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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: In helping Larry & David overcome logical myopia
Message-ID: <472@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 21-Feb-84 10:13:08 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.472
Posted: Tue Feb 21 10:13:08 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Feb-84 02:07:18 EST
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If the Book of Ubizmo is a book claiming that Ubizmo is the supreme god,
and if that book contains passages showing Ubizmo engaging in heinous,
disgusting acts of violence and violation to horrific to describe in a
family newsgroup, then I have options as follows:

	1) To believe in the Book of Ubizmo, and therefore to believe that
		Ubizmo did indeed do all of those things described therein

	2) NOT to believe in the validity of the Book of Ubizmo, and NOT to
		believe that anything contained in it necessarily describes
		the truth

	3) Not to care.

Option (1) has one of (at least) two consequences.  Either you can do what
Tim, myself, and others have done:  say that if the Book of Ubizmo is true,
then (by definition) Ubizmo DID all of the terrible things in it, and,
by our judgment as thinking beings, then Ubizmo is a terrible entity.  Or
you can do what David, Larry, and other Christians (apparently) do: say that
if the Book of Ubizmo is true, then (by definition) Ubizmo DID all of the
terrible things in it, but that since we are not equipped to understand the
real meaning of Ubizmo's acts, we will believe anyway, since Ubizmo has
done wonderful things in our lives like giving us Cuisinarts and electric
snowshoes.

Even if I did believe (option 1) that the content of the Book of Ubizmo is
gospel truth, I would (and apparently others would) make the choice to judge
Ubizmo based on the actions described in the Book.  If the supreme god of
the universe behaves like that, then it is not fit to be worshipped.  Of
course, others choose not to judge.  That is their decision.

The crux of the problem may be that Larry and David cannot envision a
supreme god that is different from the one described in the Bible, since
they hold it to be self-evident truth.  The proposition (that they keep
tearing down) is this:  if god were as abominable as it is depicted to be
in the Bible to be, then I could choose not to worship it based on
my own judgment.  I can also choose not to believe that god is that way,
or not to believe that god exists at all.  Larry and David apparently do
not see these three choices as alternatives, and presumable WILL not.
And therein lies the problem.

-- 
Pardon me for breathing, which I never do anyway oh, god, I'm so depressed...
	Rich Rosen    pyuxn!rlr