Today's post is going to be less quote interpreting and more opinionated. I'm sorry if you came here looking for quotes- I'm sure if you scroll back, you can find a few of my older posts and certainly some of my Dad's to entertain you.
In any case, today's matter is that of religion. Don't worry, I won't start picking out details and going to town on them. My issue today is church, and personally- attending it. For those who don't know, I consider myself to be a spiritual agnostic. If you don't know what that is, I urge you to look it up- I could do an entirely separate post on my beliefs, honestly. Since I was about 8, I've been going to church. It used to be an easy hour of visitation for my mom and I was, at one point, involved with my church's choir. It was a good way to get out for me and I was actually taking singing lessons at the point- it just seemed to make sense. I'll admit, I've always had my questions about religion in general... and I haven't always agreed with the morals and guidelines of the ones I was raised in. At about 12, I started addressing these questions and researching online as much as I could. I studied different religions, trying to see what each was composed of- and none seemed to fit me. I consider myself to be a spiritual agnostic because I don't lack a belief in god or the afterlife, I'm just not certain what they are. In any case. I'm now 15 and I've had this beliefs for about 3 years now. I've continued going to church with my family, but I have since stopped singing in the choir. At this point, I no longer get anything from church. It wakes me up early for no reason and wastes an hour of my time. I've tried listening to what's being said, but it never really benefits me. I feel like it's the same thing week after week. I've participated for 7 years. I'm ready to stop. I've never made an issue about going, but at this rate I do think it's fair that I have slightly more choice. My dad has even said himself that if it weren't for my grandma, he wouldn't be going. So let me ask you: when not even the adult TRULY sees a point in going, why should that same adult force someone who they know has very different beliefs to waste an hour of their time each weekend? I just don't see the point. But hey, that's just my opinion. I doubt I'll see a change any time soon. Even despite this. - maddie
0 Comments
"In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways." That mouthful was by Edith Wharton. And although it seems to be a long run-on sentence, I love that she got it exactly right, in my opinion!
Edith Wharton was an American writer who wrote "The Age Of Innocence" among other things. She actually became the first woman to win a Pulitzer prize (in 1921) due to this book. In my opinion, Wharton was a woman ahead of her time. Amazingly, she did not publish her first novel until she was 40! By the time she passed away, in 1937 she had written fifteen novels, seven novellas, and eighty-five short stories. She had published poetry, books on design, travel, literary and cultural criticism, as well as a memoir. Getting back to her quote, I like that she defines living by what she does and not by what she has. Illness and sorrow are facts of life in everyone's lives. She does not allow them to define her, however. Instead, she defines her life by her reasons for living! Ms. Wharton was not afraid of change. Her first husband had a mental illness that led to a radical change in how she had wanted to live her life. She tried to make the best of it, but after 28 years, once the doctors said that their was no longer hope to change his condition, she left to start her second life. She was 51 years old at this point! She traveled, wrote, and learned... She became happy in spite of what had happened during the "best" years of her life. I have often quoted Spock (who was likely quoting someone else) that the only constant is change. Edith is so right in saying not to be afraid of change. Not all change is bad... it is just different to what you are used to. Embrace the change, and make it your own. Always be open to learning new things. Nothing is sadder than seeing a person who decides that they know enough, and actively decides to no longer learn new things. We have all heard the saying "life has passed her by." Don't let this happen to you! Technological change has been happening at a rapid pace for over 75 years. If you fail to embrace this change, you are setting yourself up for a pretty rough go of things. Imagine if you still had to get around by horse and buggy... simply because you didn't want to learn how to drive a car! Look for small changes you can make in your life every day, and try them. The things you don't find useful, discard. Those things that show a definite benefit to you should be added to your life. Finally, find happiness in small ways. Don't look for what is wrong with your friends and family members, but what is right with them! Look for those small things that make them unique, and make you happy. It is easy to find fault in others. Constantly pointing it out doesn't make you superior, or happy. It makes you a nag. Be a person that inspires others, not the type that repels them. Remember, people are led by example, not by nagging or coercion. People in glass houses should not throw stones. And finally, remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees when they brought an adulterer to him and asked whether she should be stoned to death. He said: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” Before you cast guilt on another, think about what Jesus was trying to say in the above verse. Then honestly answer these two questions: "Do I live my faith? Or "Do I use it as a shield to protect me from what I disagree with?" I know I have drifted a bit away from the spirit of the above quote, but