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From: tmh@ihldt.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: re:Stranger in a Strange Land
Message-ID: <2127@ihldt.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Dec-83 11:16:06 EST
Article-I.D.: ihldt.2127
Posted: Mon Dec  5 11:16:06 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Dec-83 23:48:48 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, Il
Lines: 30


    I have given serious thought to this and it does in fact fit in
with my beliefs as to the nature of the Universe.  I feel
that I am a conscious manifestation of God (as is every other
living thing).  I don't believe that God is either anthromorphic
or sentient.  I do believe that God is alive, omnipresent and all
powerful (since I equate power with God).
    It has been a long time since I have read Stranger in a
Strange land, but it seems to me to be mostly a condemnation, by
Heinlein, of organized religion.  There is the concept of Groking
which is a nice and workable human interface and hedonism in
religion (which is about all that would make me join one again). 
The most interesting thing I find about SiaSL is its close
relation (in terms of expressing Heilein's thoughts about the
Universe) to two other of Heinlein's books: The Moon is a Harsh
Mistress (political) and Starship Trooper (military).  Each of the
books has a character that seems to be Heinlein himself running
around and the central character in each book ends up dead without
having fulfilled the task he set out to do.
    The Science Fiction book which I feel comes closest expressing
my own beliefs on the interface between God and man is the ending
of Childhood's End.  (Most of the book (as it pertains to God) is
outside what I believe (esp. the fact that God can manifest
himself, can communicate with living beings, and is destructive),
but the joining of the children's souls with God describes my
feeling as to what happens at death and I envision a similar event
at the creation of life.)

				Cognito ergo sum,
				Tom Harris
				ihnp4!ihldt!tmh