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<DIV>In a discussion of Wolfe's views of other gods, it might be helpful to
factor in "When I Was Ming the Merciless." All my books are in boxes right
now, alas, so I can't look up the passage, but maybe someone could find it and
quote it to push this discussion along.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The passage I'm thinking of is the one where "Ming" talks about the Spirit
of Yellow. The Yellows all bring trophies of war and present them to the
Spirit of Yellow at the shrine they've built. Now of course there is no
such thing as "the Spirit of Yellow." It's something that they've just made
up. It's a nothing in itself (just as much as "team spirit," I
suppose). </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But, Ming says, when you start to do that -- when you start to pay homage
to something like that -- ... and here's where my memory breaks down. He
says something like: When you start to do that, the thing you're worshipping and
paying homage to takes on a new quality and becomes real.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Please, please: Someone find the passage and quote it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But here's how that relates to the Bible. In some passages, the Bible
indicates that there are no other gods. There is only Yahweh. All
the other idols are nothings. But at the same time, the Bible indicates
that those who worship these idols are worshipping demons and those who eat at
the table of the false gods is communing with demons, as really as those who eat
at the Lord's Table are communing with the Lord and with His people, becoming
one bread, one body, with Him.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A man cuts down a tree and fashions it into an idol and bows down to it and
worships it. What is it? Well, one answer is: It's a hunk of wood,
carved a certain way, and nothing else. And that's a true answer, which
leads the prophets to mockery: You cut down the tree and part of it you burn to
cook your food and the other part you worship. How ridiculous! But
at the same time, when you do that -- when you bow before the idol -- you are
communing with demons. There's something real out there that attaches
itself to the idol in terms of your worship of it. And that, it seems to
me, is what Ming is talking about. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Add two more things:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>(1) The angels are called "gods" in the Bible. While that is disputed
when it comes to, e.g., Psalm 97 or Psalm 8, these psalms are quoted in Hebrews
1 and 2 in connection with angels. Some of those angels are rebellious
angels, which we now call demons. But some of the angels are faithful
angels. So not all of these "gods" are evil by any means. The
various nations, the Bible says, were ruled by various angelic beings, one of
whom is Gabriel, who is good. He isn't God, but he is good and he is a
ruler and can be called a "god."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>(2) Many of the things that people have worshipped are simply creatures or
aspects of life, and not necessarily bad. Aphrodite is the goddess of
love. Love can become an idol and can be pursued idolatrously. If
you worship love, if you make romantic love your highest ideal, etc., you are an
idolater, even if you don't bow to the image of Aphrodite. But love is not
evil. God is love. So if you put love in its proper place, under
God, it ceases to be an idol and becomes something good. (Charles
Williams, following Dante, would speak of romantic love, too, as something
designed both to be enjoyed and to lead upwards to the love of God.) These
created things are great in themselves, but they are not God. If they are
treated as God, they are demonic and evil. If they are put in their proper
place under God, they are good.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And so, in Long Sun, the goddess of love is redeemed. And in There
Are Doors, the paganish pursuit of love is presented as something that might, in
the end, lead to something good.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I'm sorry this is so rough. Perhaps someone else (with the texts in
front of him/her) can flesh this out a bit more.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>