[ribman at manthey.com.au]

i love philosophy debates ... 
no-one has tacked around the aspect of this lyric regarding "is he a GOOD 
man"
ie: a foundational assumption of religious followings is that their deity is 
NOT deliberately deceiving them.  ie: unstated assumption #1 within 
christianity is "God is benevolent".  this is a possible puzzle proffered by 
the MTM lyric: we assume god is 'male', and more subtly, we assume the 
deific is 'good' (not messing with our heads).  
there are other more base assumptions involved in religious pursuit such 
as 'there IS a deific layer', "the deific layer is static (vs dynamic)", 'the 
deific layer is singular (vs plural)', 'text X describes the deific accurately', ... 
i'm sure i could pop out a few more if anyone's interested.
remember ... this is philosophy. and by such a glimpse of possible MO lyric 
meanings.  don't confuse this with a religious debate ... my comment is not 
intended as such ... (anyone wanting to pursue such with me personally .. 
off list would be 'the go').

cheers
rob, son of a son of a son of a son of a man who died because his beard 
caught fire.


On 14 Apr 2004 at 6:30, Mathias Hermansson wrote:

From:           	"Mathias Hermansson" <hermanator51 at hotmail.com>
Subject:        	RE: [Powderworks] lyrics help? - has become NMOC by now
Copies to:      	Date sent:      	Wed, 14 Apr 2004 06:30:13 +0000
To:             	bcurran at columbus.rr.com, sena.reisenweaver at verizon.net,
	powderworks at cs.colorado.edu

> Close but no cigarr, Beth!
> 
> Even that way I don't think it does justice to the great divine. The 
> gender-neutral word "man" does imply the meaning "mankind" which would make 
> the lyrics say that God was a good being of mankind. I don't like to think 
> that God is of mankind. He/She must, IMHO, be of another kind, otherwise God 
> would not be Divine/Holy/God but just some big boss...
> 
> I Ould not agree the God is a good MAN or for that sake a good WOMAN but 
> rather God is a good GOD!
> 
> /Herman - son of a daughter of a preacherman
> 
> 
> >Well, the word "man" does have a gender-neutral meaning when used as an
> >abstract pronoun, though admittedly it's not much used that way nowadays
> >- But the gender-neutral usage of "man" also pops up in Renaissance Man,
> >even if they did toss in a "woman" there at the end to sorta even things
> >out. - Beth
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: powderworks-bounces at cs-lists.cs.colorado.edu
> >[mailto:powderworks-bounces at cs-lists.cs.colorado.edu] On Behalf Of
> >Glitch
> >Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:10 PM
> >To: powderworks at cs.colorado.edu
> >Subject: Re: [Powderworks] lyrics help?
> >
> >I guess that's why I never much liked MTM; I resist the idea of God as a
> >man, and when I first heard this song as a kid was incapable of
> >understanding irony, sarcasm, satire, or however else you might
> >otherwise
> >interpret this lyric.  Never much liked it since.  Time for another
> >listen,
> >this time with "grown up" ears.
> >
> >Thanks to all who helped on the Phar Lap thing.  I knew Phar Lap was a
> >racehorse and always wondered how or why he would be floating in a jar;
> >thought maybe phar lap meant something different in this context.
> >
> >-GB
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >got your last meal filled up with pesticide
> >hamburger chain third world infanticide
> >got robot car your job will disappear
> >it's called the politics of a brand new year
> >some say that's progress i say that's cruel
> >
> >--midnight oil
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> > > That would be way better, a great lyric and idea. "Everybody say God
> >is
> > > a good man" means arrogant presumption on the part of people to even
> > > assume that God is a man. And in that light, the lyric "Is he his own
> > > man?" (as opposed to being the "man" some people presume "he" is) is
> > > brilliant. I hope it's what they meant.
> > >
> > > -Jim
> > >
> > >
> > > On Apr 11, 2004, at 8:15 PM, Andy Gillcrist wrote:
> > >
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>> 1.  Reckon it still is "Is he a Soul Man" on the original CD
> > >>
> > >> To me, this has always sounded like "Is he his own man?"  And I
> > >> even thought I saw that written down somewhere, but I'm damned
> > >> if I can remember where now.
> > >>
> > >> Andy
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
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> > >>
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