mat (04/04/83)
----- News saved at Thu Feb 24 08:42:33 1983
MD
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----- News saved at Mon Feb 28 13:58:31 1983
There is a VERY good reason to poll at 300 baud. Some terminals (ie some
brain--damaged TI745s, and *** only knows what else, will DROP the line if
sent a login message at the higher speed. Notice the number sent a login message at the higher speed. Notice the number
----- News saved at Mon Apr 4 00:36:25 1983
Well, Avi Gross has raised another issue that we can toss around for a while.
Do Jews and Christians (and Moslems, and maybe Parsi, and ...) worship the
same God?
Here are my feelings. I hope they get some folks good and mad,
because the furor seems to be dying down out here!
First, do all Christians worship the same God (or, do all XXX worship
the same God?) My answer is no. One person may worship God the merciful
Creator, Redeemer, Guide through life, Who sends rain down upon the just
and unjust alike. Another may worship a God Who counts offenses like second
grade demerits, Who counts every ``goddam'' as a blotch on a person's record,
and who can be endlessly appeased by indugences, candles, and the like.
I find it difficult, in my limited human way, to believe that both are the
same God, and since I believe in one God, and one only, ...
Then the question -- Do I and my Islamic friend both worship the same God can
be answered by the criteria above ... and if we fail, one or both of us, to
understand all there is to know about God, or to accept all that is told to
us as true, then it is a mark of our human frailty, and NOT a crime or sin.
Well, I guess that I have put out enough tinder for now, but I will go further.
SOme months ago, a media Preacher, who claimed to be Christian, said
``God does not hear he prayers of a Jew''. This is inconsistant with my
(limited and faulty) notion of God; and if I were God, I would find it hard
to forgive the preacher. But, fortunately I am not, since the last thing
I need is a God as vindictive or petty as myself. Anyhow, if there are any
people other than preachers out there now, what are your views on that incident?
Mark Terribile
-!hou5e!mat
(Duke of deNet)hutch (04/05/83)
Mark (Duck of DeNet) Terribile quoted the (in)famous incident where a
TV preacher made the absurd claim that God does not listen to Jews.
Clearly the man is wrong. If he were to read in his Bible, he would
see that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, a Jew, is now our intercessor
and High Priest, praying and interceding for us. If God did not hear the
prayers of a Jew, then He would not hear the prayers of His own Son.
The place where I usually see these so-called evangelists justifying their
arrogant and racist claim is from the assertion that God is allowing the
Gentiles to be reconciled to Him, and that this is possible because of the
hard-heartedness (read hard-headedness in more modern language) of the Jews
in not accepting Jesus as the Messiah and their Saviour.
An interesting but not directly relevant point that refers to the concept of
the afterlife:
C.S. Lewis made the point to Sheldon Vanaucken ("A Severe Mercy")
that the afterlife was a relatively recent concept, that the early
Hebrews had no such developed concept. The analogy was made that
it would have been a most unseemly combination of bribe and threat
to come to the Chosen People and present them with heaven and hell
before they had an understanding of who God really is, but that
after they knew, and accepted Him as their God, that this new thing
was a gift of great value.
-Hutch