tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post6756807656751231456..comments2023-11-03T03:59:28.260-07:00Comments on Story Seer: Holy Insecurity, Batman!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444235737902757507noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-58911778675554380462012-09-11T14:07:09.744-07:002012-09-11T14:07:09.744-07:00Oh lord, why am I only just now getting around to ...Oh lord, why am I only just now getting around to replying? SORRY.<br /><br />Extra sorry because I love what you're saying here. The whole gods-need-humans argument is one of my absolute favorites. (Speaking of which, have you read "Small Gods"? The whole thing is this brilliant meditation on who needs whom more, and it's Terry Pratchett, so it's hilarious as well.) It really is fascinating to think of all-powerful beings needing humanity in all its frail indecision. Maybe that's part of why Zeus flips out when Prometheus brings fire to humans; he's given the lesser but desperately needed race a bit of godliness, which might in turn make them less inclined to worship.<br /><br />For extra fun - and I didn't even get into this in the actual post, because it basically just occurred to me - the Plagues are also about Yahweh proving himself to his own freaking people. They've lived in Egypt for generations, and he's gone AWOL at their moment of greatest need. They might be wondering what use is an indifferent god, and here are all these other gods, why not worship them? So Yahweh's not only fighting the gods and priests who thought they could brush him aside, he's fighting his own worshipers' doubts of him. Which is yet another reason the Plagues are so spectacular and terrifying: "Were you thinking about not worshiping me? BAD IDEA."Lizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14444235737902757507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931078954148810179.post-51155507284921487102012-08-04T16:59:25.763-07:002012-08-04T16:59:25.763-07:00I mean, to be fair, the plagues on Egypt are proba...I mean, to be fair, the plagues on Egypt are probably one of the best remembered parts of the whole Bible, so I guess he proved his point pretty effectively. It's tough being the new god. Seriously though, Exodus is a *great* story. <br /><br />You have awesome pictures in this blog, btw.<br /><br />I think a lot of the trouble with gods being insecure comes from the fact that the gods need humans just as much as humans need the gods. I think this is clearest in pantheons like the Greek one, where the gods require sacrifices. Sure, the gods might give humans water or fire or language, but humans give gods their existence: if we forget them, or think we don't need them anymore because we're superior, then the gods die.<br /><br />I think this sort of dynamic is particularly clear in Exodus, actually, where the plagues are clearly a competition between the Egyptian gods and Yahweh. It's not about helping people. Like you said: it's about proving he is worth worshiping. More worth it than the entire pantheon of the strongest empire of the time. That's a hard argument to win, but ultimately, he won it big time.Mizujadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17233866558758957283noreply@blogger.com