bch@unc.UUCP (06/23/83)
Ray, I think somehow you missed the point again. Fanatics and martyrs are driven by evil as well as good causes. One's dedication to a cause is no measure of the correctness of the cause. Lot's of people in history have been dedicated to a cause beyond all reasonable expectation. If we like what they are doing we call them dedicated. If we don't understand what they are doing we call them fanatics. If we *dislike* what they are doing we call them psychotics. The intensity of their belief is measurably the same irrespective of *what* they believe. Lots of folks have written major works under terrible conditions. Paul is one. Adolph Hitler and the Marquis de Sade are others. That they were all equally dedicated to what they were doint g does not mean I have to respect all or any of them. Byron Howes UNC - Chapel Hill
rcj1@ihuxi.UUCP (06/29/83)
In response to one of my articles, Mr. Plank asks: >How do you "know" that the Bible was written by holy men inspired by the >Holy Spirit? And please, please, PLEASE don't give any evidence derived >from the Bible since it is obvious to anyone who has graduated from second >grade that such reasoning is circular. My response to him was: Imagine this: The era, sometime after the death and resurrection of Christ. The place, probably a hole dug out of the ground deep enough to contain a man, with no running water, no toilet, hot and dusty and called a prison cell. The man, you! Now tell me, what would you be thinking about? What would you be doing? The point I'm trying to get across is that of all the books of the N.T. Paul wrote about 14 of them. At the same time he wrote many of these 14, he was rotting in prison!! Now I ask you what would be the driving force behind his actions while in prison? Don't quote me on the number stated above. He responded by saying: >Imagine this: >The era, sometime after the death and resurrection of Christ. >The place, probably a hole dug out of the ground deep enough to >contain a man, with no running water, no toilet, hot and dusty >and called a prison cell. >The man, Adolph Hitler! >Now tell me, what would you be thinking about? What would you be doing? >The point I'm trying to get across is that of all the books of Mein Kampf >Hitler wrote each of them. At the same time he wrote Mein Kampf, >he was rotting in prison!! Now I ask you what would be the driving force >behind his actions while in prison? >P.S. Hitler's name is only one of many notorious names I could substitute here. >This is hardly a convincing argument unless you've already made up your mind >and are grasping at straws to reinforce your own ideas. I feel compelled to respond to this on the net rather then private mail for the benefit of all netters. I fail to see what Hitler and Apostle Paul had in common.. (Don't tell me your afraid the Christians will overthrow the government! What a battle, the U.S. Marines vs. the Christians...). And please I've heard it before (that Hitler was Christian) and I'm still laughing it off... If you really want to compare Hitler to someone try this on for size: WOMEN EXECUTED: Iran Saturday (6/18) hanged 10 women belonging to the Baha'i faith, bringing the total number of Baha'is executed last week in Shiraz to 16, according to Gerald Knight of the Baha'i International Community in New York. Since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power in Feb.,1979, Knight said, 141 members of Irans 350,000 Baha'is have been executed in an attempt to crush the religion. The Baha'i faith believes in universal education and equality of the sexes. (Chicago Sun-Times 6/20/83) (Sorry, but its thumbs down to all Khomeini fans...) In my opinion, Hitler, Khomeini and any others who turn to violence in order to suppress another race or religion are nothing but anti-christs.. As far as the driving force behind Hitler? Just his committing suicide should tell you something, eh? Case closed on him... Hmmmm, did I say suicide? Rings a bell. Did'nt Judas hang himself? I think you know why. In closing, don't forget this country was founded on Christianity, and it'll probably end on Christianity but it won't end because of Christianity (or Buddaism, Judaism, etc.) either. I believe George Washington once said something to the effect: "Should this country ever decay it will not be because of outside influences but from within." Just look around and you can see what he was talking about. The morals of this country are about as low as they can go. Is this because of religion? I believe its because of a lack of it. Ray Jender ihuxi!rcj1 P.S. So please Mr. Plank and/or others. Don't be so quick to compare Christians with the likes of Hitler when there are non-Christian religious leaders killing others at this very minute!!!