this post is meant for two people in my life... not just one. Because there is a second side to the coin, and an additional lesson, which again, can be found in the bible. This answer can be found in Proverbs. The question is how should you react to a person who may have strayed away from living their faith? The Proverbs make it clear: "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like to him..." Take this post for what it's worth. I think there are many lessons here. Both from the original quote, and from the verses I have quoted above. I think the two I am speaking to in the final four paragraphs should be able to recognize themselves from the described behavior. If not, feel free to ask me, and I will tell you whether I was thinking of you or not. Finally, if I was not speaking to you, yet you feel the need to ask me, then what is important is that you thought I was speaking to you, and thus you need to change your behavior. Have a good night, folks. Recently, some of the events in my life have been surrounding religion. What's right; what's wrong... etc; etc. I personally believe that religion is so wide-spread that there's no real surefire religion that's correct, and that people should be allowed to believe whatever they want so long as they don't cause harm or discomfort to others. .Personally, I'm agnostic, and I do believe in God. NASA has proved that there's God- whatever created us; whether it's nature or some higher power, is God. And we were created SOME HOW- therefore, there's a God. I just don't believe there's a just God due to all of the horrible things going on in the world.
I could go deeper on my opinions about religion and why I disagree with the one I was brought up in; but that wasn't what I intended this post to be about. In the end; there's no way to be certain about religion anyway and arguing about it is; in my opinion, is pointless. The rest of this post is going to be quotes about coexisting. "There are many paths up the mountain, but the view of the moon from the top is the same." "You don't need religion to have morals. If you can't determine right from wrong, then you lack empathy- not religion." "Freedom of religion means freedom of ALL religions; not just your own." "All major religious traditions carry basically the same message; that is love, compassion, and forgiveness. The important thing is that they should be a part of our daily lives." "In the end; only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you." "Morality is doing what is right regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told regardless of what is right." "God has no religion." - maddie Recently, I was reading a book by Greg Iles called The Footprints Of God. Now, before I go losing half of you thinking that this was a religious book I am going to review here, I would just like to say that it is not, and reviewing the book is not my intention. The book is actually about the development of artificial intelligence and its potential ramifications. While discussions about God do occur in the book, it is more in regards to philosophical debate. With that said, there was one passage in the book that I found very interesting, and I thought I would share it here. Before I quote the interesting passage, let me set the scene. In the book, the two main characters are travelling to Israel and are having a discussion on the plane. The one character has been used as a test subject for an MRI machine that is about 1000 times stronger than the ones currently in use. He, and the other test subjects have been suffering psychological effects. His are in the form of narcolepsy and vivid dreams. He is talking about a dream he had where he thought he had memories of being God, and he is having trouble relating man as he is, to his dream of God. The woman he is speaking to is a Jungian psychiatrist. The passage I am about to quote is her idea of why man is flawed, and why free choice often leads to unintended consequences. I found it very interesting. With that as a background, here is the passage. Hopefully, I have not cut too much of it out so that you at least get the gist of the argument. "I believe that to create means to make something that didn't exist before. If God is perfect, then the only way he can truly create is to make something separate from himself. So by definition, his creation must be imperfect. You see? If it were perfect, it would be God." "I believe that for human beings to be distinct from God, we must be able to make our own choices. Free will, right? And unless bad choices resulted in real pain, free will would have no meaning. That's why we have such evil in the world." Well, those are the parts that I found interesting. The two characters carried on their philosophical discussion for another five or ten pages, and a few other gems were nestled among the writing. I may paraphrase some of the thoughts in the next couple of paragraphs, but for the most part, those were the passages I wanted to highlight. In my mind, the above passages do go a long way towards explaining our world. Yet many people would say, "Well, what about instances where there was no clear choices made yet evil still happened. They point to people who die in natural disasters or childhood cancers as examples. I think part of the problem is that they are mistaking bad things that happen as evil. Also, many people look at natural things that happen and say "there was no reason for that, when in actuality, there is. As an example, when people die or lose their homes in flooding, it is often because they built their homes in a flood plain, or on a part of a beach where it may be above the line of a typical storm surge, but still within an area that gets impacted during extreme storm surges. In the case of illnesses, people can suffer from genetic disorders