SIN. WHAT a topic! I’m so;

glad fundamentalists have
been doing so much of it
lately in public.

4

By far the most entertaining
program on earth right now is the
maxi-series called Fall of The
Televangelists.

Actually, Gore Vidal wrote a
book about just this sort of thing
_ years ago. It was a social sci-fi
piece about a guy named John
Cave who became the world’s first
~ televangelist, long before the term

was invented.

He hada talent for using the
medium to mesmerize people en
masse, giving himself enormous
power, which he promptly — and
oh so inevitably ~- abused. It was
your’ basic tale of worship, false/
prophets and corruption., fog

jIt is quite haunting nowadays to

see the sequel, as it were, un-
_, folding in the real world, where’
_ one sleazy Elmer Gantry-style :
‘ creep after another has been shown)

"to have not just fogs of clay but’

. something else made of more flex
“ible material. ”
".. Anybody who gets up
. ‘the word of God into milli
minds at a time deserves ;

“ ear the course.

* often, paar ye !
The big diferente i is that’
say I recall the at time a

implies a divine energy
surface of reality.”

th D tion program oe
0) rhimen has: ‘sparked

i expressing: concern about:
-governinent plans -

_@ strict

A deity might after all, just
move events around i in a tricky
way so that you got your answer
regardless of: whether any word
carved in stone came down or not.
And if youjwere really alert, you

might just notice a sign here, a sign .

there... ii

But thi isa philosophical aside.
The point of this column is to ad-,
dress thi: issue of sin as fully as :
possible i in a family newspaper, /
which ‘48 0 Say, not so terribly ful-
ly at all.

The details will have to rémain
propyfly vague, but I, tog, have
sinnéd, brothers and sisters. Oh
Lord, how often I have sinned! In
how many ways have | sinned?

” More ways than L have fingers, Pll
tell you.
| (find most sin to be quite en-,
joyable, Actually, if I'm not en-
oying it, this means it has become
«work and? it’s not sinful any more.
/M has bécome Virtuous or neces-

i sary. /

' Of course, I'm being glib. There
arg obvious sins against humanity
: oF nature that really are deadly,”, ©
‘evil things — evil in the sense that
they injure and damageand
destroy.
But, generally speaking, under
what are broadly classified as 1
“Western”’ religions, crimes. 5?

against nature aren't even factored.

i :
= for crimes against hiimanity,:

we could start with the bloody his-
tory of the Catholic church, and.

“go from there. But why depress ’

ourselves? Let us just note that

some of the greatest sinners s claim- ”

ed to be'saints.: 3: y
[have yet to’ meet a man 1 of the
cloth who wasn’ Ve on some kind of

power trip. | mean, come off it,
man — who are you to tell the rest
of us how to be? Oh, you have a
degree in theology? Pardon me.

The moment preachers live for,
of course, is when they step up on
to the pulpit or in front of the Tv
camera.

Which is fair enough — actors
do it, politicians do it, judges do
it, poets do it, even lowly newispa-
per people try to do it. i

The difference is that the princes
of the various churches have'the ‘
audacity to presume to speak for:
God. Whew! I mean, really?) A lite
tle old, carth-bound human ing
interpreting the word of the Uni-

‘versal All-Creator?

Don’t mind me if I snicker, at
the very least.

The Greek root of the word

‘*sin’’ comes from an ancient ar-
chery term. To sin was to fail to
hit the Bull's Eye, I like that.
generally know when [ have sinned
along those lines, and it is appall-
ing just how often, even with rea-

~ sonable intentions, one accordingly

sins through laziness or indif-
ference. / .
Egomaniz, would constitute a

“serious barrier to spiritual

marksmanship, I'm sure, yet it is

the’ psychological prerequisite to

any kind of priesthood, other than
monastic traditions. weet ,

So J think basically all
evangelists. are frauds. Just to be’

‘fair about it, I think most gurus

are too. As for priests and rabbis
and! mullahs, if anything they

dist ract us from God with their are
' cane rituals of mindless obse- - .

qu ousness @

Fi ne a traction is) ‘the pri .
_ New to.the Vane ouver afea.
Ground ‘floor: apportunity.
“Small investment required.”
.For further information
call Jim 985-0185

ie
f-your “ch ‘has a weakness i in reading or |
Mm th, chances are it's ee his whole ex-

to” privatize ,

haber bial Ei
couragement, we’
people achieve’ dramati ii
essential learning. are;

NOTICE OF NOMINATING
MEETING

| NORTH VANCOUVER PROGRESSIVE | :

CONSERVATIVE
FEDERAL RIDING ASSOCIATION.

‘The North Vancouver Progressive Conservative
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didate to represent the Progressive Conservative Party '. : .
of Canada in the riding of North Vancouver in a future; }

Federal Election on April 20th 1988 ci 7:00 p.m.in the
Tarnarack Room of the Delbrook Recreation Centre,
600 West Queens Road, North Vancouver. !

‘Mi. Ron Huntington is the Guest Speaker, ‘for ‘the
evening. \ / 3 ‘pe

/ A
All present and past members of the Progressive ‘Con- im
servative Porty and their guests are we come.’ ;

For further information phone Wanda, Hayward at a”

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