Re: Betreft: Re: Steg's wonderful .sig (and a question)

On Tue, 9 Nov 1999, andrew wrote:

> Odd.  I do not create because I am created in the image of the creator,
> I create despite of it!  I create because God has not forbidden me to
> create!  I exist in a state of blessed rebellion!
Doing something because you haven't been forbidden to do it is hardly
rebellion ;-)

> I am Presbyterian - that's one strike against me to begin with, most
> Christian Conlangers on this list seem to come from the Catholic,
> Eastern Orthodox, or Lutheran traditions, traditions that cultivate
> liturgy, and in some cases, multi-lingual liturgies, or liturgies
> outside their daily languages; not the Reformed tradition.
I was brought up Lutheran and became Orthodox in my twenties, partly
because the Lutheran church in the Netherlands was *abolishing*
liturgical pomp and circumstance. Ah well.

> How do
> you dedicate a conculture to Jesus?
Not explicitly, or it becomes an artificial construct (that is:
something that you can *see* is artificial; of course all concultures
are made up) without any real flavour and heavy with moralism. A very
good example is the world of the Christian role-playing game
Dragonraid (available on the web, I'll look up where if anyone is
interested).

Valdyan people have high moral standards, and one of the main themes
of the culture is the struggle between good and evil (where evil is
defined as defying the Creator and setting up for oneself). That is
perhaps my way to "dedicate it to Jesus" - though in context I can
only say that I dedicate it to God the Creator, that is, the Father
rather than the Son; but that's a distinction without a difference
unless it becomes a really involved theological discussion and this
is not the place for that.

> The
> alternative interpretation to being subcreators in the image of God, is
> being subcreators in the image of Lucifer, what we do is in defiance of
> God's created order, we rebel and try to do better, and equally face the
> risk of falling.
But Lucifer never created anything - at least not in orthodox (note
the lowercase initial) doctrine. He just took what was already there,
what God had already created, and warped it to his purposes. Being a
creature himself, he couldn't create anything *new* except with the
support of God, which he didn't accept. The point - as Tolkien
understood very well - is that subcreation can *only* be done in the
image of God (whether one acknowledges that or not; you can't help
being an icon of God), or you'll destroy rather than create.

> I can say I create because I created in the image of the
> Creator, but I exist in a state of grace in which the Creator allows me
> to be free to imagine and create.
Exactly.

> I'll stop now.  I'm not sure if my argument still makes sense to me
> either - and it's time to make tea!  I'm getting hungry!
Well, it makes sense to me - I think I'll go and make some tea :-)

   Irina

            Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
                     irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself)
       http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/index.html (English)
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)