Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site pucc-h Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H:aeq From: aeq@pucc-h (Jeff Sargent) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: response to anti-religious flame - (nf) Message-ID: <596@pucc-h> Date: Fri, 16-Mar-84 22:48:27 EST Article-I.D.: pucc-h.596 Posted: Fri Mar 16 22:48:27 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 18-Mar-84 07:59:42 EST References: <1691@pur-ee.UUCP> Organization: Purdue University Computing Center Lines: 70 >> = Sargent > = Ruschak >> 1. Humans are more than just logic. Note, however, that belief in God is >> not irrational, but rather, shall we say, trans-rational or >> supra-rational. As I've said in other articles in various groups, >> Christ appeals to the whole person, not only the mind, and also not >> only the emotions. > Translation: "Christ appeals to the irrational part of the human psyche." > Doesn't sound so good that way, does it? Semantics is everything. Of course it doesn't sound so good that way, because it isn't true that way. It's so obvious that you've twisted my words that I thought you'd be ashamed to write it (but then, this is net.flame, so you have some excuse). Jesus Himself, quoting the Old Testament, said that the first great commandment was [I hope I remember this correctly] "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your MIND [emphasis added], and with all your strength." Besides, Christ has CURED me of a lot of irrationality, hence my terming Him the "ultimate psychotherapist". Which leads to... >> 2. The reason I continue to believe in God is that there is evidence >> that He does exist. He has changed me vastly. In the years I have >> been a Christian, I have been enabled (via prayer, the ultimate >> psychotherapy, and via the ministry of other people) to become much >> more fully human than I was, say, 10 years ago. > Do you believe in Richard Simmons?? I know many people who will say that > they are much more fully human because they have been watching him for > years. They tend to think of him as the ultimate psychotherapy, too. Just because God helps people doesn't mean other people can't help people. I myself said so in my paragraph. I don't doubt that some people's lives have indeed been improved by watching Richard Simmons. But the first sentence of this paragraph can be turned around: Just because people help people doesn't mean that God doesn't. To repeat the point in my first piece of reply, I have been able to shed many old fears, pains, resentments, etc. as a result of unhibitedly opening them up to God in private prayer (the wonders of living alone: I can scream, yell, cry, or whatever I need to do in prayer, and it doesn't bother anyone!). Those who think of Richard Simmons as the ultimate psychotherapy just don't know how therapeutic it is to be known intimately, known better than they know themselves, known including all the hidden dark and ugly spots--and still loved! That is what Christ offers. >> ...how do YOU know that >> Richard Simmons isn't the Almighty??? How do you know? Has he ever made the slightest indication of being divine? God in human form just could not be hidden; that would be like trying to hide Sears Tower in the Lafayette skyline. God in human form would do things proving him to be much more than human. --- A general comment & question to all those who attack Christianity: I broadcast my faith because it has helped me and people I know, so I believe it can help others. Why do you attack Christianity? What good do you expect to gain, or to help others gain, by attacking something which has done good for many people? Why do you bother attacking something which has been attacked many times, which received some of its worst attacks when it was still fledgling, and survived them all? Surely you see how futile that is. What profit does it give you (enjoyment, perhaps?) to wound Christians? -- -- Jeff Sargent {allegra|ihnp4|decvax|harpo|seismo|ucbvax}!pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq Buy some gefiltefish for your aquarium.