ddb@mrvax.DEC (DAVID DYER-BENNET MRO1-2/L14 DTN 231-4076) (04/10/84)
To Jeff Sargent, and others wondering about why many of us reject the "Christ changed my life" argument: If the reasons for this aren't obvious, it's hard for me to believe that a simple, rational, explanation will convey much to you, but here it is: The talent of humanity for believing what it wants to is apparently unlimited. Many people have "transcendental" experiences, or claim that some random thing changed their lives. And, if you look, it's true, too; their lives often did change. But that doesn't mean the event they claim as cause was really the cause, or that the event they claim as cause actually occurred outside themselves. This is another variant of the problem of determining, from my non-theistic position, who are the "true" christians. I don't accept the "Christ changed my life" attitude largely because it is indistinguishable from a wide range of hysterical con games being run in the world today.
notes@iuvax.UUCP (04/12/84)
#R:decwrl:-701200:iuvax:1700016:000:354
iuvax!dsaker Apr 11 21:24:00 1984
Reply to ddb:
Right on! Remember, the muslim convert next-door is saying
"Allah changed my life".
The fact that so many converts to so many religions are saying
"XXX changed my life" is support for the argument that the change
is independent of the particular religion.
See my reply #4 to note 114.
Daryel Akerlind
...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!dsakerrjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob]) (04/12/84)
What preventsme from turning your own words on you
that you too have the "unlimited ability to believe
what you want to" ??
Simply because you demonstrate or assert the gullibility
of a bunch of people doesn't mean that everyone that
takes the contra position from you is "wrong" whatever
that means in this context.
Bob Brown {...clyde!akgua!rjb}
AT&T Technologies, Inc.............. Norcross, Ga
(404) 447-3784 ... Cornet 583-3784