Saturday, October 16, 2004
What I would like to know?
There is a popular philosophical joke intended to
typifythe endless and useless arguments of
philosophers; I meanthe joke about which came first,
the chicken or the egg?I am not sure that
properly understood, it is so futile an inquiryafter all.
I am not concerned here to enter on those
deepmetaphysical and theological differences of
which the chickenand egg debate is a frivolous,
but a very felicitous, type.The evolutionary materialists are
appropriately enoughrepresented in the vision of all
things coming from an egg,a dim and monstrous oval
germ that had laid itself by
accident.That other supernatural
school of thought (to which Ipersonally adhere) would
be not unworthily typified in the fancythat this round
world of ours is but an egg brooded uponby a sacred
unbegotten bird; the mystic dove of the prophets.But
it is to much humbler functions that I
here call the awfulpower of such a distinction.
Whether or no the living birdis at the beginning of
our mental chain, it is absolutelynecessary that it
should be at the end of our mental chain.The
bird is the thing to be aimed at--not with a gun, but alife-bestowing wand. What is essential to our right thinking is this: that the egg and the bird
must not be thought of as equal cosmicoccurrences
recurring alternatively forever. They must not
becomea mere egg and bird pattern, like the egg and
dart pattern. One isa means and the other an end;
they are in different mental worlds.Leaving
the complications of the human breakfast-table out of
account, in an elemental sense, the egg only exists
to producethe chicken. But the chicken does not
exist only in orderto produce another egg. He may
also exist to amuse himself,to praise God, and
even to suggest ideas to a French dramatist.
Being a conscious life, he is, or may be, valuable
in himself.Now our modern politics are full of a
noisy forgetfulness; forgetfulness that the production
of this happy and consciouslife is after all the
aim of all complexities and compromises.We talk of nothing
but useful men and working institutions; that
is,we only think of the chickens as things that
will lay more eggs.Instead of seeking to breed our
ideal bird, the eagleof Zeus or the Swan of Avon,
or whatever we happen to want,we talk entirely in terms
of the process and the embryo.The
process itself, divorced from its divine object, becomes doubtfuland even
morbid; poison enters the embryo of everything;and our
politics are rotten eggs. From
CCEL site
is Why when I was asking a friends eight year old daughter, a question I heard for the first time not that long ago, "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Her mother asked if I knew the answer of was seeking advice!! ;-) But I was just perusing some of G.K. chestersons writings, (man is he deep!) and he had a bit to say about this question. I would also say the best answer I heard when asking everyone I knew this question, after first hearing it, was "God didn't make eggs"
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Friday, October 15, 2004
"When thou passest through the waters"
Deep the waves may be and cold,
But Jehovah is our refuge,
And His promise is our hold;
For the LORD Himself hath said it,
He the faithful God and True:
"When thou comest to the waters
Thou shalt not go down, but THROUGH."
Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,
Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation
Sweeping over heart and brain -
They shall never overflow us
For we know His Word is true;
All His waves and all His billows
He will lead us safely THROUGH.
Threatening breakers of destruction,
Doubts insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us
Out to Ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the LORD whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under,
For He saith, "Thou passest THROUGH."
Annie Johnson Flint
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Wednesday, October 13, 2004
This made me LOL
Yesterday I was a dog.
Today I'm a dog.
Tomorrow I'll probably still
be a dog. Sigh!
There's so little hope
for advancement.
Charles M. Schulz
(1922 - 2000), (Snoopy)
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Have a sing a long with Bush and Kerry: Click on the link: (PIC)
This Land
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Sunday, October 10, 2004
I don't normally blag on LD, but God is praiseworthy any time!
Anyone who has been around me much, whether its been the few close online friendships I have or actual friendships and/or relationships will know how I've despaired with cognitive problems. My biggest shout of despair, was "Why did this happen so soon into my Christian walk" thinking and feeling sure that if I'd have had Gods Word already hidden in my heart before this happened, I would have the abilities to cope with the Spiritual warfare that a condition suchas this, and the subsequent circumstances cant help but stir up in our sinful humanity.
