Roundup and Commentary - 4/27/09

Commentary:

Dictionaries, and the definition of marriage: The Joan of Arc, and/or Joe the Plumber of the Anti-Gay Marriage Movement

Conversation (to which I cannot link):

He said:

"The hands that help are better far than the lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll

She said:
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free." actually trumps this one.....

He:

They express different sentiments, and have the added benefit of not expressing mutually exclusive thoughts. There is no need to make a contest of them or choose one over the other... Both can be true and worthy messages at the same time, don't you think?

By the same token, each can stand alone, and express their sentiments just as forcefully without the other...

It's a crapshoot, in the end... I post ones that hold meaning for me, and hope others will take from them as much or as little as they want and need.

She:
I'm not making a contest over them....I am simply saying that many people would disagree with you and that humanly power pales in comparison to divine power. What we choose to do with our hands as people is insignificant compared to the power of a miracle, for example.

He:

I'm virtually certain many people do disagree (though I wouldn't necessarily say it's me they're disagreeing with, but the quote.) That different people have different beliefs about humanity and spirituality is one of those things that makes the world go 'round, especially here in America, which is in part founded on our right to worship as we each choose, or to not worship, at all, if that's what we choose... (a God-given right for many who believe, and a natural right for many others, including many who don't believe.)

Whether one quote "trumps" another is a matter of one's personal faith, opinion, and a sense (God-given or psychological) that the words "speak" to a "need" within that person. So for that matter, is whether a sacred quote or idea "trumps" a secular one (or v/v), AND as the certainty with which the very faithful and the very faithless believe that the fact of one trumping the other is so obviously the case.

Human power pales in comparison to divine power, and human action is insignificant compared to the power of a miracle... ...but only if you believe that.

To anyone who doesn't believe in God--or doesn't believe that God meddles in human affairs--or believes that God WANTS us to use the human power he gave us, and WANTS us to use our hands to help ourselves and others, even if it means we have less time or energy for prayer and supplication to Him, and that miracles come more easily to those who are willing to work for them--(I suppose you can put me into that last group, should anyone need to pigeonhole me)--the whole human power/action vs God power/miracle thing is less of an issue.

At any rate, I support the right of others to work their way toward their everlasting bliss (or punishment) however they see fit. At times I may invite others onto my path, but I recognize everyone's right to follow their own path instead, without my judgement.