last night I decided not to reply because I didnt want to argue about anything here but then this morning I wrote a rather complicated reply just because I keep thinking about it. I deleted that though because it didnt get to the point and here I am again now so I know if I dont reply it will just go on bugging me.
I hope it isnt just because I want to have the last say. [I am rather guilty of this I think].
I just wanted to add that most of my post was from personal experience - which might mean I am even weirder than I thought but I don't really believe that. The bit about Iran I cannot argue with, but I think that might be a lot to do with other things - like having 'nothing to lose except chains' as well as manipulative education perhaps? You are right about the penitent rich kid though. It's like that in all the revolutions: educated troubled idealists tap into a vision in difficult times and leads desperate poor people to believe in said vision. I dont think its the poor people who have any sense of purity there though: its more the trouble rich kid wanting to impose his own image of it. It's always a terrible and violent disaster. (I'm reading a book about the French Revolution (Robespierre) at the moment because its something I've never ever understood and it does seem immensely important. everyone seems to skirt around it (rather like they do with the Great War come to think of it) . .. mind you reading the book I begin to see why.
whether the french revolution was entirely a disaster I still havent decided.
just one final thing about the masturbation issue. Your deliberately blase view I agree is the healthiest one to take, but, for the introverted, overly-serious young idealists who are so strongly attracted to the Christian message and have Paul to wrestle with on a daily basis, it's really hard to see it that way.