Kata Markon

[JFAlward AT aol.com]

JOE ALWARD
When and if Jeff chooses to answer the many questions I have asked him, then 
I will be happy to try to answer your questions, but I don't want to try to 
do both at the same time, if that is all right with you.  What I want Jeff to 
respond to are these questions:


JEFFREY GIBSON (Tuesday, 10/22/02 6:19:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time)
It is **not** all right to make whether or not you will respond to Larry's 
questions about your thesis and your handling of the evidence contingent upon 
whether or not I respond.

JOE ALWARD (10/24/02 10:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time)
I only just now (Thursday night) read your letter, Jeffrey.  I'm sorry for
the delay. The reason why I was reluctant to respond to Larry's posts before 
hearing further from you is that it would direct the focus, and my time and 
energy, away from the principal, Jeffrey Gibson. It is really your opinion I 
am much more interested in reversing, for you are the one who plans to 
present the paper in Toronto.

As the post below makes clear, I seem to have created the impression that I 
was demanding that you reply to me before I would be prepared to respond to 
Larry:

LARRY SWAIN
YOU on the other hand demand that he respond to your arguments but refuse to 
respond to those asked of yourself.  Rather than I or this list having a 
double standard; the double standard, sir, appears to be yours and justified 
only by you and for your convenience.

JOE ALWARD
Where is there a sense of a demand?  Didn't I use the words,  "If it is all 
right with you"?  I did not demand or insist that Larry do anything, did I? 
Nor did I demand that you do anything.  Did I not imply that I only wanted to 
put my response on hold until I clarified your position? Why may I not choose 
how and when I respond to a correspondent's comments?

I saw then, and see no point now, in debating the viability of your paper 
until I knew exactly what your position was, especially as it relates to 
context and continuity. What if I spent days debating Swain's interpretation 
of Mark 14:38, only to find out that that is not your interpretation at all?  
May one not choose the points to which one responds in a forum such as this, 
and with whom one corresponds, especially if one's goal is in part to prevent 
the original thread from unraveling into many separate threads, and then 
everyone loses sight of the main points I had wished to debate? 

Everyone has the right to focus on those matters which are of most interest 
to them; Larry has that right, and attempted to exercise it, and he cannot be 
faulted for that.  But, so do I have the right to focus my attention on those 
things which matter more to me.  Do you not do the same thing, Jeffrey?

The main thing is, what do YOU think about the context and continuity, and 
why you think it, because YOU ARE the one presenting a paper in four 
weeks--not Larry, not me.  What I would prefer to talk about first are your 
views; then if there are still issues in contention, I would be happy to turn 
my attention to Larry, if he still wanted it.  What is wrong with that?

One final remark.  Because of my failure to address Swain's comment, and 
because some members complained about the tone of my remarks to you, I've 
been put probation.  I will try to moderate the tone of my remarks, make them 
more professional, so to speak, but members must understand that I no longer 
feel free to express myself as directly as I have in the past, and will 
always wonder if I offer one hard-hitting remark too many, I may be kicked 
off the list. Thus, there will be self-censorship.  Perhaps many will think 
that is a good thing.

I will return to offer more substantive comments pertaining to your thesis 
sometime in the future.


Regards,

Joe
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------
Joseph F. Alward, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
University of the Pacific 
Stockton CA 95201
email:  JFAlward AT aol.com

Web Page:  "A Skeptical View of Christianity and the Bible"
http://members.aol.com/jalw/joseph_alward.html