But that's just it Gibo. You claim that if I haven't become a Christian, that my exposure to Christianity must only be a surface exposure.

I'm afraid that's not the case. It wasn't a mere child's distraction, it's been quite extensive.
What do you say to all the other faiths out there? Far more people exist on this planet belonging to faiths other than Christianity. Have you immersed yourself in their views as well? Have you considered seeking the Buddhist nirvana? What of the gods of the Hindus? Heck, maybe you should seek Valhalla.

Are all of these faiths just skimming the surface? How can you judge if you haven't examined them?

See, you also note that you haven't the time to check other philosophers - therefore, you've just selected christianity on the basis of what? Just Stan Deyo? It's like saying you like one kind of food best, but without trying anything else.

So to recap your view:

1) I've battled demons.
2) I read about flying saucers and microchips, and decided Christianity was the way to go.
3) I didn't really suss out alternatives views from philosophers. Deyo does it for me.

As for obsessive compulsion - dunno where that came from. I'd define obsession as probably be more likely to be connected to things like demons and saucers. Though I do enjoy musing on philosophy and theology - but I'd rather question the whole gamut of religions than just run with one that's put in front of me.

As for blindly following a straight line - only problem there is, you're apt to bump into anything that falls in your path.
Rather than bump problems repeatedly, I'd rather explore and find a way around...

Though I must admit, I don't doubt your faith. It must take quite a lot to stick with your unshakeable belief in demons and flying saucers.

Getting back on-topic for a moment - albeit a brief moment, I suspect - could Gibo hazard a guess at how this extra $17bn a year would actually be used to address poverty?

No amount of unattached, free-floating dollars have ever made a significant impact on the problem, I'm afraid. As someone once said, "For the poor always ye have with you..." (John 12:8)

And a great deal of NASA'a budget is, I suspect, simply another input to the cycle of manufacturing and consumption that makes up any economy. How much of the money "saved" by closing NASA down would instantly disappear in unemployment benefits, reduced income for satellite industries, the corner shop etc.

>>an average young person with good computer skills could create a computer program that would show without doubt that NASAs fantasy is already lost<<

The same "average young person" might also find that the net impact of the disappearance of NASA would actually increase poverty, rather than stamp it out.

Economies are interesting things. They certainly don't behave in a way that says "if I throw a lot of money at it, poverty will go away". In fact, if you were to re-allocate every dollar equally to every citizen on the planet, we would all live in poverty.

All of us.

Yes, I believed that Christianity was the way to go TurnRightThenLeft. As for demons. I know about them, as many christians do. As for UFO's. Lets wait and see. Who knows what they build in the "skunk works" manufacturing areas. Does anyone know whats next with high tech planes? Are there flying discs? Stan Deyo in The Cosmic Conspiracy says yes. I think its possible.

Its the morality Pericles. Or lack of it. An elite with their heads in the stars and people dying from poverty on the "golden streets" of American cities. Its planet desertion, poor people desertion, problem desertions. Turning our heads away when there are people in need. If NASA collapsed the workers would find other jobs. The jobs are there. Just not brought forward. We could re-afforest. Clean up the globe. Help the poor and get Gods Blessing. Mars is too far away.

I think you might have missed the point about the economics of it all, Gibo, but that's ok.

>>Its the morality Pericles. Or lack of it. An elite with their heads in the stars and people dying from poverty<<

This is pure idealism.

Nothing wrong with it, of course. We all go through that phase at some point in our lives, where the world is totally screwed up, and love is the answer.

I went through it in the sixties, when idealism, the new dawn, the age of Aquarius, peace and love brothers and sisters were all the answers we needed.

And we certainly had all the answers. What we didn't know, of course, was the question. But that didn't stop us marching against nuclear weapons, the Vietnam war, rampant capitalism, the whole kit and caboodle.

It is nice to see that the spirit of the sixties is still alive, in the same lopsided, half-the-picture sort of way.

But quite why you have picked on NASA is still a mystery.

They do no-one any harm. They perpetuate the spirit of adventure and discovery that has been with us since the first caveman. They employ many good and talented people and contribute to the economy.

It is a little glib to say "If NASA collapsed the workers would find other jobs. The jobs are there. Just not brought forward. We could re-afforest. Clean up the globe". That would not, I suggest, bring any comfort to the guys in the cardboard boxes, would it, if you simply pay the same people to plant trees instead of exploring space.

>>Mars is too far away.<<

I expect the caveman thought the same about the next village, or what was over that mountain. But in finding ways to get there he managed to invent the wheel.

Probably.

The economics is not important Pericles. 17 billion or 1,000 billion. Its not the point to me. Its the goof off trying to achieve the impossible when resouces and distance prohibit the efforts success... as people die. The issue for commited christians is to obey God and do what He says by His Word. Loving others simply doesnt neglect those in need. Loving others doesnt drift over to Star Trekking as a world and its peoples die.
When I started the thread this was what it was all about...NASA folk turning away from those in need to do the selfish.
Even if it was possible to do Mars do you think NASA would take the worlds poor people on their great planet hop? Would the aborigine, or the unemployed, or the refugee get a place on the space ships? NOT! if I know NASA and America. The elite would get seats and the "substandards" of earth would get left behind to scramble around for themselves. The four things God has against America, as revealed in Words of Knowledge to christian prophets, are its abortion, its pornography, its greed/selfishness and its neglect of its poor. NASA thinking stands as an abomination in those last two areas. Pity you hadnt bumped into the Jesus Movement in those wild hippy days. You might have been born again all these years. Apart from Jesus as Saviour having a heart for the needy is what life is all about.