or due to dangerous materials in their environments. Two good examples of environmental factors would be workers who got sick due to their exposure to asbestos. Many ship builders, and factory workers have gotten sick over the years due to their exposure to that legal (at the time) product. Children who got lead poisoning from paint chips is another good example. The parents didn't knowingly put their children at risk... they didn't know any better! Although their is some evidence that paint manufacturers did know the risk, but made the paint anyway! A current example would be South African gold miners. There is a class action lawsuit taking place in that country concerning the care for miners who got tuberculosis and silicosis from inhaling rock particles while working in the mines. A personal example of a genetically caused disease is hemochromatosis. Although many people can be carriers of the gene, they may not be directly impacted from it. For a person to become ill from the genes, both the mother and the father had to be carriers of the genes. My wife was afflicted with hemochromatosis, because both of her parents were carriers. Meanwhile, her step sisters were not affected by it since they had a different father, and he was not a carrier. I guess what I am trying to say is that not everything that happens that is bad is evil. I think many agnositcs and atheists see this as being proof that there is no God, or that he is an unjust God, but I think that this may be lazy thinking on their part. The passage above goes a long way towards explaining the flaws, and our decisions can go along way towards explaining the rest. One final quote from the book. It is about facing evil head on. The character went on to quote three statements that made thoughts about western religions suspect. These were:
He then stated that you can logically reconcile any two of those statements, but not all three. Many Eastern religions believe that evil flows from God, and they do not try to blame some lesser figure, such as Satan.
That might be all well and good, but I think the topic them moves away from the existence of God and into the realm of thinking that God must fit the definition of any one religion. When man gets involved, there will always be flaws present... and that includes with their religious thoughts. After all is said and done, I don't think anyone can reliably describe God or his/her traits. For me, I believe there is a God, and I am happy to pray in my own way. At the same time, I believe that most religions can be a positive force for humanity. Which one is right and which ones are wrong, I can't truly say. No one can. I go to church on Sundays because I believe it is a positive action for my daughters. And that if they listen to what is being said, that they will eventually turn out to be honest, caring and empathetic people. That is why I go to church. In my own life, I try to live my faith. Hopefully, my daughters see that in me more than they see my flaws. I try to lead by example. To do that, I need to actually live my beliefs so that they have a good example of what I want them to become. That's about it for tonight. I hope these thoughts make you think a bit about your own beliefs and whether or not ou actually try to live them. Peace, empathy and kindness. It's the way I try to live. Over the week, I've been doing a lot of homework- and in between homework, I've been watching YouTube videos here and there to entertain myself. My usual range of videos are cooking tutorials, makeup hauls, and on occasion a game montage. However, in this week's browsing I came across a comedy sketch about religion. The guy started out by saying that he was raised and practiced Christianity, and was a believer who tried to spread the word of God and defend Jesus- BUT that he disagreed with the ways some of his fellow "brothers and sisters" went about doing so.
This is what I'd like to talk about. His point was; it's okay to be Christian and it's okay to be proud of your religion- as long as you don't allow it to constantly impose on the lives of others and as long as you don't let your belief control you to the point of thinking that you're better than everyone else simply for your beliefs. I agree with this 100% and I just wanted to extend his brief sketch out a bit. While I couldn't find the exact video again; I did find a quote that I see as fitting: "The purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others." Personally, I have no problem with other religions. I may not completely agree with their beliefs, but hey. Who am I to tell other people that their beliefs are wrong? In this day and age there are SO many different religions where I don't even think it's possible to distinguish which one is correct anymore. Personally, I don't think there IS a correct one. But that's me. The only time I begin to have a problem with religion is when people use their religion, as this guy was saying... to discriminate against others and make themselves seem better because of their beliefs. Unfortunately, I've encountered this before and it really sucks. They'll stuff their beliefs in your face and if you tell them that that's not your belief, you're likely to get a lecture about how you're blind and need to start following THEIR belief. I hate it. Live and let live, man. And that's across the board- from atheism all the way up to Christianity. No matter what your belief is, it doesn't give you the right EVER to start belittling and lecturing others for not sharing it. That's not your business, it's theirs. Keep your belief to yourself and let others make the choices that they see as best for them. - Maddie I'm going to talk about ''God''. What a loving God we have. I adore ''Him'', and worship ''Him''. He blesses everyone on earth. God protects all of us.
