Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mib@churchy.ai.mit.edu (Michael I Bushnell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Laws of the Old and New Covenants Message-ID: Date: 13 Mar 91 08:12:47 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Free Software Foundation, Cambridge, MA Lines: 35 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article brendan@cs.uq.oz.au (Brendan Mahony) writes: [These three lines quoted from Douglas Adams: ] Bartfast: I'd far rather be happy than right. Dent: And are you? Happy I mean. Bartfast: No, you see. That is where it all falls down. By all means, put these sins of promiscuity and fornication to this loving test. They always fail. Do they? Let's ask: have you put them to the test? Do you have any experimental data to support this rather bald statement? Do you know anyone personally who has put them to the test? Christians and non-Christians? Americans, Africans, Chinese, Russians, ...? What about people who disagree with the statement you make and are promiscuous? Are they all unhappy too? Have you checked with them? Have you conducted broad surveys of people having extra-marital sex? Do they universally (remember the word that you used: "always") find themselves unhappy? It is grossly irresponsible to make assertions like this which are experimentally testable, *have been tested*, and have been found false. In fact, it's just that sort of irresponsibility which leads many people to conclude that Christianity is a superstitious religion not worthy of concern by thinking people. I do wish it would somehow stop. I agree that promiscuity (by which I mean sex without regard for the people involved) and fornication (by which I mean sex outside a committed loving relationship) are evils to be avoided. But I believe that *not* because they somehow always bring one to ruin, for that simply doesn't always happen. -mib