How to get to heaven?

Jeff Epler jepler@inetnebr.com
Wed, 10 Sep 1997 18:04:58 -0500 (00873954298, 19970910180458.06823@inetnebr.com) 

Lenny, earlier:

> >Lets try it.  You write me a simple explanation of how to send an e-mail. 

> >Make it as plain as you can and we will see if it could be misunderstood. 

> >I know you are not claiming to be God or any such thing.  However, you

> >surly could tell me how to send e-mail.    


On Wed, Sep 10, 1997 at 05:54:55PM +0800, Vaujin, Michael O. wrote:

> Deal.  However I must pick up the kids from day care in 20 minutes, so I will

> write the instructions tomorrow morning.  I would like to put a little thought

> into it.


Of course, if Michael writes his instructions and Lenny finds a problem
with them, what does it prove?  Well, it proves that Michael is an
imperfect being who cannot write idiot-proof instructions.  It fails
completely to address the real issue:  Is it a contradiction to state
"An omnimax being is able to write a document substantially clearer
than the bible"?  For any portion of an unclear document, a being with
good but imperfect writing skills who was aware of the unclarity could
clarify that portion (be it a few words, a paragraph, page or hundred
pages) by merely making an addition such as "When I said `turn on the
computer,'  I meant `turn the switch marked I/O which allows the computer
to recieve electrical power,' not `cause sexual arousal in the computer.'
A better author might re-write the whole section and avoid the
difficult portion with better words, not adding any net length.  Now,
is God's omnicience so limited that he was not---and is _still_
not!---aware of humans' problems understanding the bible?  Or is he not
even as good at writing as our "good" author, let alone as good as the
best of human writers?

On Wed, Sep 10, 1997 at 05:54:55PM +0800, Vaujin, Michael O. wrote:

> You really don't think the bible could be CRYSTAL clear if it was really

> inspired by God?


I think Lenny will happily maintain that it is our fault that we cannot
understand it---perhaps babbling about Adam's original sin if pressed.
But this is so much gibberish.  If I am being punished for Adam's sin,
then the verse about the sons not being punished for the sins of the
fathers is an outright lie.  If it is a fact that God created us so
that we all had "free will" yet all freely choose to sin, that's as
absurd as Christians realize it is when atheists ask why their god
couldn't have created humans who freely choose to never sin.  So which
is it?  Did God create men without the free will to not sin?  Or does
God punish us all for the sins of our alleged original human father in
conrtradiction of our scriptures?

No matter why it is that communication between god and man doesn't
work, Christians have quite a lot to do before they can explain how
their god is an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving one.

Jeff

On Wed, Sep 10, 1997 at 05:54:55PM +0800, Vaujin, Michael O. signed his
message:

> Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in

> the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would

> exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne

> or Julius Caesar.                           George Orwell, 1984

PS.  I love you signature, but must admit that I still haven't read
1984.  One day soon!
-- 
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