Thank you in advance
Franke
stupidity of -- is that proactive or is it preemptive? --
"thank you in advance" statements:
"A little later in his prayer, Rev. Caldwell said, "Lord,
we thank you
in advance for healing the nation."
from a CNN.com news story "Tony Clark: Bush prays, aides
plan as transition to Washington commences", 14 Dec 2000
Simon R. Hughes
> Here's a winner of a sentence that demonstrates the
> stupidity of -- is that proactive or is it preemptive? --
> "thank you in advance" statements:
>
> "A little later in his prayer, Rev. Caldwell said, "Lord,
> we thank you
> in advance for healing the nation."
Not so absurd, if you understand the mindset of the pray-er.
Mark 11:24 says: "Therefore, I say unto you: What things soever ye
desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have
them."
One of the ways that evangelical Christians demonstrate that they
believe at the time of making request is by thanking God before the
manifestation of the concrete answer.
Trite? I suppose that depends on the mind of the pray-er.
> from a CNN.com news story "Tony Clark: Bush prays, aides
> plan as transition to Washington commences", 14 Dec 2000
--
Simon R. Hughes -- http://www.geocities.com/a57998/subconscious/
Quoting Usenet postings in follow-ups --
http://www.geocities.com/a57998/quote.html
Franke
"Simon R. Hughes" wrote:
> Thus Spake Franke:
> > Here's a winner of a sentence that demonstrates the
> > stupidity of -- is that proactive or is it preemptive? --
> > "thank you in advance" statements:
> >
> > "A little later in his prayer, Rev. Caldwell said, "Lord,
> > we thank you in advance for healing the nation."
>
> Not so absurd, if you understand the mindset of the pray-er.
>
> Mark 11:24 says: "Therefore, I say unto you: What things soever ye
> desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have
> them."
>
> One of the ways that evangelical Christians demonstrate that they
> believe at the time of making request is by thanking God before the
> manifestation of the concrete answer.
>
> Trite? I suppose that depends on the mind of the pray-er.
No, I don't think that it is trite, but it certainly is absurd. In the
immortal words of the late, great Janis Joplin -- who knew the
evangelical Christian mind very well, coming from south Texas as she did
-- "Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive
Porsches, I must make amends".
I understand the mindset of the pray-er very well. I have studied the
history and the sermons of the greats and not-so-greats of American
evangelical Christianity from the early 18th century to the late 20th. I
also vividly remember the days when Oral Roberts and his kindred spirits
would stand up in their tent meetings, lay hands on shills who threw
their crutches and wheelchairs away and shouted "Hallelujah, Lord! I'm
cured!" as they stumbled out of the tent to their Cadillacs. I watched in
amazement that people could buy that corny carney stuff week after week
and year after year. I'm amazed that they still buy it after thousands of
fruitless years of prayer. I must be missing something, right?.
I heard Oral and his brethren stand up and shout out to their
congregations things like "God wants you to be rich!" as they waved fists
full of hundred-dollar bills, and "God wants you to have a Cadillac!" as
they pointed to their own shiny black chariots bought with their
ill-gotten gain.
But all those suckers gave their dollars to Oral, who got rich, fat, and
arrogant driving his Cadillac, while they remained poor, malnourished,
and greedily hopeful driving their rusty old Ford pickups.
Any fool can do what Mark 11:24 says and that fool will soon discover
that prayers are < 1% effective unless they are aimed at spiritual things
that can and must be accomplished by oneself.
Prayers like the one made by the Rev. Caldwell and his ilk, of course,
are in the 50-50 category: either the nation will heal or it will not, so
they are as useful as playing roulette and just as meaningful.
But thank you for the reference. I will pass that along to my EFL
students next time they ask me the best way to master English. I will
say: "Pray, children, pray."
Roger Whitehead
wrote:
> Mark 11:24 says: "Therefore, I say unto you: What things soever ye
> desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have
> them."
>
> One of the ways that evangelical Christians demonstrate that they
> believe at the time of making request is by thanking God before the
> manifestation of the concrete answer.
This is along similar lines, ISTM:
"I always remind God, 'you say that the workman's worthy of his wages'.
Well, I've worked really hard this week and I need a paycheck".
(Said, for public consumption, by an Avon 'lady', from Centerville,
Texas.)
Regards,
Roger
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Roger Whitehead,
Oxted, Surrey, England
corv...@my-deja.com
Franke <fra...@seed.net.tw> wrote:
> Here's a winner of a sentence that demonstrates the
> stupidity of -- is that proactive or is it preemptive? --
> "thank you in advance" statements:
I beg your pardon in advance if this has been discussed before, but I
wasn't here for the thread.
