Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT sil.org]

Dear Jim,

Maybe Armando is correct that Wondell is more at fault than you are 
here. But I also think you are not treating him fairly. He made an 
honest enquiry about the "Bible codes" and what list members thought 
about them. He received several replies, mostly negative, but only 
yours was in strong emotive language. He then graciously replied, 
"Thanks for your responses and informational links. I had a gut 
feeling it was superstition and fanaticism all along. Todah Rabah!" So 
he was prepared to learn from the answers he received; this was not a 
case where he had made up his own mind in advance. He and Tsadowq may 
not yet be as learned as you are, but apparently they genuinely want 
to learn. Your intolerance is only going to drive them away from the 
mainstream scholarship which they want to learn and into other cranky 
theories.

The nature of Internet discussion groups like this one is that they 
are open. That means that you have to be prepared to read, or to 
ignore, postings which (in your opinion) display gross ignorance etc. 
But postings which are personal attacks on others should not be 
tolerated, and some of your responses seem to me to be on that 
borderline. May I suggest that you would do better to ignore postings 
which you consider beneath your academic level, or else to leave this 
list and join instead another one which is restricted to genuine 
academics.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Proverbs 25 and "secret things".
Author:  jwest AT highland.net at internet
Date:    16/06/1999 10:13


At 10:30 AM 6/16/99 -0400, you wrote:

>What a jackass.

May I remind you that God spoke through Balaam's ass.... so you might want 
to listen.

>
>Could it hurt you to be a little polite when responding?

Not at all.  I was polite and did not say everything I was thinking- just as 
I am refraining from saying everything that I am thinking now.  But enough. 
We have disagreed before and you have demonstrated your own proclivities to 
accept rather bizarre notions (based, I take it, on your own lack of 
familiarity with the issues at hand).

> If you only wish
>to discuss issues with people that are in your intellectual stratosphere, 
>then kindly refrain from responding to the 'dullards' on the list, and 
>then you may resume talking to yourself in the mirror.

But a question was asked- by you if I recall it, regarding the view of 
others on list about the Bible "codes".  If you did not want responses why 
did you ask the question?  Or were you only seeking answers that affirmed 
your own position?  I am not quite clear why you asked if you already have 
made up your mind.

>
>I hate to get thrown back into this, but this kind of intolerant pedagogy 
>is disgusting for a student and learner.

Intolerant?  Perhaps.  But only of ideas that really are patently absurd and 
that waste time.  As a list participant I read every post- no matter who it 
is from- just in case someone is actually interested in an answer.  Some 
posts, however, are so assinine that only an answer in kind will get the 
attention of the poster.

>
>Shalom.

hmmm.... I wonder what you can mean by this.

>
>Wondell M. Rachman

Thanks for at least using a real name (I suppose it is- I am not sure of 
your name or your qualifications to comment.)

Jim

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
email- jwest AT highland.net
web page-  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest


---
You are currently subscribed to b-hebrew as: Peter_Kirk AT sil.org 
To unsubscribe, forward this message to 
$subst('Email.Unsub')
To subscribe, send an email to join-b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu.