It appears that we all like our answers in cans. Sardines, baked beans and religion all come in cans, no need to do much, just partake by opening the can. Marvelous stuff, these cans, they make it so easy for us to understand and enjoy our delicacies without having to research and learn how they are prepared.

I am sorry, but I am not a canned food eater. I must understand what is in the recipe and how the taste was achieved, before I can fully trust the flavor.

I believe that Man is still an unfinished being, and that we must strive to understand all that is about us, with all the might we can muster, to ensure that we survive as a species and do not perish from the Earth due to stupidity. As the problems are evolving and become more complex with time, so must we adapt to those problems and be open to change, the only constant in the universe.

Canned answers will not suffice as the change continues to accelerate. Cling to your cans as long as you can, no pun there, but do not be upset when the answers are not found one day, as the questions have moved beyond the scope of the canning.

Peace to all who love cans.

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
So, how about those oranges?

Delicious Meyer Lemons are coming around.

Mr. Dark: Today is April 2nd, and I keenly sensed this morning early the touch of spring has finally arrived in our neck of the woods! Snow lingers now only behind hillocks away from the sun or deep in woods well-shaded, too. Geese wing North. Mist rises almost magically from country fields as creatues like deer, fox, robins and red-winged blackbirds animate serene scapes! Not quite planting time, but greening lawns and buds growing omnipresent. So, who exactly is the author of this tale:

Joyce Kilmer. 1886–1918
(with a special "twist" just for Dandy & Nico's sake!)

"Orange Trees"

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as an orange tree.

An orange tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

An orange tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

An orange tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make an orange tree.

RE: http://www.casavella.co.uk/images/orange%20tree.jpg

(Actually this is how our morning seemed at 6am, sans the tropical fruit, so imagine a blue spruce or blossoming maple.)

quote:

Originally posted by patrask:
It appears that we all like our answers in cans. Sardines, baked beans and religion all come in cans, no need to do much, just partake by opening the can. Marvelous stuff, these cans, they make it so easy for us to understand and enjoy our delicacies without having to research and learn how they are prepared.

.

Your on the wrong trail. And sniffing around the wrong cans.
You've made it an easy escape by blaming it on 'cans'. When it is really all about 'can't'. If it weren't for God, you 'can''t. You also 'couldn't' and 'wouldn't.' Period.

However, if you think you are God, then you probably can. You forget that in the beginning, there was nothing. Can't understand that one?

My basic beef with all this discussion comes from people trying to figure it out on their own. That's why the Bible took 4 thousand plus years to write. It isn't a compilation of silly parables and fairy tales. It's perfect knowledge displayed.

quote:

Originally posted by Salamander:
If it weren't for God, you "can't".

I like and respect Phil Trask, but I gotta admit - that's a good one!

fjp451. You're right. It appears we finally have spring here. Yesterday was gorgeous. Glad to have a job, but resented being inside all day. Hope you are doing well.

By the way, the tree discussion is interesting. An interesting theoretical legal question is whether a tree can have "standing" in the law. Can a person sue for a tree's right to exist? What would be the grounds? Who could establish the right to sue for the standing rights for the tree? Anyone besides the property owner?

patrask: I'll bite. I suppose the can is an analogy. But what, in your mind, is a canned belief? In your view, would it be a canned belief, for example, to believe that Christ died for one's sins? Would you see that as a canned belief? Do you see no way (as some of the christian existentialists do) of seeing that as perennially applicable in different eras? Or do you see it as canned and fixed, and thus, in your view, inapplicable over time? Is it then, your view that there is no fixed truth out there, or that language, as a limited medium, is just unable to fully capture the immensity of religious truths? If language is symbolic, then why can't we say the text, as something pointing to truth, carries truth to each generation?

Yeshua is more than text.

Nico: Agreed.

quote:

Originally posted by Kukai_Aoki:
I would pray my heart out to send Mr.Bradbury up to the big puffy clouds, but as i know that does no good.

Of course, serious Christians (such as I) would certainly never consider heaven to be "big puffy clouds", no more than I would think of God as being an old man with a beard who lives above the sky.

Having true faith doesn't mean that it automatically jettisons the belief structures of other faiths either - I believe Christianity has a lot to learn, and can learn much from other religions (indeed, it has already ripped off loads from the Pagans!).

