Correspodence with a Fanatic
After re-reading the piece I did on Hypocrites a while back, I decided to include an email battle I had recently with the man I mentioned in that piece, Thomas Carver of www.capalert.com (once again, still great for a laugh). Unfortunately I'm missing the first email I sent him, but thankfully, he replied with it attached so I was able to salvage it somehow. Although I'm aware that he, unfortunately, deleted key issues I raised. Anyway, it's good for a laugh and I encourage you all to berate him endlessly with the same issues I raised and he ignored. Everything that I wrote (whether he's responding to it or not) is in italics to make it easier to follow. Enjoy!


On 3/14/01 3:38 AM, the CAP ministry wrote: Dreadfully sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. See embedded within...

I must say... You have a point about Judgement. Although I don't particuarlly agree that judgement is called forth by the Lord,

You read it! It is His Word, not mine. The hard fact is it doesn't matter whether you agree with or believe it or not. The Truth of His word does not need our belief in it or agreement with it to be True. Or are you one of those *Dogma* fanatics who took the bait; hook, line, and sinker and believe the Bible, being "written by man" it is subject to the personal prejudices of those who put pen to paper?

I must admit that Matt 7:1 is only a small part of the "whole story" you so ademently suggested we read before we berate you for your sometimes harsh judgement.

Since it is His teachings and expectations which determine the findings of our analyses, it is not ME you are berating.

However, what can be said of your statement on Tattoo's and body peircings? "tattoos (Lev. 19:28 "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD."

If you get and wear tattoos and piercings for the same reason the pagans did, you are in just as much trouble as they were. But at least now you can be forgiven without an animal sacrifice.

How about "You may not eat anything with blood still in it," Leviticus 19:26? Have you ever had rare steak, or poured the juices left over from freshly grilled steak on your plate, sopping it up with bread? Well, you've done something right up there with having a tattoo.

Never had a rare steak. I like them burnt. And that is not what the Bible is talking about. Kill a rabbit then pick it up and eat it and you'll get the picture.

And what about "You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard." Levitivus 19:27? Do you have a haircut? How about a beard? Have you ever shaved or cut your hair in the corners? Well, you've sinned.

Yes, I have. And so have you and everyone else who has ever and who ever will draw a breath. Since you seem to be trying to excuse sin in sinema with the Old Testament, tell me what you know about Jesus and how He relates to the Old Testament.

Furthermore, if you've done any of these things and think of them as acceptable, doesn't that mean that the Bible was wrong?

Only if you buy into the counterfeitings of *Dogma*.

Couldn't it possibly be that translations of the Bible are faulty in some respects,

Tranlsations? You can call the sun a firey inferno or a golden globe of warmth for the world and both would be correct. You could even call it the source of radiant life and be correct. And you can call it a full-spectrum source of electromagnetic radiations and still be correct. Or you can describe it as the big yellow ball in the sky that rises in the morning and sets in the evening and still be correct. Get the point?

or that the fact that it was written by Man, might have perverted or maybe exaggerated the meaning of many of the things you hold so dear (and also many of the things you ignore)?

Ah ha! You ARE one of those *Dogma* fanatics who took the bait; hook, line, and sinker and believe the Bible, being "written by man" is subject to the personal prejudices of those who put pen to paper!!! So, God can create man and can create the universe and can create life but He cannot control even by inspiration that which man writes? Wow! What a perception of God. It must be horrible thinking that God is no more than that.

It seems that maybe you should take your own advice: "Read the REST OF THE STORY..."(Thomas Carver, http://www.capalert.com/capreports/dogmafull.htm)

I have. Have you?

Have a nice day.

Thank you. I will also have a very nice eternity. Will you?

-TC-
To which I replied: I understand about the lateness of your reply. You're obviously a very busy man and I'm sure you have many more emails, both good and bad, with which to reply.

Dogma fanatic? Oh no. My religious beliefs were formed far before any "movie" came out to change them. I must admit that I agree with many of the themes and premises in the movie, but have held these beliefs long before any man wrote and filmed them. Unlike many people of whom I know, I do have a brain and I know how to use it without the help of others, like minded or not. And besides, I only saw the movie once. I can't stand Chris Rock, he annoys me, so I try and avoid anything he's in.

