MIKE PRATHER                                     22 Jun 94  10:41

Consider for yourself what kind of God *you* would dream up if 
you were to create a *phony* God, and a *phony* religion, and 
set yourself up as the leader of that religion in order to gain 
a great many followers. Would you tell your followers that your 
God...

        1)  is invisible (so they won't get suspicious when they
                realize he's not directly visible)
        2)  grants requests, but *only* when it's in His will (so they
                won't expect too much and then get suspicious when He
                doesn't meet their expectations)
        3)  has a will that can't be understood by man (so they won't
                get suspicious when they're unable to understand or
                sense Him)
        4)  works in mysterious ways (see 3)
        5)  talks to His worshipers, but only through either voices in
                their heads (which exist anyway) or incomprehensible
                means (like "speaking in tongues") or indirect omens
                (like his image in the clouds or on the face of a
                rock) (so they'll look for him everywhere, and
                eventually think they've found him)
        6)  should never be tested in a concrete, real way (to decrease
                skepticism and make Him non-falsifiable)
        7)  needs financial contributions to do his work (to get more
                money for your pocket)
        8)  is capable of everything but does nothing unless he wants
                to (to keep followers from distinguishing God from raw
                probability)
        9)  wants you to teach your children about Him (to increase the
                following of your church by passing the idea of your
                phony God down family lines)
       10)  wants you to refrain from using birth control (to increase
                the following of your church by reproduction)
       11)  wants you to worship Him often (in order to establish a
                routine and make your phony God an integral part of
                their lives)
       12)  grants them wonderful things (like immortality, paradise),
                but not in this lifetime (to decrease real-world
                expectations, yet give them an incentive to worship)
       14)  wants you to spread your belief (in order to increase the
                number of incoming followers)

Mike
---
 þ QMPro 1.50 99-9999 þ You can have immortality, but you have to die first.

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