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From: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: The Revelation to Mike Huybensz
Message-ID: <502@cybvax0.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Apr-85 00:49:31 EST
Article-I.D.: cybvax0.502
Posted: Wed Apr 24 00:49:31 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Apr-85 04:22:00 EST
References: <4881@umcp-cs.UUCP> <471@cybvax0.UUCP> <5087@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz)
Distribution: net
Organization: Cybermation, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Lines: 32
Summary: 

In article <5087@umcp-cs.UUCP> mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) writes:
> Well, the obvious difference I see is that there is a long chain of analysis
> and examination (not to mention person-to-person witness) between me and the
> supposed origin of the church.  You seem to be falling into the
> fundamentalist heresy, Mike;  church tradition is also important in
> determining the nature of christian belief.

A longer game of "telephone": not only in accretions to the original
interpretations, but also in the cultural assumptions that determine
the interpretations.  That's the good part of the fundamentalist heresy.
The bad part is that they still take the bible seriously.

> Well, I must apologize-- I'VE never heard the passage used that way.  I
> suppose there are people out there who use this passage in that fashion.  I
> can see how, in a certain way, the analogy to Satan holds-- but only in as
> much as Satan stands for material desires and impulses.  The analogy that you
> are like Satan AND therefore evil is false.

False analogies and other fallacies are still incredibly powerful, as any
study of popular politics would show.  And religions sweep a lot under the
rug when they insist on faith rather than logic.  Must we count the
millions whose deaths were justified by falsehoods?

> _Pilgrim's Regress_ is [gasp] another C. S. Lewis book, one of the two whose
> insights are especially good (_Screwtape_ is the other, for the curious).

In that case, I'll definitely read it.  Screwtape is incredibly good:
if Mere Christianity and others of its ilk were anywhere near as good, I
might be persuaded.  Thanks for the recommendation.
-- 

Mike Huybensz		...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh