[CLIP]
> Second, I noticed on rereading the original letter that that's not even
> what Chris asked for. He *said*
>
> >I have been reading the mail from the virus church and trying to
> >reconcile
> >why it is she is such a believer?
>
> Well, there are a lot of reasons people believe in the Christian religion.
> Among them:
>
> --That's what they grew up with, their parents believed it and taught
> them.
> --Christianity is very widespread, and they may not have encountered
> alternatives, or have encountered them only from a Christian perspective
> as 'heresy' or 'paganism'.
> --Christianity offers readier answers to such questions as 'what should I
> do with my life?', 'what comes after death?', 'am I being a good person?',
> than a lot of other systems, including no system.
> --Christianity has built-in rewards (salvation) and threats (damnation).
> If a person accepts those, e is 'hooked' on the system.
> --Similarly, the Christian God demands monotheistic worship, so anyone who
> believes in Him as the author of the Bible is 'hooked' on (and limited
> to) the whole system of rules and beliefs.
> --Christianity provides absolutes and guidance to people who are lost in a
> cruel or confusing world.
> --Christianity offers an all-forgiving God to those who feel abandoned by
> everyone else.
>
> Not being a Christian myself, I am sure I don't understand the appeal
> fully. Obviously, it hasn't worked on me. But just as obviously,
> Christianity feels right and true to millions of people.
Thanks for checking the original.
Things get messy when one starts seeing [spurious or not] interactions
between the spiritual and the natural. Try these out:
"It seems that the use of shareware violates the 7th Commandment. The
more shareware I have on my computer, the more cursed [NEGATIVE CASH
FLOW] my finances get."
"Wait a minute. Judging by the side-effects, attending this [a wildly
overpopulated weekly Christian Challenge meeting] is empirically sinful.
I'd better *stop* going."
If she has similar reinforcements, this would definitely solidify her
position.
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/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
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/ Kenneth Boyd
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