In the movie "Love and Death on Long Island", John Hurt's character,
riding in a taxi in New York, is smoking in the back seat. The driver
points to a sign which says, "WE THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING". Hurt's
character replies, "I don't expect to be thanked."
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
John Ings
(Applause!) Hear! Hear!
## God ain't so bad. It's his fan clubs that will drive you crazy!
Alec "Skitt" P.
"John Ings" <ji...@dfl.crc.ca> wrote in message
news:6hrk3tkv2hcnaa2ho...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 23:40:56 +0800, Franke <fra...@seed.net.tw> wrote:
>
> (Applause!) Hear! Hear!
>
> ## God ain't so bad. It's his fan clubs that will drive you crazy!
Amen, brother!
--
Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://i.am/skitt/
I speak English well -- I learn it from a book!
-- Manuel of "Fawlty Towers" (he's from Barcelona).
Franke
"Alec \"Skitt\" P." wrote:
> "John Ings" <ji...@dfl.crc.ca> wrote in message
> news:6hrk3tkv2hcnaa2ho...@4ax.com...
> > On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 23:40:56 +0800, Franke <fra...@seed.net.tw> wrote:
> >
> > (Applause!) Hear! Hear!
> >
> > ## God ain't so bad. It's his fan clubs that will drive you crazy!
>
> Amen, brother!
And amen again.
Franke
corv...@my-deja.com wrote:
This is a new one and a good one. I love the line.
Last nightat bedtime my 4-year-old and I had a tearful little
confrontation about who would take off his shirt. He demanded that I take
it off, but I quietly insisted that he do it and said he would not be able
to go to sleep until he did so. After about 5 minutes of tearful "I don't
want to take it off! You do it!"'s, he finally decided sleep was better
than resistance. I said "Thank you" and he shrilly retorted "I don't want
'Thank you'!" I wonder if he's seen that movie.
Alec "Skitt" P.
"Franke" <fra...@seed.net.tw> wrote in message
news:3A39877E...@seed.net.tw...
> Here's a winner of a sentence that demonstrates the
> stupidity of -- is that proactive or is it preemptive? --
> "thank you in advance" statements:
>
> "A little later in his prayer, Rev. Caldwell said, "Lord,
> we thank you
> in advance for healing the nation."
Presumptive.
Franke
"Alec \"Skitt\" P." wrote:
> "Franke" <fra...@seed.net.tw> wrote in message
> news:3A39877E...@seed.net.tw...
> > Here's a winner of a sentence that demonstrates the
> > stupidity of -- is that proactive or is it preemptive? --
> > "thank you in advance" statements:
> >
> > "A little later in his prayer, Rev. Caldwell said, "Lord,
> > we thank you
> > in advance for healing the nation."
>
> Presumptive.
You win!
Rachael Hughes
and nobody will help me! I'm 12 and need to get this done by monday or I am
in trouble!! thankyou!!
This is the passage:
The children’s parents were very upset when they heard that their offspring
had been caught by a neighbor trying to cut off her young dogs tail with a
carving knife it’s a terrible thing to have done heir father what on earth
possessed you to do something so dreadful it’s the sort of thing we expect
of other peoples children but not of our own we want a little brother said
the children and someone told us that little boys are made of snips and
snails and puppy dogs tails we were going to make one their father explained
that this was a saying it wasn’t really true he said that the puppy had to
be taken to the vets to have the cut on its tail treated and he would have
to foot the substantial bill because of this they wouldn’t be getting the
new jumpers from Marks and Spencer’s they had been promised and you’ll have
to lose two weeks pocket money as well he told them you are lucky that you
aren’t older otherwise she would have reported you to the police and you
might well have been taken to court I think it’s likely that the JPs would
take a stern view of children trying to cut off dogs tails it might have
been acceptable in the 1920s but it certainly isn’t in the 90s the children
were very contrite and assured their father it wouldn’t happen again.
Matti Lamprhey
> I'd really like some help with some homework. I need to punctuate a
> passage and nobody will help me! I'm 12 and need to get this done by
> monday or I am in trouble!! thankyou!!
> This is the passage:
I've responded to another copy of this you multiposted. Please don't do
that.
Matti
bs
>I'd really like some help with some homework. I need to punctuate a
>passage and nobody will help me! I'm 12 and need to get this done by
>monday or I am in trouble!! thankyou!!
>[passage]
The End.
---
Bob Stahl
(Seriously, just take a guess and then show it to your parental units.)