummies’ book out there, and if not, would you take a crack at writing it, PAD? As someone who took in the Kosher Comics panel at DragonCon this year, I think you’d be uniquely suited for the task.
Regardless, L’Shana Tova to you and yours, PAD, and to everyone else on-thread for the ride.
A quick look reveals that, yes, “Judaism for Dummies” was published in 2001 and is available for $14.95 at Amazon.com. (Eligible for free shipping!)
-Rex Hondo-
I look at Q and sometimes think: “This snarky guy is the best that the Continuum could send?” “Either he lost a bet or they want to see what happens to one of their own around humans.”
Q always struck me as an extreme example of one of my favorite silly science fiction/comics conceits; the omnipotent know it all who isn’t nearly as omnipotently smart as he thinks he is. Always yapping on about “To me you are as tiny ants!” or something. Hey, Godboy! If I’m an ant why are we having this conversation? I see ants every day but it never occurs to me to talk to them.
Not that I’m complaining. Jack Kirby probably did the best realistic take on the omnipotent being angle with those giant doofuses in The Eternals, who just stood there and gave the thumbs up or down. I’ll take his Galactus any day, even if he’s sitting with Reed Richards having coffee and croissants, yammering on and on about how Reed is like a protozoa compared to his almighty might. Reed just smiles and nods and stirs his latte, as well he should.
I’ve always rather liked the exchange between Galactus and Reed Richards in Secret Wars, where Galactus explains that the reason he even acknowledges Reed’s existence is because, through his actions, he’s achieved the status of a cosmic champion of life.
As for Q… Well, I suppose being omnipotent doesn’t necessarily prevent one from being an ášš. If humanity are ants to the Continuum, well, there’s always gonna be that one wierd kid sitting on the sidewalk in the sun with the magnifying glass.
-Rex Hondo-
Happy New Year.
To PAD, the whole David family, and everyone else reading this, MOT’s or not – may the new year be a good year for us all, and may you all be inscribed in the Book of Life.
>Did lots of standing up and sitting down.
It could be worse. You could be Catholic. We do that EVERY Sunday. Well, when I say “we” I mean “Me 20 years ago when I attended catholic middle- and high-school” rather than “me now.”
Sometime around 2000 years ago, God decided that, instead of livestock, he’d settle for knees as an acceptable sacrifice.
And of course, like an idiot, I switched TO Catholicism* in my twenties, when my knees and I ceased to be on speaking terms.
*I’m feeling much better now.
You guys should have more respect for your Creator.
Personally, I’ve always believed that God has a great sense of humor. How else can you explain Pat Robertson?
As for Q, I’ve always had this theory that he was secretly humanity and Picard’s advocate in the continuum. He was sent to test them, but he really wanted to help them in his own arrogant and heavy-handed way. A lot of his appearances in TNG make a little more sense from that perspective:
1) In his first two appearances, the pilot and the one where he gives Riker his powers, he telegraphs everything. Really, all Picard and Riker had to do was the exact opposite of what Q was pushing them to do.
2) He gave humanity an advance warning of the coming of the Borg.
3) His expulsion from the continuum and loss of his powers were actually punishments for (from their POV), his leniency towards humanity.
4) He removes Vash from Picard’s life because she was a distraction to his plans for Picard.
5) In his lone DS9 appearance, he again spends a lot of effort dropping hints as to the true nature of the threat.
6) The dream episode where he shows Picard how his life would have turned out if he never learned to take risks was preparation for his final test.
7) In the final episode, he is the one who is moving Picard through time so that Jean-Luc can pick up the clues he needs to figure out the paradox.
Of course, this all breaks down in Voyager where Q wants to have a baby with Janeway, but then, Voyager sucked.
So I ask this in all seriousness: is there a ‘Judiasm For Dummies’ book out there
Take a look at JewFAQ.org.
I’ve found their explanations extremely accurate and clear.
So I ask this in all seriousness: is there a ‘Judiasm For Dummies’ book out there
Why yes there is! Check it out!
There’s also a complete idiots guide!
Well, I don’t speak more than a smattering of hebrew, so instead of risking a mis-pronounciation and accidentally swearing, I’ll just say Happy New Year, y’all.
Brak, as an over 30 year old Jew, I can’t keep track of the calendar either..so I look to the beagle calendar on the wall to tell me when things are:-)
So Happy New Year all from me and the calendar beagles!
Sigh… One day I’ll learn to answer my own questions before I ask them out loud. Stupid internet not being already implanted in my brain…! 🙂
God need ego stroking? Well it stands to reckon that we were created in his image after all.
And am I the only one to find irony in this statement being on a BLOG? I guffawed.
Speaking as a (reformed) Catholic, I married a Jewish lady. I bought “Judaism for Dummies,” and absolutely LOVED it! It had a bit of everything – the hows and whys and wherefores and such. Check it out, if you can – it helped me deal with my in-laws very well. (…who were none too happy that a formerly Conservative Jewish young woman was moving to Reform Judaism in order to marry a Catholic who had no intention of converting.)
Trelane at least looked like he was having fun.
Q on the other hand seemed like he’d been sitting on the anthill for far too long. 🙂
Shana Tova from Israel. If you think you did lots of standing up and sitting down, with lots of ego-stroking to God- You ain’t seen nothing yet! Just wait till Yom Kippur and KOL NIDREI
PAD wrote:
> Have to say, it seems God needs a TON of
> ego-stroking to get through the day. What’s up with
> that?
“I am about to take you in to see — no, for you to be seen by — an Entity who is to me, and to my brother your god Yahweh, as Yahweh is to you. Understand me?… To this Entity your lord god Jehovah is equivalent to a child building sand castles at a beach, then destroying them in childish tantrums. To Him, I am a child, too. I look up to Him as you look up to your triple deity — father, son, and holy ghost. I don’t worship this Entity as God; He does not demand, does not expect, does not want, that sort of bootlicking. Yahweh may be the only god who ever thought up that curious vice — at least I do not know of another planet or place in any universe where god-worship is practiced. But I am young and not much traveled.”
— “Jerry Farnsworth”, Job: a Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein
All this talk just reminded me of how pìššëd øff I used to be as a kid that public school kids got Jewish and Catholic school holidays off, and being in Catholic school we were always in school on those days. Then again, id also like to be off for the Chinese New Year too….
A belated L’Shana Tova to you as well Peter, as always, I hope your new year is full of honey and apples.
The Perfessor
There are three websites I recommend for educating yourself about the Jewish religion:
jewfaq.org
aish.com
ou.org
If you’re just looking for a site to keep up with the Jewish calendar:
hebcal.com
God does not need ego stroking. You need the exercise.
I see ants every day but it never occurs to me to talk to them.
Clearly you’ve never been in California. Some of the ants we saw there had been known to knock on your car window and accost you if you ignored them. Why do you think no one in CA walks anywhere? Simple self-preservation, man.
And a much-belated Happy New Year to PAD and all.
TWL