Ashleigh Today I sent thank you cards to my aunts and uncles. They had all sent me presents for my First Holy Communion. I wanted to thank them for thinking of me. I sent out six cards in total. We will mail them tomorrow.
Ashleigh Today I'm going to talk about My first holy communion. On Saturday I had my first holy communion at church. I was given a communion wafer that was blessed by the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Ashleigh Okay, I am going to start tonight off with a rather longish quote by Blaise Pascal. Don't worry, although the quote is about a belief in God, I am not going to get all preachy here about any particular religion. No, instead I am going to try and tie them all together.
The quote in question is: "Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists." I like the quote. While he speaks of believing in God, he doesn't come right out and tell you which one to believe in. I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to separate my faith from my religion. In essence, I am a consumer of religion. I do go to church and I am catholic. Still I find my faith in God is more internalized and less about something I get in church every Sunday (or at least enough Sundays that it feels like every Sunday... okay, MOST Sundays!). I believe that for me to be true to my faith, I need to live my faith. I don't need a church to do this. I need respect and kindness for others; a kind word, a helping hand... I need to treat people as I want to be treated, and I need to be peaceful above all else. Sure, I have my moments where everything doesn't go as planned. It is part of being human. I don't allow that to shake my belief that there is a higher power than me out there. Marcus Aurelius said it best in my opinion. ""Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but...will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones." This is my philosophy. Live a good life and have faith in a higher power. Call it what you will, but to me, it is God. "What you are speaks so loud, I can hardly hear what you say.” That is a quote by Peter Kreeft. He is a professor of philosophy at Boston College, and the author of many books on Christian apologetics. In other words, books on creating a reasoned basis for christian faith. It's an interesting subject, but one I find many agnostics won't read.
Many people become agnostics because it is convenient for them not to believe. It is easier for them to take the stance that they don't believe, because then they are not obligated to stand up and defend every theory thrown at them by nonbelievers. Some people have a tough time saying "I don't know". So instead of saying I don't know to specific questions or statement thrown at them by nonbelievers, they just call themselves agnostic and say a general blanket I don't know. Saves a lot of uncomfortable conversations that way I guess. I am guilty of it too, to some extent. I am a catholic by birth, yet there are some things that I just don't understand about my own faith. Then, there are other things I DO understand, but just don't really agree with. In either case, it is rare I am going to argue with people about their beliefs. If they are not Catholic, that's fine. I judge people by their actions and not their beliefs...Or at least I try to. For my own part, I try to live my beliefs. I treat others as I would like to be treated. I try to treat people fairly and be friendly to everyone. I try to mind my own business and help people when I can. By living those parts of my faith I believe in, I try to be a good example of my faith. I try to let my actions speak for me. Whether or not people like me, is up to them. I don't worry about it. If I say I am going to do something, then I try to do my best to do it right. I try not to cut corners. I'd rather make people laugh than cry, and I try to help people when I can and give them a positive statement rather than negative thoughts. I try to be a good role model for my daughters and my friends. Hopefully I am. "Go put your creed into your deed." That's a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Regardless of what he meant or was implying with his quote, it's still good advice. Most people look upon a creed as a system of religious belief. It doesn't have to be though. A creed can also be a statement of belief or principles. I like the second definition better...even if your creed IS based on religious principles! Too many people get bent out of shape by religious denominations. While I too have a religious denomination, I try not to judge people by theirs. I try to judge them by their actions. Many people go to church, yet you wouldn't be able to tell which one by their actions. I am a catholic. Yet I have had a divorce, used condoms and think it's okay to miss church every once in a while when I have something to do. In fact, I am certain that there are other aspects of my faith that I don't follow either. Even so, I believe I am a fervent follower of Jesus. To me, there is a difference between my faith and my church. My church is an organization that was set up to teach the lessons of Jesus. It has a power structure and strict rules to keep its followers in line. Oftentimes, the rules of the church nearly seem to fly in the face of what Jesus actually taught (to me anyway). Meanwhile, my faith is driven by the word of God and the actions of Jesus. Jesus preached love, humility and charity. In a sense, he professed personal responsibility for one's actions and that his father was a God of forgiveness. So how do we put our creed in our deeds? By making sure our actions follow our principles. For me, I try to treat others how I myself like to be treated. If I say I am going to be somewhere, I do my best to make sure I am there on time. If I offer to do a job, I try to do it to the best of my ability. I take responsibility for my actions, and