Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!yale!husc6!uwvax!caip!nike!ucbcad!ucbvax!brahms!gsmith
From: gsmith@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Gene Ward Smith)
Newsgroups: net.religion,talk.religion
Subject: A Stuart D. Gathman Miscellany
Message-ID: <15515@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Tue, 2-Sep-86 06:59:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.15515
Posted: Tue Sep  2 06:59:37 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 9-Sep-86 04:42:26 EDT
References: <1637@ames.UUCP> <180@BMS-AT.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: gsmith@brahms.UUCP (Gene Ward Smith)
Distribution: net
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 51
Xref: linus net.religion:10672 talk.religion:37

In article <180@BMS-AT.UUCP> stuart@BMS-AT.UUCP (Stuart D. Gathman) writes:

>A christian does (should?) not accept Humanism because it tries to
>improve the human race without God.  Trying to run our lives without
>consulting the manufacturer or His intructions is how we got
>into such a mess in the first place!

>An existentialist does (should?) not accept Humanism because he knows
>that any supposed 'improvement' is illusory.

    There are Christian humanists (Maritain) and existentialists 
(Kirkegaard). You seem to have a idiosyncratic definition of both.
It saves wear and tear on the brain to use standard definitions!

>When I first heard about the horror of pornography, I went out and 
>found a copy of Playboy.  I avoided the pictures (hoping to have a happy
>marriage someday) and read several articles.  My conclusion: the articles
>were typical of magazines and only occasionally disgusting.  People must
>buy it for the pictures. 

   I suggest you forget about researching pornography. Buying Playboy in
order not to look at the pictures is not the right way to go about this,
I am sure. Incidently, I once found a copy of Playboy at my mother's house.
She bought it for the Jimmy Carter interview. This makes at least two 
people who *didn't* buy it for the pictures -- you, and my mother.

>(Note, the 'StarWars' series
>also contains anti-christian elements, especially in 'The Empire Strikes
>Back'.  Nevertheless I have found it consistently entertaining and
>stimulating.)

   I think you are confusing 'non-Christian' with 'anti-Christian'. Or
what in ESB did you think was *opposed* to Christianity?

>Since I watch so few movies, perhaps a list of the ones I have seen
>and would see again will attract some flames. 

>The Black Hole  (2 times)

   An all-time horrible movie! Double-ugh!

>The Time Bandits	(2 times)

    I think this is closer to being anti-Christian than ESB. Two times?

>LadyHawk	(2 times)

   Black magic by an evil cleric. Hmmm ...

ucbvax!brahms!gsmith     Gene Ward Smith/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720
"What is algebra exactly? Is it those three-cornered things?"J.M. Barrie