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From: nowlin@ihu1e.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Wishful thinking (religion)
Message-ID: <311@ihu1e.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Sep-84 05:50:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihu1e.311
Posted: Wed Sep  5 05:50:59 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Sep-84 07:08:16 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 49


>>     [Jeff Sargent]
>>     I think the wishful thinking is on your side; you don't want
>>     there to be a God,
>>
>>[John T. Nelson]
>>That's what I think of people who say they've met God or know God
>>intimately.  They rush head-long to the conclusion that most appeals
>>to them... that they have experienced some sort of personal and
>>meaningfull communion with the diety.  What is required here is a healthy
>>sense of what is real and what might very well be your own thoughts.

>What about those of us who had no desire to be Christian, wanted
>nothing to do with Christianity, in fact LOATHED the very idea,
>and yet became Christians?  Have we rushed headlong to the
>conclusion we found most appealing?
>
>I am in this class, and so do not find it very compelling
>when people tell me that I'm a Christian because I needed/wanted
>a psychological crutch, or because it's what I wanted to believe,
>or because I found it comforting to believe, or some variant
>on one of these...
>--
>Paul DuBois          {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois

This is an interesting concept.  I know lots of  very  intelligent  successful
people  who  profess  christianity as a way of life.  I can't conceive of them
faking this belief any more than I believe they need a  panacea  like  eternal
life  to sleep at night.  That doesn't mean I understand their belief.

While I remain a confirmed  skeptic  I  admit  that  accounts  of  modern  day
conversions,  where the change of mind is as radical as Paul DuBois claims his
was, are mystifying.  What kind of personal experience has to  take  place  to
convince  people  with  all  their  defenses up?  I assume a good example of a
conversion like Paul DuBois experienced would be  Saul/Paul  on  the  road  to
Damascus  (you  have to assume the accounts in the new testament are factual).
Even  a  blinding  light  accompanied  by   a   disembodied   voice   wouldn't
automatically signify divinity to me.

I know some people, who after living  with  a  person  with  strong  religious
beliefs, have slowly been converted.  Others were raised in a family that made
religion such an integral part of their life they never bothered  to  question
whether it was right or not.  This kind of faith is understandable even though
I don't think it's based on the correct foundation (who am I to define  what's
correct  though).  It's the abrupt instantaneous "miraculous" conversions that
I have questions about.  Anybody got answers?

Jerry Nowlin
ihnp4!ihu1e!nowlin