Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Were the gods to boast of their followers, what would they say?

I recently finished the book, Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. And I'm nearly done with the fourth book in the series, Children of the Mind. (I going way out of order only because that's how the library got the books to me and I wasn't really paying attention when I started in on book 4.)

They are both very thought provoking books (which is probably why Card has won both Hugo and Nebula awards for his writing). In the fourth book, there are quotes from what I believe is a fictitious book called The God Whispers of Han Qing Jao. The following quote certainly hits a chord.

"Do the gods of different nations talk to each other?
Do the gods of Chinese cities speak to the ancestors of the Japanese?
To the lords of Xibalba? To Allah? Yahweh? Vishnu?
Is there some annual get-together where they compare each other's worshippers?
Mine will bow their faces to the floor and trace woodgrain lines for me, says one.
Mine will sacrifice animals, says another.
Mine will kill anyone who insults me, says a third.
Here is the question I think of most often:
Are there any who can honestly boast,
My worshippers obey my good laws, and treat each other kindly, and live simple generous lives?

from The God Whisperers of Han Qing Jao"
by Scott Orson Card in his book, Children of the Mind

6 comments:

  1. I like that quote a lot. BTW, the Enders series is one of my brother-in-laws favorites. He's always talking about them. I have to ask him to lend them to me.

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  2. scary quote.

    (mind you, when God did boast like that about someone, that guy got a very hard time, didn't he...)

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  3. good point. hadn't thought of Job.

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  4. Was Job a real person or just a parable?

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