From: pmoloney@maths.tcd.ie (Paul Moloney)
Subject: Re: [This is what Corey and Tim says] This is what the Jehovah's Witnesses do.
Organization: Somewhere in the Twentieth Century
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 10:02:10 GMT

lauraf@eecs.umich.edu (Laura Falk) writes:

>My, my aren't we testy!  I will ask you the same question: what is wrong with
>you? What makes you think the Bible is **not** the word of Jehovah?

Uh, uh, sorry Laura, we're not working under the Napoleonic system of logic
here. If you make a statement, it is up to you to prove that statement, or
then to admit that it isn't true.

I could claim that a gigantic blue strawberry is currently harvesting
asteroids around Mars. I cannot then claim it is up to you to prove me
wrong.

>Let's see,
>what makes me think he EXISTS???  Well, the earth and the universe for two
>reasons.  Man cannot create life therefore I see no evidence of evolution.  The

Ignoring the illogicality of that last sentence, I'll at least try to
argue against the first clause. If I'm not mistaken, scientists have managed
to create, from amino acids and whatnot, complex organic molecules which
are the basis for simple life forms. Pretty vagu I know; if anyone has
any more details out there, I'm sure Laura would love to know.

>fact the babies form out of 1 cell into a human being: arms, legs, etc.

Well, there is the *small* matter of all the nutrients that the mother 
supplies, but do go on...

>Our
>brains our only 3 lbs yet are capable of doing what a computer does and better.

Hang on, hang on. Please. This 'my brain is better than your computer' argument
is so much tosh. A Victorian version of Laura would no doubt have used the
argument 'the brain will _never_ be replicated mechanically, in any shape or
form'. Well, we haven't yet, but the computer performs many operations that
previously only human minds could do. And computers can do these many times
faster.

I wonder what argument the 21st century version of Laura will be using:

"Well, so, OK, maybe a computer can a lot more than my barin can do, but, but
my brain tastes better!"

>My proof is the bible.  If you don't believe the bible then Jehovah's
>creation can prove this.

What on _earth_ does that mean? 

>However, many do not want to credit such to God; it might be too beyond 
>what their minds can accept.

Laura delves into the minds of atheists; how terribly interesting. I assume
you've done an intensive survey, and found that this was answer most often
given? Or can we accept that you're just talking a load of bull?

>After all, we are only using a very small portion of our brains.

Please, my dear, speak only for yourself. 

References for that above statement, please. And no "L. Ron Hubbard told me
so".

>Don't you think there is a reason for that?

Yes, I do think there is a reason why you're only using a small fraction
of your brain. 

>Living forever sounds too good to pass up; especially on a paradise earth where
>one does not have to deal with Satan's system!!  I love life, don't you?

Living without having to deal with evil does sound like "paradise" to me, 
Laura: it sounds like being lobotomised. Read "A Clockwork Orange" - Burgess
expresses more about that notion than I ever could hope to.

>If one has never had a beginning or an end,then one can logically conclude that
>this one is perfect or of a nature that man cannot comprehend.

Dear God: a Zen Jehovah's Witness. What on earth does _that_ mean?

>You say to take a course in Logic.  You mean a course created by imperfect man?
>Now tell me (for arguments sake), how can you be sure that this course created
>by man is one of true logic?  Or is it logic only in mans eyes?  You are
>comparing apples to oranges.  What might be logically to man might be illogical
>to Jehovah!

But, Laura, you are an imperfect woman (no sniggering at the back, please).
How do you than know anything about anything? What might seem to be Jehovah's 
message to you mightn't be.

The fact is, Laura, that to go by the Bible (which isn't even _internally_
consistent, never mind consistent with the rest of the world), and the 
behviour of his followers, even if your Jehovah _did_ exist, we wouldn't 
want anything to do with such a petty, brutish, immature being. Put quite
simply, the God of the Bible is a complete bastard.

P.
-- 
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