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Path: utzoo!decvax!wivax!linus!allegra!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim
From: tim@unc.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: reply to Tim Maroney
Message-ID: <5313@unc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 3-Jun-83 17:40:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc.5313
Posted: Fri Jun  3 17:40:17 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Jun-83 01:58:04 EDT
References: itm.1010
Lines: 88


First, anyone who wants to correspond with me can use my mailing address,
which is duke!unc!tim.  On the other hand, if your intent is to publicly
humiliate me, please feel free to post it to the net.  I always enjoy
humorous entertainment.

On to the matter at hand.  I understand we now have a Baptist church on
the net, site name "itm".  Welcome aboard!  Since you're newcomers, there
are a few things that perhaps should be explained to you.  The most
important, of course, is that it has recently been demonstrated that
quoting the Bible at an unbeliever does nothing except amuse the afore-
mentioned unbeliever to no end.  Perhaps this is difficult for you to
understand, so I'll try putting it in the clearest possible terms.

I do not believe that the entire Christian (or Judaic, for that matter)
Bible is the infallible Word of God, and I am not in the employ of
your Devil, who I do not believe in either.  Can you understand that?
The reason that I ask is that many Christian's faith is so weak, they
cannot even for a second let it slip and see an unbeliever's viewpoint
clearly.  They are terrified of being sucked into the Abyss if they
even consider briefly that someone else might not be playing the same
game they are.  I do not say this merely as an insult -- it is an
honest observation that I have arrived at after long observation
of Christians.  If you feel I'm wrong, please post a dissenting article.

Because of my disbelief in the Bible, the following statements in
your article entitled "reply to Tim Maroney" do not have much effect.

	"A fool does not delight in understanding,
	But only in revealing his own mind."  Pr 18:2

	"The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable,
	But the mouth of fools spouts folly." Pr. 15:2

	"The fool has said in his heart, `There is no God'" Ps. 14:1

	"For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire,
	And the greedy man curses and spurns the LORD.
	The wicked, in haughtiness of his countence, does not seek him.
	And all his thoughts are, `There is no God'." Ps 10:3,4

And so on.  It does not shock me that the Bible claims to be true.  (Did
you think that it would?)  However, the claim in itself is nothing.  It
is as if I had said

	"The man who lets a deity enslave him is lower
	Than the most disgusting slug-like organism
	With a horrible smell, unpleasing to his neighbors,
	And his brain is made of ca-ca."  Gx. 27:4

It doesn't carry much weight, does it?  You've got to provide some
justification for your statements.  This means using your own brain
instead of regurgitating "safe" verses.  This is probably not taught
to you by your religious leaders, but if you just watch the net
you'll begin to pick it up.

As for the rest of your quotes, which I'll review here,

	Listen Tim:
	"...It is appointed for men once to die and after this comes judgment,"
	Heb. 9:27

	"And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world,
	and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds
	were evil." Jn 3:19

	"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not
	obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
	Jn 3:36

Yes, yes, believe it or not I have heard this all before, and it still
hasn't made me lose any sleep or control of my excretory orifices.  However,
I am curious as to what prompts you to try this approach.  Are you really
so gullible that you believed these incredible claims the first time
you heard them?  If not, then why do you think I will be?  If I weren't
such a forgiving guy, I'd think you were deliberately insulting me.

That about completes the review.  I have no doubt that you will be a
valuable addition to the net, provided you take the few minutes needed
to try to understand someone else's viewpoint instead of reflexively
throwing up the Bible when you feel threatened.  Oh yes, one more
thing.  The subject line "reply to Tim Maroney" wasn't very helpful,
particularly since you never said anything about what it was you
were replying to.  You should make it clear what you're talking about.
(Or was it just a reply to my entire existence?)

Looking forwards to many happy years of reasonable discussion, I am,
Tim Maroney