From: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!qubix!lab
Newsgroups: net.religion
Title: The-week-in-review
Article-I.D.: qubix.181
Posted: Mon Mar 28 18:12:34 1983
Received: Tue Mar 29 06:56:37 1983

(Posted a day late to avoid the weekend accumulation.) 
First, cheers to Larry West for posting the first article that was really
worth putting into net.religion (regarding televised religious services).
Now, the week in review (chill blood to 4 Celsius):

To clear up a logic case and reiterate a point:
Every religion is BY ITS NATURE opposed to every other religion
(which also implies the impossibility of Randal's request).

If one of the tenets of A is "B is wrong," and one of B's tenets is "A is
right," both cannot be true - a logical impossibility. To see:
	A => A & ~B
	B => A & B		(use implication of A)
	  => (A & ~B) & B	(use associativity of &)
	  => A & (~B & B)	(the latter is necessarily false)
	  => A & False		(anything & False is False)
	  => False
A False conclusion demands at least one False hypothesis
(and my philosophy instructor certainly wasn't a Christian).

A lot of the net.religion arguments are striving after the wind. One of the
basic recurring themes I see is the concept of the finite God, i.e.,
"Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself" Psalm 50:21.
If indeed their god is not themselves, they want that god to be accountable
to them, and not to interfere if they want to go their own way. Perhaps
what they want is Aladdin's genie; the God of Israel doesn't fill the bill.

This is directly opposed to the Creator/creation relationship in the Bible.
God is Supreme - period. He does what He wants, when He wants, the way He
wants, and answers to no one. If He creates something with a will and it
disobeys, He has every right to destroy it (except for Noah, none of us
would be). His nature is Absolute perfection; His justice demands absolute
perfection; His love provided the way for the less-than-perfect to be made
perfect (II Cor. 5:21) - a perfect substitute to take the punishment
demanded by perfect justice. I'll admit God is tyrannical - II Peter 2:1
"Lord" is translated from the Greek "despot" - considering His position, I
won't argue with Him. I'm just glad I'm delivered from wrath and on the
winning side. Considering what God had to work with, that is LOVE!

Specific replies:

Avi: "I could not be convinced by anyone who did not follow any of the
rules I like to play the game by." Who made you the authority on the rules?
  You say you are against efforts on state religions - will you also help to
keep the courts from making Humanism America's state religion?
  As far as "alternate explanations" are concerned - even 1st century Jews
could see the connection between the crucifixion and Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
  You have given your opinion of the "original translation" of the Hebrew
Bible. If you mean the Septuagint, sorry - it was the one in use in Jesus'
day, and quoted by Jesus, Peter, Paul, and John (or did "parthenos" in
Isaiah 7:14 bother you?). Congratulations on your eight languages - you've
only got another 37 to go to catch Robert Dick Wilson of the 1800's.

Don: Sorry I can't control the use of "Christian" or "fundamentalist." Many
of the acts done by the "church" during the Dark Ages were done to people
who today would be called fundamentalist Baptists! You have spoken of
rights; I would speak of responsibilities. You have never seen critics of
the fundamentalists ... declare a teacher unfit for holding Christian
beliefs? Tell that to the science teacher in South Dakota, who was fired
after 17 years on the job for presenting ONCE evidence for creation.
Humanists get all the free speech they want because the courts have made it
the de facto state religion; a fundamentalist preacher in Texas was forced
off the air for saying that homosexuality is a sin. Transcendental
Meditation and horoscopes are allowed in schools, but not the Almighty.

Three general points:
"Inspiration" - Theopneustos - "God-breathed" - The Scriptures, the words
themselves, are the breath of God. Not the writers, not the readers, but
the words. Whatever thought God gave to the writer, when pen met parchment,
what was scribed was God's word.

I will grant there are a lot of counterfeit Christians. Why aren't there
counterfeits of any other religion? A counterfeit implies something of
value - the more counterfeits, the more valuable the genuine.

As long as man is made the final judge of [name your religion], no one is
going to get anywhere. The standard for judgment is superior to the item
judged, and pursuing a case with one who has a different standard is
fruitless. Consider before posting.
					Be glad to read any mail,
					Larry Bickford
					decvax!decwrl!qubix!lab