I read for hours and hours during any given day. I never read secular books these days, simply because my mind is restricted in its ability and I need to focus where is important (vital) while I still have the ability to do so. 18 months ago, I would read and not understand hardly a word on the page in a real way. There seemed to be a block somehow. Then Christian friends, recommnded me some puritan books. And unlike earlier theological books I had tried to get my head around, I started to understand little bits. And yes, for close on two years I read an neither understood much and remembered less. And this included Scripture too. Oh why, Oh God, would often be heard coming from this room in feverant prayer. We know that ALL things come from God's hand. Yet it can be hard in the midst of suffering and adversity to see it as coming from Gods GOOD hand. I've had this constant battle since I got ill about two and a half years ago. And yet, if not for my sickness, God would never have become real, and alive AND my LORD. And yet, cos of the cognitive stuff alone, I felt it was an uphill battle I would never climb, and certainly not finish. My rivers of tears have run deep. And then earlier this year, I started to understand books, Scripture and puritan books I almost always read, as they were being read and tho within an hour the memory of ANYTHING I read during those hours in the day would just so not be there, the hours of reading became my most blessed and joyful. I dont exhort the puritan writers cos I have friends who are very Puritan in doctrine, I exhort them, because they had an aspect of Godliness, purity and a closeness to Heaven that many Christian writers today lack. This years, a few of the books I've read, has been the complete Gurnall, Christian in Complete Armour, Have almost finished the first (of 4) volumes of J.A. Wylies History of Protestantism, Luthers Bondage of the Will, A collection of sermons by Calvin on the ten commandments and are slowly making my way thru his institutes of Christian Religion. Watson's The Ten Commandments and The Lords Prayer.. and a few others. And God showed me when I first started understanding at least at the moment of it being read, and teh pure joy I got from reading them, that He was blessing this perserverance when it seemed the best option would be to say, "Whats the point in reading when I neither understand or remember!" He blessed enough that when I wake and my memory of the nite before is missing much like a hard drive being wiped and no memory of any written word is there, that giving up tho the thought was there, it didnt seem a real option. As drawing close to God is the most important function we have in this life. Only by doing so, can we Glorify His name. So, I kept plugging away, telling myself that if I had have given up, my cognitive abilities would be worse even than they are. And slowly bit by bit, over the last year, the written word came alive, including of course Gods Written Word. His love letters to you and to me. And it still seems like I hardly remember anything, and yet sometimes in a disucssion either online or in person something comes out that God put in there from His Word, and I have no idea its there. My pastor told me earlier this year, that tho I dont learn by normal means as far as cognitive stuff goes, God will use extraordinary means if He has to. And it seems He has. I am no B.O.B. (brain of Britain) and never will be, and my cognitive abilities have probably never been so bad as now, and yet God is teaching despite this, and maybe because of it. And when ones most often cry was "Oh, why, O God. Why must it feel like banging ones head up a brick-wall, why can't I get close to you, why have you taken the means away?" He didn't. He gave it and blessed it, and probably cos its been such a long hard struggle to get to this place, its all the sweeter. And the fear of my ever decreasing brain power which in many respects is on display in full force in every area of life, has gone. Which proves to me, that the Mysteries of God and His revelaed Will as revealed in the pages of Scripture should not remain a mystery to anyone. As in most areas of life I can't make sense of anything much at all, but God preserves what He wills and does finish what He starts. As the little encouragements from Him as described above, was the ONLY thing that made it seem possible to go on struggling with the written word when it seemed a useless, pointless thing to do. And His Word will prevail whatever the cirumstances, even to the dullest of minds. (for whatever reason) Nothing is impossible with God. You just have to have faith, even a little seed of it. And He will water it even in the most adverse of circumstances, and encourage it to flourish.
THANK YOU LORD!
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