Sunday, June 21, 2009
One of the elder members of our church read out this prayer in service this evening:
Almighty and everlasting God, from whom cometh every perfect gift; send down upon our fathers, both here in this life and with Thee, the healthful Spirit of Thy grace. And, that it may truly please Thee, pour upon them the continual dew of Thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessings to all of you who are fathers and fathers-to-be today...
I can't comment on the content of this post Debi, because as you are probably aware, I am a Pagan. I don't believe in God, Heaven or Hell or the fact that Jesus was the messiah.
It is not deliberate. In my heart I just cannot lie to myself, or go to church "just in case" the Bible is right.
Although I believe that Jesus was a man born of earthly parents, I accept the fact that he was well ahead of his time and was a very intelligent man. Therefore I try to follow his teachings and the way of life that he preached, although sometimes it can be a little difficult.
I respect people who have the courage of their convictions, and follow what they believe in, and I expect them to respect me in return in my belief that we are part of nature and this life is all we get.
Therefore we must try to leave the world a slightly better place than when we came.
I'm sorry your responses to "Babble On" were partially met with what I interpret as mean-spirited sarcasm. I try to avoid such things in my own responses, but when I feel strongly about an issue, I fear that I am not always as respectful as I would like.
Thanks for the good wishes, Snowbrush. No, I don't post much; in fact, I am thinking of closing down this blog in favor of other pursuits. Mostly, I have had a lack of time due to lots of overtime at work, for which I am very grateful. Tired, but grateful... :)
I saw the comments by Snowbrush on my Dads page, so I thought I would come and have a look at your site.
I was wondering if you found my Dads comment at the top disrespectful or heresy, because you didn't reply to him.
I know that 'Heresy' is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially the Christian religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief.
As a legal secretary I have been involved with court cases here in Britain where the church has tried to suppress or ban minor religions such as Wiccans, Druids and Pagans who they see as offensive to the established (?) Christian religion.
Incidently, I am a Pagan as well, and paganism has been around a lot longer than Christianity.
No, Wendy, not at all. I like your dad, and I respect his views. I've said to friends at one time or another that if I weren't a Christian, I would likely be a Pagan. We were referring to comments on another blog. I didn't reply to Keith because we have, I think, come to an unspoken agreement not to try to dissuade each other from our respective beliefs.
Debi, I'll post here again as I see no further benefit that can come from me--or you--posting to Joy's blog, at least about this topic. The hatred just gets worse, and I'm sorry for it. Truly, neither side has a monopoly on such things. I despair for my species.
I just wanted to apologize for being an argumentative ass over on Joy's blog. I'm not apologizing for believing what I believe - but I'm not going to change your mind, and you're not going to change mine. So I probably should have just kept my mouth shut.
At some point I was arguing just for the sake of arguing - and that's never gotten anyone anywhere.
Oh, wait, am I allowed to say "ass" on your blog? :)
David, you're allowed to say nearly anything here, especially if you say it as graciously as you just did. I understand a bit of where you are coming from (not entirely, of course), but I've come to different conclusions as to the way forward. I'll always believe that government is best when it is as limited as possible and we take care of each other as individuals. I really believe that Americans will step up once they realize it is their place as individuals to make a difference, rather than waiting for the government to do everything. You're right--we probably aren't going to change each other's mind, but you are a worthy debate opponent... :)
Debi, one out of six people in this country doesn't have health insurance. Recently here, there was a fund raiser at a pizza parlor for a little boy who was injured by a drunk driver. They took in ten grand. That should keep him going for a day or two; then what? Another pizza fund sale? But what if he needs lifelong care? Decades of pizza sales? A great many people care about little boys, but how about old men, homeless people, etc.? What you are calling for is what we already have, and untold numbers of people are suffering and dying for a lack of care. I am in chronic pain and am becoming increasingly disabled. Without insurance, I might well be faced with the possibility of suicide since it is damn unlikely that anyone would hold a pizza sale on my behalf.
Hi, I'm Debi. Once in a while I have a thought and I like to write it down before it goes away. This is where I write it.
