Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site siemens.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!houxz!houxm!mhuxl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!eosp1!siemens!wws
From: wws@siemens.UUCP (William W Smith)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: more on atheism
Message-ID: <233@siemens.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Jul-84 18:21:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: siemens.233
Posted: Tue Jul 24 18:21:47 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jul-84 02:43:01 EDT
Organization: Siemens RTL Princeton, NJ
Lines: 25

>> The thing to remember is that both psychic phenomena and religious 
>> experience are subjective, and therefore belief and disbelief make a 
>> definite difference. [John Owen]

>The question arises as to whether what you choose to believe in is valid,
>independent of whether it has an effect on you. [Rich Rosen]


Right!  The skeptic can not accept the improbable, while the believer who acts
as a toy soldier not questioning his assumptions will have incorrect beliefs.
What is true, is true whether you believe it or not.  As a former
agnostic (read "a euphemism for atheist") I knew that Scientific American
could explain all problems, answer all questions....  Then driving to work
there was a story on the radio of a psychic who found a boy lost in the New 
York area.  It didn't fit in with my preconcieved ideas of the universe so I 
started looking elsewhere for answers (while keeping my SA subscription).


I still get Scientific American, but it is no longer an idol which will divulge
the world's secrets for me.  The power of friend's (not all of them Christian)
witness converted me to be a follower of Christ. (I avoid the word Christian 
because it has been misused greatly by groups I consider fanatical like 
Falwell's Flock.)

Bill Smith     ihnp4!astrovax!princeton!siemens!wws