On 04-14-98 Andrew Cummins wrote to Day Brown... 
 
DB> To some considerable degree, it is an example of the lack of true 
DB> clarity in the Bible, that there are so many interpretations of a 
DB> document that says, as most of you do seem to agree, is the 'word 
DB> of God'.  If it is so clear, then why in heaven's name, is it so, 
DB> that so many who ascribe to it, do not understand it?  If it were 
DB> the word of God, it would be much more believeable to the rest of 
DB> us, if you all would agree on just what it says. 
 
 AC> The Bible is clear.  People like Mark Bloss don't care what the 
 AC> Bible clearly says.  When the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality 
 AC> because it is unnatural for a man to booger another man, Bloss 
 AC> is the type of person who would argue that the verse only applies 
 AC> to heterosexuals because it is natural for a homosexual to booger 
 AC> another man.  Clarity cannot stand against such reason. 
 AC>  
 AC> Cult leaders distort the Bible for their own gain.  Liberals 
 AC> like Bloss simply distort the Bible to destroy it.  None of 
 AC> this has anything to do with the lack of clarity of the Bible. 
In large part, I think that cult leaders have this freedom because 
the Bible is *not* as clear to the rest of us as it is to you. You 
may well have some special dispensation from God to interpret this 
document correctly, whereas cult leaders only *claim* to have this 
ability.  How do the rest of us tell who is right Andrew? That is, 
how do the rest of us fools tell which interpretation is valid, in 
as much as so many different leaders claim that God has given only 
*them* the vision to see the truth? Whose claim is valid? 
 
An alternative that has occurred to me, and others since Akhnaton, 
is that *all* these claims are invalid, and that God hasn't spoken 
to anyone, and that those who claimed to have heard him, were just 
as deluded then as those nut cases we see today, who make the same 
claim ranting at the public. 
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 * OFFLINE 1.58 * Too long on conviction, short on cynacism. 
--- Maximus 3.01
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