>In TRiH, the author explores the nature of the Rebellion along the lines of >a 'What If?' What if Yahweh was not utterly omniscient? What if the >ideological debate was not over the pre-eminence of Man or whatever other >story one prefers? What if -- and this is the most -important- 'what if' >in >the entire book -- what if, at the beginning of all things, people had no >concept of -lying-?? I think that you hit the nail on the head. The only characters who seemed to have any idea of the concept, save Abdiel, was his nemesis Mephistopheles. >This, truly, is one half of the very core of the book. Abdiel lies. The tragic thing about Abdiel is that he is a very intelligent angel, in all actuality, but that he lets his fears drive him. >The other half of the core of the book -- something which is revealed at >the very end -- is that both Satan and Yahweh are massively prideful >individuals. Neither will back down, especially when Yeshuah points out >that everyone >will laugh them out of Heaven if they admit to having been >hornswoggled. Although Satan is, at least, capable of admitting his failures, even if only grudgingly and too late for them to matter. >From Yahweh's point of view, he didn't lie and, really, he didn't -- he >exaggerated massively, though, but this does not make him a 'lying, deluded >tyrant'; I objected to that, as well. In the book, Yaweh is brought to a point where he believes that he must purpetuate Abdiel's lies, however, and that does mean that he purpetuates the monarchy that Abdiel set up around him. If Yaweh, in TRiH, does have a failing beyond the egotism he shares with Satan, it is that he is too willing to allow the ends to justify the means. I am doubtful that, if the situations were reversed, given the characterizations that Brust provided, that Satan Satan would have been willing to go along with Abdiel's recommendations. I may be wrong, though. >it just makes him the victim of massive flattery and caught in a >very bad position whence there is no escape. Well, there was an escape, but one that he could not allow himself: he could have admitted that he was decieved. But there we go back to the questions of ego. Of course, given all the havok that had been wrecked, at that point, I think that it's safe to say that he would have been more than just laughed out of Heaven. >To call this one >presumption 'snarky, conceited atheism' is to do the work and its author >each a vast disservice; Particularly without having given the actual text a reading. To speak to Mia: you seem like a really nice person, but I can't understand why you are so eager to judge a work by the scantest of first impressions and on the basis of second-person hearsay. I can't guarantee you that you would like the book, nor can I guarantee that a full reading wouldn't, in your mind, confirm your impressions, anyway, but I really don't think that you ought to judge this book on the basis of what you have. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 3 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail&xAPID=42&PS=47575&PI=7324&DI=7474&SU= http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/getmsg&HL=1216hotmailtaglines_advancedjmf_3mf