Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
>   You can't rip off a few words of a long message and expect it to
> preserve its meaning. It's just impossible.

I think these two sentences of yours can stand on their own.  I'd say you can
expect a portion of a longer message to preserve its meaning *if* you're
careful/mindful of just how much context is required.  In this case the context
which is not included in those two sentences is the fact that this thread is (of
late) talking about passages from the Bible.  It's still possible and reasonable
to agree or disagree with the statements without that context. Upon hearing the
context 'Bible passages' a person might start responding with their general
view of the Bible (literal/alegorical/etc).  However, the context would then be
more of a distraction to whether a person fundamentally agrees with the
specific statement which is obviously meant as a general statement - a truth, a
premise to bring back into the larger conversation.

In case I wasn't clear, my point is that I think it's possible. :-)

>
>   I think that's one of the definitions of a straw man

By contrast here is a selection of a few words from a longer message which *do*
need more context to be a complete idea.

Charles

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