Author Topic: PC134: Corinthians  (Read 26715 times)

Unblinking

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Reply #50 on: January 07, 2011, 03:33:15 PM
Technically, God is an amateur.  No one ever paid Him for His creative works, after all.
I would say that lots of people have paid Him for his works; animal sacrifices, tithing, etc.
I've got to vote for amateur on this one too.  Considering he could create any of those things with a thought, they're not really payments at all.

This raises an interesting point.  Is payment what I give, or what you receive, or both?  If I give you something that I consider valuable, but it's worthless to you, have I paid you or not?  What if I give up something that is of little or no value to me, but it is of great value to you?  Does it require both sides to form 'payment'?  Hmm...

Hmmm, that's true.  Isn't there a story in the bible about a poor person who gives a single penny that they can't afford to give, and a rich person who gives a bunch of money that they won't miss, and the poor person is the virtuous one in the lesson because the penny is a substantial part of their income?  So perhaps that's how it's all gauged, and that's God's clue to this aspect?  Or maybe some guy made it up while he was translating, something I've always got to wonder...



Void Munashii

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Reply #51 on: January 07, 2011, 04:12:21 PM
Technically, God is an amateur.  No one ever paid Him for His creative works, after all.
I would say that lots of people have paid Him for his works; animal sacrifices, tithing, etc.
I've got to vote for amateur on this one too.  Considering he could create any of those things with a thought, they're not really payments at all.

This raises an interesting point.  Is payment what I give, or what you receive, or both?  If I give you something that I consider valuable, but it's worthless to you, have I paid you or not?  What if I give up something that is of little or no value to me, but it is of great value to you?  Does it require both sides to form 'payment'?  Hmm...

  I would say it requires both, but it does not require both parties to view the payment as any great value. If I buy something at the dollar store I am paying the agreed upon price, but I don't think either side would consider it that great of a payment.

  Alternately, if I get a new TV, and offer you my old TV (this presumes that you want it) if you help me move the new one in and the old one out, I will feel like I got the better end of the deal because you helped me with the heavy lifting and took that old TV off my hands. You would feel that you got something of value as well, as you now have a TV where you did not before. Even though I did not value the payment, you did, and it is what we agreed on, so it is payment

  As far as God being able to create all of these things himself, yes, of course He can, but we still give Him these things as a form of payment for His continued love and favour. We don't generally call it payment, but from it still looks like that to me.

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Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #52 on: January 07, 2011, 08:00:05 PM
This raises an interesting point.  Is payment what I give, or what you receive, or both?  If I give you something that I consider valuable, but it's worthless to you, have I paid you or not?  What if I give up something that is of little or no value to me, but it is of great value to you?  Does it require both sides to form 'payment'?  Hmm...

... if I get a new TV, and offer you my old TV (this presumes that you want it) if you help me move the new one in and the old one out, I will feel like I got the better end of the deal because you helped me with the heavy lifting and took that old TV off my hands. You would feel that you got something of value as well, as you now have a TV where you did not before. Even though I did not value the payment, you did, and it is what we agreed on, so it is payment

But you did value the payment: you said yourself, "I will feel like I got the better end of the deal."

You may not end up with a thing you can hold in your hand, like a $100 bill, but you did 'receive' (or really, got to keep) less tangible things that you valued as much, like time, room in your home and possibly the health of your aching back!

"People commonly use the word 'procrastination' to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working." - Paul Graham


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Reply #53 on: January 10, 2011, 02:36:49 PM
  As far as God being able to create all of these things himself, yes, of course He can, but we still give Him these things as a form of payment for His continued love and favour. We don't generally call it payment, but from it still looks like that to me.

I'd call that more of a tribute than a payment, but I guess that's more splitting hairs.  :P



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Reply #54 on: January 15, 2011, 09:38:40 AM
Hi,

I've been working my way through the back catalogue and am nearly up to date but had to comment on this one because it was funny!  As a quite deeply religious person it did not offend me in the least, and yes, reading the other posts, it is largely a relationship & break up tale, but told with a great sense of humour, religion included, which is nice for a change!



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Reply #55 on: January 25, 2011, 07:46:56 PM
I liked this one, to a point.  I liked the descriptions, the characterizations, and the setting.  That said, I think it was stretched out too long, and may have worked better as a flash, or double-flash sized story. 

re: "Serious Man", I didn't get that movie either, but my kosher friend says that's because I'm "just not Jewish enough."

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Reply #56 on: January 26, 2011, 02:20:32 PM
re: "Serious Man", I didn't get that movie either, but my kosher friend says that's because I'm "just not Jewish enough."

Ha!  Apparently I'm Jewish enough, despite not being Jewish.  :)  I'm certain that I missed loads of inside jokes, but I still thought it was awesome.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2011, 02:22:23 PM by Unblinking »



Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #57 on: March 21, 2011, 09:27:20 PM
Apropos of some of the ideas in this story, the blogger Jen McCreight is doing a talk in Minnesota this week (3 times!) titled "God's Lady Problem: Breaking up with abusive supernatural beings".

I wonder if she knows about this story...

"People commonly use the word 'procrastination' to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working." - Paul Graham