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RE: Nothing to do with Nine Inch Nails, really.
Jeff wrote:
> Theological discussion, yes, but I don't remember ever reading a post from
> Matt or Kelvin or anyone else that has said (or even implied) "this is what I
> believe, and if you don't, you need to start because not only will you be
> MUCH happier being Right, you'll also avoid eternal immolation".
Check the archives. We used to. [shudder] One of the reasons I quit the first
time. My favorite (if that is the right word) had a line that went something
like "If you know the truth, being open-minded is a waste of time." That's
why we wrote that stuff into the welcome letter about avoiding the topic.
(well, as I recall, Shelly wrote it, but I think I had some input. Don't
remember. Please excuse if I used the wrong pronoun. ;-))
The list is soooo much better now, but I wish it were a place that everyone
could talk about important issues like faith without making others feel
isolated or diminished. One of the things I admire about the music of
Over the Rhine is that it tackles issues of faith in a meaningful, powerful,
and authentic way, without dictating to the listener what he or she should
take away from it. Why can't we be like that? If we completely avoid faith
as a conversation topic, I would feel that the list would be much shallower.
okay, so most of the time we chat about trivialities, anyway, but it's the moments
of connection and depth that make it worth it for me. Sometimes it's about
smoking, sometimes it's about relationships... I wish we could find a way
for it to be about faith. But if there's no way to do it without alienation,
the price seems awful high.
No answers, just wistful hopefulness...
--
Don Smith Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
donaldas at umich_edu http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/
"just because you're fighting evil doesn't make you good" - Rabbi Dobrusin
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