When we come into the presence of God, I don't think he/she will do an ID check at the door (Christians, step right this way - Hindus, Buddhists, etc... sorry, you're not on the list).

Watch and see if many more "traditional" Christians here don't disagree with me (we have a history, you see), yet I continue to assert Luther's own words when questioned on his faith: "I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe."

Three blondes died & found themselves standing before St. Peter. He told them that before they could enter the kingdom, they had to tell him what the meaning of Easter was.
So, the 1st blonde said: "Easter is a holiday where they have a big feast & we give thanks & eat turkey."

St. Peter said "Noooooo," & he banished her to hell.

The 2nd blonde said: "Easter is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday & exchange gifts."

St. Peter said "Noooooo," & he banished her to hell.

The 3rd blond said: "Easter is a Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish Passover. Jesus was having Passover feast with His deciples when He was betrayed by Judas, & the Romans arrested Him. The Romans hung Him on a cross & eventually He died. Then they buried Him in a tomb behind a very large boulder .." Impressed, St. Peter said: "Verrrrry good!"

Then the blonde continued "...now every year the Jews roll away the boulder & Jesus comes out. If He sees His shadow, we have six more weeks of basketball."

St. Peter fainted

THAT WAS A GOOD ONE!

When I see "dumbness" I cringe and want to try and eliminate it by educating it out of exisitance. Our society, as probably all others in history, rewards mediocraty and tolerates excellence, when it should be the other way 'round. Reading Bradbury, one get's a touch of the possible in us all, as his poetry and prose is an example to all of what can be achieved through study and hard work.

Three biblical scholars had debated for years over what language Jesus spoke.

"He spoke Aramaic, because it was the language of Judea," Said one.

"He spoke Hebrew, because it was the language of the Jews," said another.

"He spoke Greek, because it was the language of the Gospels," said the third.

All three eventually passed away, and upon their arrival at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter greeted them with:

"Que paso, amigos?"

I have been toiling at reviewing and cataloging my rather extensive Bradbury collection with an eye toward the eventual sale of my treasures. In so reviewing, I came across Bradbury's The God In Science Fiction, originally published in 1977 in The saturday Review and later as a separate four-page pamphlet in card-stock wraps by the Santa Susana Press, Northrige, CA in 1978, and again in The Ghosts Of Forever in 1990 (Ray Bradbury and Aldo Sessa, photographer.)

http://www.abebooks.com/servle...CE+FICTION&x=77&y=14

The first paragraph of this essay reads:

"Somewhere back in time, the Sun God Apollo became the Sun God Christ, born in the week of the winter solstice to prove that the world had not died but would rise again in the New year that was truly that week and not january 1."

This is but one instance where Bradbury revealed his knowledge of the history of Mankind and its religious beliefs. Those on this board who continually ask what does Ray believe should read this essay as one example of his poetic hope for Mankind and the venturing forth of our species into the Universe in the attempt to know God.

The reason that Ray touched my young heart was his clever use the ubiquitous metaphor, that sets him apart from other modern writers of his period, and his focus on the future as a natual place for Man to visit with open minds. The fact that I can share in his visions for Mankind continually warms an older heart with hope that we will somehow survive the chains of religious beliefs, which are adapted from one age to the next to provide those of us who need a script to follow in our daily lives with such, offically sanctioned by the power of the then church in favor.

I am so glad to have known, read and loved Ray Bradbury, in his time and mine.

quote:

Originally posted by patrask:

Those on this board who continually ask what does Ray believe should read this essay as one example of his poetic hope for Mankind and the venturing forth of our species into the Universe in the attempt to know God.

Why should I have to venture forth into the Universe in the attempt to know God, when I can accept Christ, who made the universe. To the unbeliever, this makes no sense and is something to ridicule. Capturing the meaning of all this Christ-talk, is like someone putting on 3-D glasses, or seeing a STEREOGRAM...
...............click on: http://www.focusillusion.com/YuryGallery/Yury48.php
...for the first time, where you look at a bunch of blobs and colors, cross your eyes, and presto! There is this floating image of a building, a cup, a horse, or whatever the artist intended for you to see (a giant doughnut or inner-tube, like in the example provided). A one-eyed man would laugh at you because he cannot...let me clearify that...HE CANNOT see the image you say you see.


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