one uttered, the other not

[Sonny Pro Bono]

J-man, my high school Latin teacher saved this for me and I still have
it with my name in his handwriting. Over twenty years ago and he
still lives in my mind as a man of exceptional perception and personal
courage. He dared to care. Memories are the next best thing to
faith.

This is how real life is. A point of awareness of what we really ask
for. Of course, it was published posthumously, as all great truths
must be.

http://quanta-gaia.org//MarkTwain/warPrayer.html

Ken.

"What part of meow don't you understand?"

[Tim McGaha]

Ken wrote:

>This is how real life is. A point of awareness of what we really ask
>for. Of course, it was published posthumously, as all great truths
>must be.
>
>http://quanta-gaia.org//MarkTwain/warPrayer.html

It's a pointed dilemma, to be sure. Indeed, you must be very careful what you
ask for, as well as to be certain as to WHY you're asking. Thanks for sharing
that bit from Mark Twain. I hadn't seen it before, and it's food for thought.

But...

When the strong overrun the weak, and when you have negotiated in good faith to
stop them from doing so and still they ignore you, and when you judge that you
have the strength to intervene ... is it good or moral to stand mute, and let
the weak be ground to dust, saying all the while, "At least I spilled no
blood?"

That was Neville Chamberlain's choice, for "peace" in his time, and history
will forever revile him for it. So much pain, so much horror could have been
stopped had he shown a bit of nerve.

Yes, we should bloody well know what we're doing when we pray that prayer. But
we should also realize that there are times when our duty demands it.

Tim McGaha (mcga...@aol.com) http://hometown.aol.com/mcgahatj/
State-Certified Mad Scientist, and Rocket Jockey In Training
"Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prospers,
none dare call it treason." -- Sir John Harrington

[Sonny Pro Bono]

I love Twain. His insight into the human condition remains genius. I
love his early light-hearted works, and his dark works towards the
end. Beware the genie cursing you with your wish.

What surprised me about studying that war, was the power of using "The
Great Lie." A supernatural lie so terrible that it tested a morality
to say it was untrue because it was hard to break the spell of pure
evil hatred. Combine that with the relentless pattern of "pressure
and release."

Imagine all that arose from a beer hall to engulf the world. Like a
Stephen King novel, evil always begins its walk under your own foot.

Ken

K;-)

"You are only normal within your frame of reference."
http://www.angelfire.com/tn/shelby/emotional.html
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/sandringham/607/hobbies/rabbit.htm
"What I want, you can't give me back." "I want to believe."

[Diva]

Sometimes our prayers seem to go unanswered - perhaps the consequences of what we
asked for were only known by God. We are blessed by default. I was taught to
precede a prayer request to God with "If it be Thy will".

~Diva

[RDT]

In article <3B758B72...@ticnet.com>, Diva <di...@ticnet.com> wrote:
>Sometimes our prayers seem to go unanswered - perhaps the consequences of what we
>asked for were only known by God. We are blessed by default. I was taught to
>precede a prayer request to God with "If it be Thy will".

I was reading Scientific American on my flight back from Orlando and
I read an article about faith and doubt. It made an interesting claim.
It said that scientific research had demonstrated humans require much less
proof that supernatural phenomena is real than almost any other thing in
their world. Occasional reinforcement (e.g. an answered prayer once every
few months) is enough for most believers. However, our threshold for
losing faith in other humans may only be a single broken promise.
Something which we cannot see and can never be proven sits higher in the
hierarchy of the lives of some than the things which can be proven and
live amongst us. I think that is tragic. I hope that religious people
spend less time debating theology and more pondering the words of Paul's
letter: "faith without works is dead". Or even Christ's -- "to whom much
is given, much is required."

RDT
--
Send me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free.
--Inscription, Statue of Liberty

[Tim McGaha]

RDT wrote:

>I hope that religious people
>spend less time debating theology and more pondering the words of Paul's
>letter: "faith without works is dead".

That's from James, not from Paul. Doesn't make it any less of a good point,
though.