From: kevin@nuchat.sccsi.com (Kevin Brown)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: I'm God.
Date: 2 Oct 92 04:59:21 GMT
Organization: I can't see any in the immediate vicinity...

I was just passing through, when I came upon this gem.  I just couldn't
pass it up...

In article <69367@hydra.gatech.EDU> rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>In article <1992Sep29.164931.27666@linus.mitre.org> m23364@mwunix (James Meritt) writes:
>|In article <68750@hydra.gatech.EDU> rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>|}For I believe - that's why.  Simple, but that's my reason - there maybe
>|}a lot of reasons why I believe, but the fact that I do is my reason.
>|
>|Good reasoning there, Richard.  You come up with two tests for me, and it
>|turns out that Jesus can't pass either of them, either.  So you fall
>
>You asked me to prove you godness - Jesus did not.  

No.  Rather, "Jesus" (or, rather, his followers) as you to accept his
godness without proof at all.

*Anyone* can *claim* to be godlike.  Few, if any, can prove themselves up
to it.

Sorry, but I'll take proof over blind acceptance any day.

>Much less you 
>conviently forgot my final response - TIME WILL TELL - I've made my
>decision to follow Christ - you've made yours to not follow Him.

Of course, your belief is that you won't know until you're dead, right?
So, if your beliefs are wrong, then it's entirely possible that time *won't*
tell, because you won't have a consciousness with which to evaluate your
beliefs post-mortem.

>|back on the "I believe - that's why".  Thank you for the abbreviated
>|summary of the emptyness of your understandings. 
>
>I claim very little knowledge.  I am not that well read, but I guess
>your knowledge is so great that you can't say that OR is that your pride?

Let me get this straight:  you are not well read (by your own admission),
and you claim to know very little, yet you somehow decide to believe in
all this unnecessary and untested gobbledygook *anyway*?  Whatever for???

>|                                                 Clear, concise, not
>|uncommon, and a stupid thing to base a matter of life or death on.
>
>Believing in Jesus the Christ, God's Son, Creator of ALL that exists,
>is far better than believing in one's own understanding (that is putting
>your trust in your own ability to know everything.)  

Interesting that you equate lack of belief in "Jesus" with belief in one's
own understanding of everything.

Sorry, but the two are not equivalent.

I have no belief in this "Jesus" you believe so strongly in.  At the same
time, I do not believe myself to be all-knowing.  Indeed, it is precisely
*because* I do not know everything that I have no belief in this "Jesus".
Specifically, I do not know enough to evaluate the truth (or falsehood) of
the claims about "Jesus" (e.g., the afterlife benefits of belief in this
figure), and thus reserve final judgement on such issues until the data are
in.  However, I *can* say that I find it unlikely that such an internally
inconsistent belief set (one which, in the same breath, says that God is
omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent, and that God *also* created
the universe in such a way as to enable, if not encourage, human suffering)
is correct.

In any case, if your knowledge is so limited, and you are not very well-read,
then on what do you base the notion that belief in "Jesus" is better than
belief in one's own ability to cope with the real world?

Perhaps *your* ability to cope with the real world is severely limited.
I don't seem to have that much of a problem with it, myself.

>What can you
>do about your the extension of your own life 

Quite a bit, as it turns out.  For instance, you can exercise.  You can
eat in a healthy fashion.  You can get sufficient sleep at night.  You
can avoid taking stupid chances.

There's a *lot* you can do to extend your lifespan.

>or can you even make yourself grow taller.  

Beats me.  Why is it relevent?

Let me put it this way: you *have* this belief in "Jesus", and I'll bet
that *you* can't make yourself grow taller, either.

If I'm right about that, then it means that you have *no advantage* in
believing the way you do, at least with respect to growing taller.

>I preach Jesus as Lord - who or what do you say is lord of
>your life????????

I can't speak for Jim.

But I can tell you this: *I* am "lord" of my life.  *I* control what I
do and what I do not do.  I place none of the blame and none of the credit
for the results of my decisions on anyone but myself (where such decisions
do not primarily involve anyone else).

I make no assumptions about "divine" help.  I rely primarily on myself to
get through life.  If such "divine" help exists and decides to intervene,
I will accept it (provided that it is advantageous for me to do so).  So
far, I've seen no sign of such assistance, so I have no reason to believe
it exists.

>For Christ and His Kingdom,
>Richard Pitts



-- 
Kevin Brown					kevin@nuchat.sccsi.com
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