Lou,

Thanks for saying exactly what I wanted to say, better than I would have said
it!

Wayne





Lou Cook <[log in to unmask]> on 05/20/2002 11:00:25 AM

Please respond to Lou Cook <[log in to unmask]>

To:   [log in to unmask]
cc:    (bcc: Wayne Brown/Corporate/Altec)

Subject:  Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Global Warming Called 'Fairy Tale'



Wirt responds:

> Beginning from this point of view, you may find the following article from
> the March 9 NY Times somewhat irritating.

It's not irritating at all. Sad maybe, but neither surprising or irritating,
to me at least. There are many people, including some claiming Jewish or
Christian beliefs, that are all too happy to denigrate the authority of the
Scriptures. This is nothing new. It's been going on forever, all the way
back to the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:1, the serpent says to Eve, "Did
God really say...?"

> A significant number of Conservative rabbis are now coming to accept the
> notion that Abraham never existed. Nor did Moses. Nor were the Hebrews
> ever held in bondage in Egypt.

As the article says, "There's no evidence that it didn't happen. Most of the
`evidence' is
evidence from silence." We don't have archeological evidence for
_everything_ in the Bible. We probably never will. But we have a lot more
evidence today than we had even 100 years ago when many skeptics, and even
some religious people, were saying things similar to what this article says,
that there's no evidence for this event, or that person, or this place,
etc., therefore the Bible can't be true.

> If Moses never existed, then the story of the Ten Commandments is
certainly
> put in doubt as well. Clearly, if Moses never existed, the story regarding
> the origination of the Ten Commandments is certainly put in doubt. None of
> this means that the Ten Commandments are any less valid of course; it just
> means they lack the authority that some people seem to be believe they
need.

No, I think if Moses never existed, and if he never received the Ten
Commandments from God, then that makes them totally _invalid_. I believe
they _require_ the authority of God. Otherwise, they're nothing more than
the Ten Suggestions, or the Ten Nice Thoughts, or the Ten Opinions. If these
are from the "authority" of (a) man, then I can ignore them at will (or
not). I can keep them when and if I feel like it. I can make any additions
or subtractions to them I want (whatever suits me at the time), and all
these actions are perfectly valid. My opinion is just as good (or bad) as
anyone else's. So who says I can't steal, if I can get away with it? If it's
against another person, hey, tough luck, survival of the fittest and all. If
it's against some "entity", like the government, well, that should be
encouraged, right? If we're all just "highly developed" blobs from the
primordial soup and there really is no God anyway, then I can't see where
any concept of right or wrong or "morality" can exist at all.

But that's not what I believe. As I said before, I believe "the Bible
remains consistent, true, and relevant throughout the ages."

Lou Cook

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