When we transcribed the alien script we found that Mark Goodge had
written:

> I think Jeff's interpretation has quite a lot of support, both
> historically and from Scripture. But, on the other hand, it also has
> quite a lot ranged against it. The big difference between Jeff and those
> of us who disagree with him on this point isn't simply that we have
> different opinions on it, it's that those of us who disagree with him
> have looked at both sides of the argument and concluded that the
> arguments on one side are stronger than the other. Jeff, by contrast,
> cannot even admit that the other side might even have an argument at
> all, no matter how weak.

I think this runs deeper. Given a basket of fruit I would sooner choose a 
pear than an apple. When I order a steak in a restaurant I have it very 
rare. These decisions are not right or wrong, but simply expressions of my 
personality.

However with matters of theology there are definitely right and wrong 
answers. Either people baptised in a particular way are doomed, or they 
aren't.

Opinions don't matter, except if they help us to get at the facts. Of 
course we may not always be able to find out everything we would like to 
know. We can only find out about the afterlife if someone goes there and 
comes back to tell us, and only one person has ever done that.

So we are stuck in the position that we have people saying different 
things about issues that really matter. How do we decide who is right?

It seems we have two biblical tests. One is in Galatians, which set of 
ideas leads to the display of the fruits of the spirit? The other is the 
new commandment, what ideas are consistent with the idea that God is love 
and commands us to love one another?

-- 
I am Robert Billing, Christian, author, inventor, traveller, cook and
animal lover. "It burned me from within. It quickened; I was with book
as a woman is with child."
Quality e-books for portable readers: http://www.alex-library.com