dyl (02/12/83)
I never had any intention to bring the subject of religion up on netnews. I agree that it is a very poor medium. There is no way to force religion on anybody. The only way to win souls is to be ready and patient when people ask and not be arrogant and say that I am too busy. No matter how hot the discussion gets, it is just a discussion and nothing personel. That is the American way. If you noticed, I started responding to couple of news articles that I judged irresponsible. Since then, I received quite a bit of mail most telling me not too politely various things. The most ridicuous person told me that it is a violation G.E.I. and misuse of company equipment and threaten to take the matter up with my supervision. If people are not ashamed to idolize the Greatful Dead publically on the net, I see no reason for me to be ashamed to quote scripture. But I am glad to say that some of the responses I've gotten have been favourable. I should admit that my article about "What would you rather believe" is questionable. I got quite tired of people telling me that Hindulism, bla, bla, bla, are just as good. Instead of replying each individually, I tried to respond publically on the net. I was brought up in Hong Kong as was exposed to more eastern religions than I cared for. All the things mentioned are basic beliefs in eastern religions. I tried to present them in a satire manner and point out how ridiculous some of them are. I have been a Christian for about 2 years and am relatively new. I found it trully shocking when I was first told on the net that the old testament does not apply and that the new testament makes no sense to a Jew. My first response was that it is not possible. Now I see that it is possible because religions do grow and change with time. The Roman Catholic church for example has man-made rules, traditions, and rituals brought in from other religions, none of which are mentioned in the Bible but are judged essential. What I like to do is to confront people back with the Bible when they attack it and see if they can speak confidently about their belief. I also believe that if God is trying to reach us, he would make it as easy as possible (most people disagree because they think anything simple is not good). I like to see people rely less on all kinds of writings that make everything so complicated and fuzzy. In other words, use a minimal set and don't add to it everytime something disagrees. I see no reason for God to make himself a moving target. Dave Lee
pss (02/12/83)
To Dave Lee:
Even an enlightened person like yourself should not call other
people's religious beliefs "ridiculous." There is an old expression
about a pot and a kettle...
Paul Strauss, Brown Univ.
...!{decvax, vax135, yale-comix}!brunix!pss
pss.brown@udel-relay