Okay, now to the "nitty gritty". You seemed to have completely misunderstood many of the things I said. First, translations. In french, the word "poisson" means fish. The word "poison" means poison. Two considerably different things, but a mere mis-spelling or mis-translation would change the meaning of "Je vodrais manger poisson" from "I would like to eat fish" to "I would like to eat poison". From the mis-translation of one simple word, the meaning of the entire sentence is perverted. It is very likely that this has happened in the case of the bible. Also, have you ever heard of the play Oedipus? Or Medea? Or the like? They were written in classic greek and translated by scholars. But if you go out and try to buy, say, a copy of the play Oedipus, you will find several different translations of that one play. Why? Because the art of translation is just that, an art. It isn't a science. Therefore, while some scholars may think a line/verse/paragraph means one thing, other scholars may disagree. They may also see some different connotation in it than other scholars will see. I'm not talking about "globes of fire/suns/orange thing that rises and sets" type of translation differences. I'm talking about things that change the entire meaning of a word, phrase, or even page of a book.

Furthermore, it's also very likely that monks and priests, more concerned with material gain and personal prejudices than saving souls (As they were in the middle ages) added things into the bible that were not part of the original manuscript. After all, we didn't have photocopiers until thousands of years after the bible was written so it had to be done by hand. It is very likely that this could have happened.

"So, God can create man and can create the universe and can create life but He cannot control even by inspiration that which man writes? Wow! What a perception of God. It must be horrible thinking that God is no more than that." God chooses not to control man. He allows us to chose our own path. Who's to say he did it any differently back then?

"Never had a rare steak. I like them burnt. And that is not what the Bible is talking about. Kill a rabbit then pick it up and eat it and you'll get the picture."

Really? It isn't? How do you know? The bible does not specify that it means "uncooked blood" when it says you can't eat anything with blood in it. And truly, some rare steak DOES have uncooked blood in it. On a personal note, you really should give rare steak a try, it's quite exquisite (better than it sounds, no doubt! :)) Especially with a caeser salad and a baked potato, but I'm getting off track.

I must say, to your token, you're an excellent debater, mainly because you are masterful in turning an argument on the literal/connotative/denotative meaning of the written word in the bible into a question of whether or not the person you are debating with (in this case, me) has faith. In other words, you're trying to put me on the defensive. Just to answer your question, I have been raised in a moderate Southern Baptist family in which my Grandfather was a preacher. I can recall countless Sundays throughout my childhood learning about Jesus in Sunday school and listening to my Grandfather, an amazing orator, talk about the Bible. Yes, there is a place in heaven with my name on it... it no doubt has a rare steak with a side of caeser salad and baked potato waiting for me, along with a T.V. with unlimited DVD's, my worn out Bible, a glass of home-made blackberry wine, a comfortable couch and a poster of Albert Einstein.

But my comments had nothing to do with my faith. They had to do, instead, with the problems of taking the Bible TOO literally. There are discrepancies, illogicalities, and sexual and racial prejudices. I myself refuse to believe that such a flawed manuscript (flawed only when taken too literally) could be 100 % created by God, whom I faithfully believe is infallible. Therefore, I believe that it is only a guidebook, and instruction manual, and that if it is read and followed in that light it becomes the wonderful manuscript that it is. However, if translated too strictly, it can actually cause harm and undue stress.

Just one more thing about tattoos and body piercings, they were not solely a pagan tradition. That is not where they originated. They actually originated as a means of alleviating pain, marking territory, and even as indicators of illness (such as our medical bracelets today that say if we're diabetic or allergic to medication). And besides, an extremely large majority of people who get tattoos today do not get them as some pagan right of passage, but instead as decoration, normally symbolic of things that are important in the person's life. In fact, more than half of the tattoos that are done are of crosses, Jesus, bibles, or other religious images because those are the things that are most important in the person's life. Not everyone gets a skull and crossbones or a girlfriend's name.

I apologize for the length of this email, incredibly long I realize. I hope you have come to understand my opinion more as opposed to being closed to it due to the myriads of "DOGMA fans" who have no doubt terrorized you. Have a nice day.

Sincerely, Chardon Moore
Yet another crusade to correct the stupidity of the world. Relgious people, you might want to read some of his rantings before you become angry with me... especially the "back to school special". Some things were not meant to be taken to such an extreme. Alas, I didn't save this one but I will keep up the fight!


At least, that's how I see that it should be.

~*Feisty Charli*~

April 12, 2001 1