>> But I suppose that, say, Orlanth would not allow a religious war among
David Weihe:
> Then explain the Lokamayadon vs Harmast conflict, or the struggle
> between Alkoring Dragonslayer and the Orlanth Dragonfriends. The only
> way that Orlanth could haved signaled his choice in these famous
> schisms was by granting *eventual* victory to one side or another, and
> THAT requires that he have some (notoriously denied by sources) "free
> will" to make the decision, at all. The fact is that the Orlanth are
just as
> capable of intra-religious wars as are the Malkioni, or even RW
YHWH-ists.
(Note: I will address the long time classic problem of god's free will on a separate message.)
Thank you David for the examples. They proove wonderfully my point. As you say, "the only way that Orlanth could haved signaled his choice in these famous schisms was by granting *eventual* victory to one side or another". That's exactly what he did (or so the victors may think): he *granted* victory to Harmast and to Alkoring. In other words, he granted victory to those that sticked to him, and abandoned to their fate those that betrayed him. Yes, both Lokamayadon and the Orlanth Dragonfriends betrayed Orlanth. They introduced religious and magical practices that departed from storm, and adopted other powers. They only kept nominal worship of the storm god. They had to be punished.
Notice that I'm presenting the facts like if Orlanth had free will. I think that Orlanthis will describe it that way. But, even if Orlanth didn't have free will, it wouldn't change nothing. Free will is not required to explain the events you mentioned. If you want an explation solely based on a necessary causal relationship, here it goes: In order to receive the benefits of worshiping a god, one must keep pure in his faith. If one departs from the strictures of his faith, one will loose access to those benefits. Lokamayadon and the Orlanth Dragonfriends departed from pure worship of Orlanth, so they lost access to Orlanth's magic and that magic turned against them.
Your examples are not about two parties fighting each other for in the name of the true worship of a god. They are about a party trying to mantain true worship fighting a party that tries to corrupt that worship. In both cases the traitors loose. The moral of the sotry is that true faithful win. It doesn't matter if they win out of a necessery causal process or out of the free will of the god.
Sergio
Powered by hypermail