From: "s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>
Re "You are far too subtle for him - and deep thinking. ": You also. I noticed from a previous post of yours (if I'm not misremembering) that you approved of David Bentley Hart's The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss. Like you, I find that style of approaching the subject like mother's milk. You either get it, or you don't! S3raphita, if you and the Get Barry 'Bot are trying to imply that I would probably not be interested in the book you mention, you are correct. The very title makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little :-), because it's so obviously a Sales Pitch For The Belief In God. Not interested. I can think of no reading material that I would consider more of a waste of my time. I see such books -- and the people who try to press them on me -- a lot like a salesman at an Outdoor Outfitter's store to which I have gone to buy supplies for a mountain-climbing expedition. I've already bought everything I actually need, but now the salesman is trying to sell me a 12-inch-high stone statue of his favorite God. The conversation goes something like this: - "Why on earth would I want this?"- "Because it's a representation of God, and if you carry it and believe in it, God will keep you safe."- "Uh huh. So if I carry this God of yours and talk to it, it'll answer me back and tell me the best path up the mountain?"- "Well, no...it won't actually talk back to you, but it'll give you the faith to choose the Right Path."- "I've got a map for that, and it weighs less than an ounce. How much does this invaluable statue/belief system you're trying to sell me weigh?"- "About two pounds. And worth every ounce." - "No thanks." An interest in "God" or reading about a hypothetical one just isn't my cuppa tea. I consider it a pastime for Weak People, who seem to feel that they *NEED* some kinda God to explain the universe around them. I don't, so why should I read books about this concept by Weak People, written for other Weak People? If I am in the mood for poetry, I'll read some real poetry, not that weak, namby-pamby stuff in so-called "scriptures" that people claim is poetry. If I want adventure, I'll read a good adventure book, either fiction or non-fiction. And if I want something to inspire me with new ideas, I'll read a book full of ideas that have some relationship to reality and the real world. I am very pragmatic these days and have almost no interest in the purely theoretical, considering it largely a Waste Of Time. Bottom line is that while I think it's just swell if people like to believe in this made-up thing they call God, I bristle at them trying to convince me there is one and that I should believe in it, too. That strikes me as *the whole problem* with believers -- their belief makes them so WEAK that they can't bear to be around people who don't believe in the same made-up God that they do. They seem to need the "strength in numbers" that they find when surrounded by only people who believe the same things they do. So they start wars and Inquisitions to *force* everyone to believe in it. Or they write books to try to sell the idea. Either way, it's just old and boring and I, for one, have better things to do with my time. To quote you, you either get this or you don't. :-)
