wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (01/05/84)
Well, I have ploughed through both Tim's and David's articles and have decided to cast my vote for the most thought provoking argument. Tim gets my vote by a mile. I'm sorry David, but your continual falling back on the tired old arguments, supported by jumping around in the Scriptures to justify them, was not as convincing as Tim's jumping around. I guess Tim and I will just have to settle for eternal damnation. On the other hand, if we don't believe, how can there be such a thing? I have always found wading through the Bible akin to reading War and Peace, tedious. It was a somewhat interesting collection of myths, historical sketches, and biographies, but the hand of the editors over the years has taken its toll. I found that the myths, histories, and biographies written during the same period as the Bible to be no more or no less interesting when taken into context. It is a great selection of short stories from the period, but the publishers, just as they do today, left out more than they put in, probably due to the same biases that publishers have today. You might as well know, David, that I have a closed mind on the subject of the existance of god. More lousy things have been done to people under the guise of "saving their souls" than can be counted. The christian(?) attitude of "worship my god or else" sticks in my craw. I might be convinced that the great god Hack existed if every time I sat down to this terminal and sacrificed a pile of listings to the eternal flame, nothing ever went wrong :-). But, that is not about to happen, so, when I hit that final "q", just throw this mortal coil into the ocean where I can feed some fishes. I don't expect anything more after the crash, and in fact, eternal life sounds extremely boring. On the other hand, David, please do not construe my blatherings to be an attempt to dissuade you from your beliefs. If your faith in the existance of god sustains you, far be it from me to change your mind. I just don't want to be "saved". I would rather invest in just trying to be a good person and trying not to step on other peoples toes. I don't need a god to show me how to live my life. After all, isn't that what chistianity is all about? I don't have to "join up" to be able to perform as a good human being. If I recall correctly, several of the people who were raised to sainthood by the catholics never professed to be christians, they just lived their lives that way. So, Tim, I found your article very interesting and thought provoking. David, Your article was also interesting, but I have heard all of the arguments before and they did not impress me then and don't now. The idea of pride being a sin is too much of a catchall for me. If there isn't a convenient sin to put some "evil" under, then throw it into the pride hopper. It seems to cover everything else that can't be catagorized easily. To me it is just another ploy to keep the masses in line and supress their curiosity. Thus I come to the end, where I am off "free willing" down the highway of life, stumbling on the curb now and then. T. C. Wheeler pyuxa!wetcw