I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt... at least initially. Finally, I try not to force my way or opinions onto others. While I offer advice, I try not to demand that it is followed to the letter...my way or the highway so to speak. I make the final decisions about things that impact my life, though, just as others make decisions regarding theirs. It is at the crossroads where my decisions meet theirs where the truly hard decisions need to be made. In regards to my daughters, I am responsible for their upbringing and I try to do what is best for them. Where one of their decisions is at odds with my own, I will make the final decision at this time in their lives, although I will allow them to try to sway me to their position through the use of logic. The years teach much that the days never knew. Until my daughters have enough experience to make wise decisions, I will make the final decisions on many matters to help them find the wisdom to make good decisions. When they are grown, they will understand and hopefully help their own children to make wise decisions. So what is your creed? Kindness or spitefulness. Truth or lies? Reality or fantasy? The creed you follow will inevitably have a major impact on the quality of your life. Sometimes the world will give you lemons. Will you have the wisdom to make lemonade? Or will you just suck on the sourness of the fruit? by following my principles, I will try to make lemonade every time! This morning I had a dream. In it I was in a place I have never been, doing things I have never done, with faceless people that I seemed to know. I woke up suddenly (thanks Lucky) and so I remembered it. Given there was so much pointless stuff going on in my dream, it made me ask myself the age old question, "What is the meaning of life?" After 49 years I can tell you confidently that I don't have the slightest idea!
I mean, think about life, not just yours, but everybody's. Some are running around looking for more and more material things, while others are just struggling to survive another day. While some would say that life is just the pursuit of happiness, I would tend to disagree. The pursuit of happiness is just something some are in a position to do with their spare time. For others, life is a constant struggle just to survive. So what would the meaning be for them? I guess you could say they want happiness too, but that they are just having a harder time reaching it. My daughter, Maddie thinks that the real meaning of life was the pursuit of happiness. She points to the Garden of Eden as her example. She says while we were there, there was happiness...until we got kicked out. I disagree with her. I look at that story differently. If Adam and Eve were happy, then they would not have eaten the forbidden fruit. Even if the serpent didn't say a word, it's likely that they would have eaten it at some point or other. Why? Curiosity. Secondly, if God really didn't want man to eat from the tree, he would have placed them elsewhere. Most people view God as an all knowing being. If this is true, then he already knew that Adam and Eve were going to eat the forbidden fruit. If he didn't know, then he wouldn't be all-knowing. Out of all the stories in the bible, this story makes the least sense to me. To me, God already knew or should have known what was going to happen, if he was all-knowing. Thus, the whole situation looks more like a set up. A set up so that A. God could kick us out of the Garden of Eden, or B. he could set up a situation where he could blame the humans for their own downfall. Either situation doesn't point to a god to me. Secondly, think of the punishment God handed down for that transgression. Not only were Adam and Eve banished from the Garden of Eden, but everyone who came after them. Think about it! That would be like humans finding a murderer guilty and then hanging him and everyone in his family for the crime. That certainly doesn't sound like an all-loving god. But I digress. Suffice it to say that I don't think the pursuit of happiness is the meaning of life. A drug addict getting high is pursuing happiness...while he is killing himself in the pursuit. THAT is certainly NOT the meaning of life. The pursuit of happiness is something we all do, to some extent anyway, but I do not think it is the meaning. So what brings meaning to my life? My children. When I was at my lowest, I kept going for my children. Not for my own happiness, but to try and bring about theirs. What do you love more than yourself in life? I think that is the true meaning of life. To distill it further, I think the meaning of life can be different for each and every one of us. For me, it is that which I would willingly give up my life for. That would be my daughters. Everything else pales in comparison. In the end, I really don't know what the meaning of life is. For me, it is my daughters. That is as near an answer as I can reach. If any of you think you have figured it out, leave a comment and let me know. I don't think the pursuit of happiness has anything to do with it. I think that the pursuit of happiness is a distraction from the true meaning, and that to attain true happiness, you first need to learn the real meaning of life. Otherwise, any happiness you may find will be hollow and fleeting...similar to what everybody already seems to be chasing. "Thus life and death, good and evil, the blessing and the curse, are set before us, that we may choose our way, and as our way so shall our end be." That, of course, is a quote from the bible. I like to look at the bible as both a history lesson and a road map for living. It's a history lesson to the extent that it tells us about life in ancient times. Unlike most history books though, it tells the story not from the victor's point of view (at least not all the time), but from the conquered's. Throughout history, the Jews have been both victor and conquered, and so have the Christians.
