...make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one . . . who mouths justice and invented hell — mouths mercy...obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him.' Can it be considered that doctrines such as this are likely to be beneficial to the average ignorant...

...of the deity: "A God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad cues ; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never...obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him ! ' ' "He giveth his beloved sleep," saith the scriptures, and to those who are not his beloved he...

...maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths golden rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy...obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!" "He giveth his beloved sleep," saith the scriptures, and to those who are not his beloved he giveth—hell....

...his angels painless lives, yet cursed hi; other children with biting miseries and maladies of mine and body ; who mouths justice and invented hell —...obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him ! ' ' ' ' He giveth his beloved sleep, ' ' saith the scriptures, and to those who are not his beloved...

...hell — mouths mercy and invented hell — mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied by seven times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals...responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honourably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness,...

...atheistic argument into a similar space. He concludes with a powerful but horrible paragraph : "Strange that you should not have suspected that your universe...obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him! " It is hard to recognize in this strangely perverse misinterpretation of Christian theology the words...

...Mark, to save his own credit, puts into the mouth of Satan in The Mysterious Stranger: "A God . . . who mouths justice and invented hell — mouths mercy...obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!" In conclusion, perhaps one may introduce oneself, not in the least as connected with all these distinguished...

...terrible contradictions (foremost among them, a self that contains an alien other within, and a God "who created man without invitation, then tries to...shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man"), or to escape by extinguishing that reality, transforming it into a fiction, "a grotesque and foolish...

...rules, and forgiveness multiplied seventy times seven, and invented hell, who mouths morals to others and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet...with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor slave to worship him." —Mark Twain in "The Mysterious Stranger," available at library or book store....

...yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility of man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing...obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship Him." To be sure, the stranger announces himself as an angel and, when asked for his name, replies, "Satan."...