beyelzu

whats that quote by menckin.

if you shave a gorilla and put him in a suit it would be impossible to tell the difference between him and a theologian.

sorry i dont remember the whole quote. i used to have a friend who quoted alot of menkin.

The Admiral

Toto and others.

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I have a reason. I have an agreement with a Lutheran minester. I originally got acquainted with him via an exchange of arguments in the local papers opinions page. Since each writer is only allowed one letter each 30 days we resorted to e-mail and from there to a personal meeting. I proposed to him an exchange of books. I offered to read any book he suggested if he would do the same. He agreed. For our our first round he suggested "In the Fullness of Time" by Paul Maier and I proposed "The Christ" by John Remsberg. We each purchased our own copies though I offerred to lend him mine. In due time we met again, he came to my house, and we discussed the two books. For a second round he recommended "Scaling the Secular City" by J.P. Moreland and I gave him what I thought should have been an easy read for an educated person, "Losing Faith in Faith" by Dan Barker. I read Secular City twice. I wanted to be well prepared. And he had still not finished Faith. On my second reading I did a lot of underlining and margin noting. He has now finished his book but is very busy and can't get around to meeting with me until the 24 of this month. I think I'm ready for him.

In addition to this, I have been visiting the Baptist church where I saw the Newdow/Knechtle debate. I lingered after the debate and spent 20 minutes or so talking with one of the pastors, a rather brash over confidant young person. When I mentioned that there were no contemporary allusions to Jesus of Nazareth he immediately stated, oh, of course there are, I'll look some up and get back to you. Ha ha, I knew he wouldn't. But after a month or so I went back to the church to confront him. He wasn't there, but I talked for an hour with one of the other pastors and the other day I went again and talked with yet a third pastor. I still can't corner the original guy. I think he hides when he sees me coming but I'll catch him one of these days. In the case of the Baptists I am amazed at their ignorance and they don't even know the Bible that well. The Lutheran is better educated and I actually enjoy talking with him.

And that, Toto, is why I am torturing my mind. That and in the main, I enjoy it. I guess i'm a masochist.

The Admiral

Strawberry

I think you are my newest hero. I bet you would get a few kicks out of my father, a highly-educated minister (maybe he'd actually listen to what *you* have to say).

The Admiral

Strawberry

Thanks for the comments. Since I am not highly educated your father would probably make me look like a jerk in a matter of minutes.

But I'm having fun.

The Admiral

Jayjay

That makes kind of sense, but what drives me nuts is when the self-proclaimed apologists take a wholly different attitude when explaining away thebiblical contradictions and other evidence against their belief system. Suddenly they treat each argument separately and think they've got the upper hand if they can weasel around them and show that they aren't 110% valid.

"Judas hanged himself, and then fell headlong!"

"Just because the text doesn't mention those people, doesn't mean they weren't there!"

"That's Mary's genealogy!"

etc. etc. How many of these does there have to be in order for them to "collectively add up to an overwhelming certainty"? Hmm?

Shake

Admiral, it comes to me that I've read a story, perhaps on the newswire here, about two persons such as yourself and this minister who started trading editorials, and now meet. Is it possible you might be he? Any local media ever do a story about your situation? If not, it would certainly make a good one!

PS. Good luck in your continued meetings with the minister ... and finding that young one (although you may have tainted him )!

The Admiral

Shake

Thanks for the response. I did post something concerning the first minister and myself and our exchanges. This was a month or more ago. It shouldn't be to hard to find. I also posted a copy of my latest letter to the editor. which you may have seen.

I think it unlikely that the local paper would do an article on me but I must admit that they have been good about printing my letters. The last one was 100 words over their limit but they printed it anyway, totally unedited.

The Admiral

abe smith

Eh. No-one ever needs an excuse to have a drink.
Oh, indeed there's a elderly short rhymed lyric (in English) I recall having read sometime in the last 50 years or so, about the reasons for having a drink . Ended, I think, "...or any other reason why."
Of course any o' yez Unwashed who insist on messing-up good alcohol by putting all that other stuff into it are free to do that.