January 30, 2008
Well, no cleats in San Sal that worked out for me to buy. Very sad. I did reveal some photos, and I took Francisco with me as a guide to some new places. I also broke down and treated him to a cultural experience at McDonalds… a rarity indeed because it’s SOOOO expensive here. Its 5 dollars for a Big Mac combo here, that’s 5 hours of internet time!
Anyways, not much else to report as of late. My fever has pretty much disappeared, but the faint headache is still on its way out. Weird. I’ve spent the last few days of recovery enjoying the Journey Home Network downloads (part of the Coming Home Network). I have tried to catch up on the Brothers Karamazov as well, but the headache kept that limited. Although I’ve only got about 100 pages left!
“Young man, be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. Remember too, every day, and whenever you can, repeat to yourself, “Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee to-day.” For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this earth, and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected, that no one mourns for them or even knows whether they have lived or not. And behold, from the other end of the earth perhaps, your prayer for their rest will rise up to God though you knew them not nor they you. How touching it must be to a soul standing in dread before the Lord to feel at that instant that, for him too, there is one to pray, that there is a fellow creature left on earth to love him too. And God will look on you both more graciously, for if you have had so much pity on him, how much more will He have pity Who is infinitely more loving and merciful than you. And He will forgive him for your sake.”
The Brothers Karamazov, Book Six, The Russian Monk, p. 293
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8 comments:
Wow. What a great quote! Thanks for posting it. I'm off to order the book off Amazon!
-Priscilla
reminds me of the 2 for 1 big macs in espana. good times :)
and heres a better quote:
"Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink."
-Lady Astor to Winston Churchill
"Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."
-His reply
HA... Priscilla! How is life! Are you still teaching at the ole alma mater?... big plans for the future? shoot me an email sometime.....
I just finished the book, it was a good read, definitely worth reading once. Twice?...eh... too long for me.
Edward, clutch as usual...I hope you dont mind me using that quote in a post soon.
PS...I would kill for that big mac price and special here... although it costs me 2.50 just to get to the nearest mcdonalds here in El Sal
I will give my two cents on the God and Rock question. I do not believe that God could create a rock he could not lift because it would contradict what he has said about himself. Another way to think of this is could God tell a lie? The answer is no, because God tells us that he is the truth. Therefore he could not produce a falsehood. The question is not so much about the ability of God, but rather his nature. Sorry this is a couple of blogs late, I had some catch up to do....
But if he can't create a rock that big, doesn't that mean that he's not omnipotent? My feeling is that god could totally make a monster rock if he wanted to, but to do so would contradict his nature (cant tell a lie, etc.) thereby negating all of existence. Which would suck.
In times of philosophical crisis, I turn to the Matrix trilogy. This issue could be choice. While I think Rick's point on the nature of God is valid, perhaps there is another way to look at it.
God could bind himself by his word and create a rock he chooses not to lift. In that scenario, the rock could be a pebble. This is kind of what he has done with man, binding himself by his word.
Also, more to Edward's objection, no created thing can be greater than the uncreated (in and of itself). Ultimately, like all things, it is contingent on the uncreated to maintain its existence. So, really it goes against the nature of the created thing leading to absurdity. For example, could God create a 4 sided triangle? Or a goat that looks like a duck? No, not because of a limitation on God's power, but as a limitation on the substance of created things.
Does that sound right? The Architect didn't quite go into all this, so I am just spitballing.
PS: Why did they have to kill Trinity? It still hurts. :)
he would start creating the rock and it would continue to grow and grow bigger and bigger and continue exponentially for infinity until he chose to stop limit its size.
So yes he could chose to start to create this rock, but it would never be measurable unless he decided to limit it. I guess that builds on what John said about God having to bind somethings at certain points for them to have any certainty.
Finally, if the rock never hits a limit, then it is still growing from the source of his power and therefore liftable, and if he defines the limits... then of course its liftable. But, then that supports edward saying, then no, he cant create a rock he cant lift.
But that doesnt make sense because we are calling someone(Christians)-something (scholastics) limited because he/it can do anything.
That hurts my brain. But I prefer the option of not being able to call God limited because he is limitless. Once again, we are trying to put our hand around a treetrunk, and then say HA, when we cant.
Oh well... anyways... Trinity is ugly, Im glad she died....although I would have preferred Agent Smith eating her.
Well this has been an enjoyable discussion...just for the hell of it I posted the same question on Kirby's blog under his latest entry.
I was going to say something here about how john and rhetts last posts helped me think about this question differently and how I understand it better now and blah blah but like Rhett said it hurts my head so thats enough of that.
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