Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!qantel!dual!lll-crg!seismo!rochester!cmu-cs-pt!k.cs.cmu.edu!tim
From: tim@k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: re: The true God lives in the real w
Message-ID: <528@k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 11-Sep-85 17:50:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: k.528
Posted: Wed Sep 11 17:50:43 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Sep-85 09:57:42 EDT
References: <22300014@faust.UUCP>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking
Lines: 32

Thank you to Jerryl Payne for an unusually polite message.  I trust our
disagreement will remain on this level.

For any concrete belief, I require reliable evidence.  You set up
"supernatural perception" as the only valid tool for obtaining evidence of
God's existence.  Unfortunately, any reasonable amount of experimentation
with this perception reveals problems with this approach.  A Hindu will
perceive the supernatural entities most favored by his local sect; a
monotheist will perceive God; a Buddhist will perceive the Void.  One is
forced to the conclusion that all these have only symbolic truth, not
literal truth, unless one is willing to play favorites (which is
incompatible with the idea of gathering evidence.)  I accept all these as
worthwhile symbols of religious experience, but I do not go along with
literal interpretations of any of them.

"Supernatural perception" is not a cyclotron or an electrometer.  It is a
distorting mirror.  The existence of mesons has been established using
instruments which allow replication; the existence of God has not.  The
instrument used to "demonstrate" God's existence gives different results
depending on the preconceptions of the operator.

I feel that it is unethical to label people.  However, someone who freely
indulges in unfair labelling themselves waives the protection of this
ethical rule.  Both Arndt and Dyer have indulged in extremely hostile and
nasty personal attacks on me without provocation; therefore, I feel no
hesitation in labelling them "loony tunes" where I would simple say "their
positions are inconsistent and poorly thought out" about a polite poster who
believed as they do.
-=-
Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking
ARPA:	Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K	uucp:	seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim
CompuServe:	74176,1360	audio:	shout "Hey, Tim!"