Hello
Avatar errancy@infidels.org
Sun, 15 Aug 1999 13:17:56 -0300 (00934751876, 37B6E834.AD3139B1@sympatico.ca)
> MICHAEL
> You see what I believe is by faith and as you know faith is not by sight. I know God > is real but I can't see him. I know the wind is real and I can't see it either but I
> sure can see it's effect.
AVATAR
Wow! I think this one makes it about the one billionth time I have
heard this spectacular, mind-boggling analogy. And it never fails to
stump the skeptics on this list, I tell you. Some people, on the list,
were recently talking about how a person can be a critical thinker,
normally, but when matters of religion come up, his brain will go on
standby. Does anybody else, here, think that Michael might be of this
type?
> MICHAEL
> I can see the change in a man that has spent the
> better part of his life on drugs and alcohol.
<snip>
AVATAR
And this proves what? It proves that people can change their minds, for
whatever reason, that's what. A man might decide to stop being an
alcoholic if he gets into a car accident, while driving drunk, and kills
somebody. A man may decide to stop sniffing coke, if he falls in love
with a woman, and she won't date him unless he quits doing drugs. A
woman might decide to stop sleeping in every morning and start doing
something with her life, after listening to Anthony Robbins' "Unlimited
Power" cassettes. A woman might decide to give up smoking, because she
believes it is a sin, and that her god would be proud of her for
quitting. My father decided to quit smoking because a friend of his
died from lung cancer, caused by smoking. What do all these changes
have in common? It is the PERSON who DECIDES to change. Neither a god
nor leprechauns have anything to do with it.
I don't think your dumb; however, I do think that your emotions override
your brain when it comes to your religion.
--
"Loose screws rattle around every nation; only here do they command a
platoon's worth of firepower to unleash on five-year olds." - Harold
Meyerson, L.A. Weekly