Morg and Nivlac Luap

{Note: This is taken from Tom Talbott's parable "Morg and Nivlac." It is available here. I have copied and pasted it almost verbatim, changing rather inconsequential details. That is, the essence is the same, and so the critiques implied against Nivlac by the parable work equally against Luap. Vic Reppert had said that Talbott's parable was a "challenge" for Calvinists. Unfortunately Calvin simply repeated what the Apostle Paul wrote, and thus whatever can be leveled against Calvin can be leveled against Paul. So, this is a challenge for Paulists.}


The Parable of Morg and Luap

Consider the following parable:

Long ago in ancient Atlantis, a series of prophets appeared among the Atlantans and spoke in the name of Morg, whom they proclaimed as the one true God of the universe. In the name of Morg, these prophets performed many mighty deeds: They healed the sick, brought sight to the blind, and even raised a few men and women from the dead. They spoke with great power and authority, preaching absolute obedience to Morg, whose holy and just character, they said, could not tolerate wicked disobedience. They called for economic justice, for peaceful relationships between the states, for children to obey their parents and parents to love their children, and for the people to engage in certain prescribed forms of worship. They also produced many writings: letters, sermons, historical accounts, and the like; and in later centuries, these were collected into a set of sacred scriptures called, The Older Way. Though the scriptures included a rich variety of religious writings, not all of which were easy to harmonize, especially the sayings of later prophets (called The Newer Way, which would eventually join with The Older Way to become the Book of Morg)) converts to Morgism nonetheless came to regard them all as the inerrant word of Morg.

Now the Atlantans were generally a dark skinned people, but it so happened that about one in five was albino, totally devoid of any skin pigmentation. There was no discernible pattern to this phenomenon. An albino parent was no more likely than a dark-skinned parent to have an albino child; and though approximately 20% of the population was albino, no one could predict when an albino child would be born. But the Book of Morg had some important things to say about this phenomenon; certain texts seemed to imply that white skin was an abomination in the sight of Morg. To be sure, the interpretation of these texts, sometimes classified among the "hard sayings," was controversial, in part because they seemed incompatible with other texts. But Azeb 8:22 explicitly used the term "abomination," and many other texts seemed to imply that albinos would have no place in the Kingdom of Morg. According to Morgist fundamentalists, therefore, there was no salvation for albinos; and so the fundamentalists excluded albinos from the holy temples, and they supported laws against intermarriage between albinos and the dark-skinned majority.

As you might expect, however, these practices produced some great theological controversies. Those whom the fundamentalists castigated as liberals pointed to other texts in the book of Morg that seemed to declare Morg's love for all Atlantans; they even pointed out that, according to Epaga 13:5, there are no color distinctions at all in the Kingdom of Morg. And philosophers among the more liberal party supplemented these exegetical considerations with the following philosophical argument: If Morg is truly holy and just, they contended--and if his very essence is perfect love--then he could not possibly hate the albinos and exclude them from his Kingdom simply on account of their white skin. But the fundamentalists had a whole arsenal of arguments against such considerations as these. They found some fifty texts in the Book of Morg in which the word "all" did not literally mean all, and they therefore argued that the more universalistic-sounding texts imply only that Morg loves all Atlantans of color. After all, one must harmonize one text with another. If there are no color distinctions in the Kingdom of Morg, for example, that is only because the albinos have already been excluded. The fundamentalists also responded with great anger towards the more philosophical arguments: The liberals, they claimed, had elevated human reason above the Book of Morg, which should be the ultimate standard of truth. But the liberals had no right to judge Morg; it was Morg who would eventually judge them.

And so the controversies raged among the Morgists until Luap, a prophet of the order of the Newer Way, put an end to all such controversies by the power of the sword--which, he claimed, Morg had placed in his hand. According to Luap, Morg did not hate the albinos on account of anything they had done, good or bad; he did not even hate them on account of their white skin. To the contrary, their white skin was but a visible sign that Morg had already hated them from the foundation of the world. Against the liberal party--"I wish they would emasculate themselves!," Luap wrote:

And not only so, but also when Hakeber had conceived children by one man, our forefather Caasi,though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that Morg’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, 'your dark-skinned children have I loved, but your Albino I have hated.'

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on Morg’s part? By no means! For he says to Sesom, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on Atlantan will or exertion, but on Morg, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Hoarahp 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?' But who are you, O man, to answer back to Morg? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if Morg, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the albinos prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called.”

Luap went on to make two additional points: first, that Albinos have a futility of minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of Morg because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart, becayse they were not chosen in Morg's Son - the Savior - before the foundation of the world. And second, that nothing in Morg's nature prevents him from hating the albinos. Accordingly, Morg's hatred "has its own justice--unknown, indeed to us but very sure." Luap thus concluded that any argument from a human conception of justice is fundamentally misconceived: "Who are you, O man, to answer back to Morg?” Luap thus mocks human understanding: Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not Morg made foolish the wisdom of the world? And so Luap left his followers with this: “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness.” And so of the liberal philosophers Luap says, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” This great theologian laid down the law and the great antithesis by saying, “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.” By saying that he made sure that he would control the minds of his followers.