>>> Frank Masingill on Universal Chit Chat 
 FM> Depends on what and who you mean by "Christian."  What you are
 FM> describing is, as far as I know, the habit of untutored (I'm being
 FM> kind) "Christian" Fundamentalists, bible-thumpers and assorted other
 FM> types.  On the Fidonet echoes it MAY be the only "Christians" you've
 FM> encountered because they tend to be the noisiest and most vociferous. 
 FM> That can be misleading.   
Will the true Christian stand up?  Christians have a habit of denying 
Christians they don't approve of the epitaph Christian.  I've had Christians 
tell me that the pope wasn't a Christian.
 FM> "Bible" is already a loaded word which designates a "canon"
 FM> however, the "canons" differ in content and have different assortments
 FM> of apocrypha included in the published texts.  "Bible" actually implies
 FM> "infallible divine inspiration" but even those who use it as a
 FM> shorthand title often do not necessarily consider it to be "divinely
 FM> inspired" and even THAT term is open to dispute as to meaning.  
As about as loaded as cannons you refer to.
Was
 FM> whoever wrote the Shakespeare plays "divinely inspired?"  Well, suppose
 FM> one considers consciousness to be a tension between the poles of divine
 FM> - human?  Then one might say that the writer of a beautiful hymn (many
 FM> of which I love and even play using chords) was "divinely inspired."  
Yes, but it weren't Jehovah, it was a muse.
 FM> There are also several different brands of "Atheism."  I don't find
 FM> the term any more descriptive for my purposes and thought than
 FM> "Christian" except that "Christian" designates in some contexts a
 FM> historical movement.  
Atheism is a minority movement recovering from centuries of international 
persecution.
 FM> Jung designated the "wise old man" as an archetype but the only "grumpy
 FM> old men" I know were the characters played by Jack Lemmon (sp?) and
 FM> Walter Matthau!  I know some "grumpy old men" but they were also
 FM> "grumpy young men" once.   Of course if you disagree with the
 FM> proposition that age brings SOME increased wisdom then the archetype
 FM> would have no meaning anyhow, for you.   
Ok, Jehovah isn't a grumpy old man, he's just a grump.
Pliny was a scholar in the
 FM> field of geography("natural history"). He was a scientist whose
 FM> curiosity drew him too close to the eruption he wanted to study.
Madam Curie was curious also.
... Give me a place to speak and I will move the world.
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