To me, it's the new testament that can be looked upon as the road map for living. The sayings of Jesus and the interpretations from the apostles really give you food for thought about how you want to live your life. When I started to write this post, I was thinking of the writings of Matthew. To be specific: "verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me." I think of this quote from time to time, especially when I go to New York and see bums sleeping on the street. Everyone walks past them. On occasion someone stops and gives one or the other something to eat. I usually don't, so this isn't a I want to show off how moral I am story. Personally, I think this isn't what Jesus was talking about. I don't think that he wants any one person to go out to save the world. I do think he means to take care and treat kindly the people in your own community however. Closer to home, I do think he means to try and take care of each other. A kind word to a stranger in your own town. Helping a neighbor who is down on their luck...Even the way you interact with the people at your own place of worship. The reason I thought of this is because of a story I read on the internet the other day. A pastor was hired at a church where the congregation had never met him. With the permission of the church elders he wanted to walk among the flock before he was introduced to get to know them. On the Sunday he was to be introduced, he went to the church early. He didn't dress as a pastor, but instead wore shabby clothes and just introduced himself with his first name. He nodded and smiled to many people among the congregation and shook hands with others, saying a kind word here and there. Many people seemed put off by his appearance and spoke curtly with him. When he went to take a seat near the front of the church, ushers tried to steer him towards the back. When the church services began, the church elders stood and told the congregation that they wanted to introduce everyone to the new pastor. There was silence as the little man with the shabby clothes stood up and walked behind the lectern. (The church elders were in on the pastor's plan.) He looked out at the crowd, and his first words were: " verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me." Whether or not this story is true, I think it shows that there is a vast difference between going to church and living one's faith. And I think we can all use a reminder about this every once and a while. God has given us a road map (the Bible). It is up to us to use it. There are many paths to both heaven and hell. The farther you stray from paths leading to one, is the same distance that you are straying towards the other. The Bible points out that none of us are perfect. That is true. That is why there are many paths towards grace. We must all do our best to stay on paths that lead towards salvation. One of the easiest paths to follow is to treat all members of the community with a modicum of respect. Remember, many of the apostles and the other followers of Jesus likely looked shabby. These were men and women who oftentimes gave away or left everything they had to follow Jesus. They likely weren't dressed in the finest clothing of the day, and personal hygiene likely wasn't high on their list of heavenly virtues. I try to treat everyone with a modicum of respect and meet them with a kind word. I only try to avoid people that I think could be dangerous, whether by chance or by choice. When I am in New York, I do not feel the need to save the world. In general, I do not feel the need to stop at every homeless person and give them food. I do feel the need to treat them with respect if they do come up to me and start speaking to me. That doesn't mean I feel the need to give them anything...It just means that I will not pretend that they did not speak with me. Instead, I will talk to them nicely and tell them no, nicely if they do ask for a handout. Closer to home, I try to help out where I can. There are many paths to heaven. No one can trod all of them. We can try to stay on the paths that can lead us there though. The Bible gives us a road map. Make sure to check it once in a while to see if whether the paths you are on lead in the right direction. |
Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|