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From: stuart@BMS-AT.UUCP (Stuart D. Gathman)
Newsgroups: net.religion,talk.religion
Subject: Re: Banning books, religion etc...
Message-ID: <191@BMS-AT.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 6-Sep-86 17:42:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: BMS-AT.191
Posted: Sat Sep  6 17:42:12 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 9-Sep-86 06:16:29 EDT
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Xref: linus net.religion:10753 talk.religion:71
Summary: More astonishingly discriminating ideas.


I am pleased to see a plethora of response to my article on discrimination
in entertainment.  Now let me blow your minds further by extending the
discussion to truth in general.

I belong to an ancient sect which believes, among other things, in absolute
truth.  This means that any problem discussed on the net has a correct
answer: not necessarily any of the answers proposed by net readers, myself
included.  There are a number of consequences to this absurd belief of
which the following are an incomplete list.

a	In order to be meaningful (to us), truth must be available
	to us in some way.
	
b	"It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you're sincere"
	-- this is a deadly philosophy.

c	Information is not of uniform value.  The 1979 telephone book
	for Northern Virginia is probably 99.99% accurate (for 1979).
	Perhaps I should memorize it to improve my personal grasp
	on truth.  :-)

d	Rational government does not obey the whims of a dictator, or the
	whims of a majority, but is based on law.  (This means that
	many discussions in net.abortion and net.politics would have
	been moot 200 years ago and seem ludicrous to members of our sect.)

e	Some good things are more valuable than others.  Watching a movie
	every night can be very educational, but will have tragic results 
	unless you make your living as a critic.  (Question: Why do we
	have movie critics?  Could it have anything to do with (c) or (e)?)

Eating garbage:

	Here is a better analogy.  I love (adore) potato chips.  
	      (Especially with sour cream and onion.)
	What would happen if I gave in to my desires and ate
	nothing but potato chips?

Closed Minds:

	I have already read countless books by humanists and new-agers.  
	I don't need one more movie to round out my knowlege of their thinking.

Existentialists:

	I have read many books by Camus, Kaftka, et al.  My own impressions
	and those of analysts of literature agree in placing existentialists
	with the writer of Ecclesiastes.  There are, of course, many more
	schools of thought which call themselves "existential".  This is
	because true existentialism has a reputation from ancient times
	for consistent (if somewhat depressing) world views.

Christians:

	"Man is capable of self-fulfillment [without God]."
	-- this statement is the antithesis of Biblical christianity.
	(James 4:13-17, Job 38, Psalm 2, Genesis 3, etc.  Please read
	in context: apologies for lengthy quotations in previous
	articles.  I got carried away with my online bible
	[from Bible Research, Inc., $150, software adapted
	for unix by yours truly.])
--
"Wherefore, laying aside every weight, let us run with discipline the
race that is set before us."
-- 
Stuart D. Gathman	<..!seismo!{vrdxhq|dgis}!BMS-AT!stuart>