Quote search – Worldview August 30, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Uncategorized.Tags: Worldview
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Today’s topic: Worldview.
I have a number of quotes from one wonderful article in First Things journal, but I’ll share only one here:
“First Things means, first, that the first thing to be said about public life is that public life is not the first thing. First Things means, second, that there are first things, in the sense of first principles, for the right ordering of public life.” (Editors, “Putting First Things First,” First Things, Mach 2000, p. 11)
Quote search – Philosophy August 29, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Philosophy.add a comment
Another quote search: Philosophy.
If you don’t know what this is about, look back a couple of entries.
Here’s what I have so far on Philosophy, and it even includes one of my own:
“I have at times feared philosophy, but I love it — what little I have dabbled in it. It is about knowing, and knowing can be scary, but it is also rewarding.” (Ferrell Foster, “Overwhelming Importance” blog, Sept. 6, 2006)
Philosophy “builds cathedrals before the workmen have moved a stone, and it destroys them before the elements have worn down their arches. It is the architect of the buildings of the spirit, and it is also their solvent: –and the spiritual precedes the material.” (Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World, 1925, pp. viii-ix)
Quote search – Spirituality August 28, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Spirituality.add a comment
Same search as yesterday, just a different topic — Spirituality.
Here’s what I have so far:
“[T]he spiritual precedes the material.” (Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World, 1925, pp. ix)
Quote search – Religion August 27, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Religion.Tags: Judaism
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I’m asking for your help — the help of anyone reading this. I would like for you to share some of your favorite quotes. Let me explain.
I’m trying to do something that may seem a bit over the top. I’m trying to outline what I believe about this and that, about everything from Spirituality to War, from Angels to Psychology. You get the picture.
I’m 52 years old, and I can see more clearly that there is an end to all of this material world living. For some ridiculous reason, I would like my children to be able to find out what Dad thought about some of the big issues of life and some of the not-so-big ones, as well.
Here’s how I’m doing it: If you have read this blog before, you know I like to quote people. I figure if someone else said something really well, why do I need to try to say it really average. So I have decided to start organizing quotes with which I agree — emphasis on “agree.” For example: here’s entries to this point under Religion:
“Religion points us to the last things, framing the final direction that informs our decisions about life, both personal and public. The chief service of religion, then, is to teach us that the first things are the last things.” (Editors, “Putting First Things First,” First Things, Mach 2000, p. 12)
“[G]reat religions in their crusading youth spread through the nations the peace of Heaven and the sword of the Lord.” (Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World, 1925, p. 1)
“Judaism and Christianity—unlike Buddhism, Islam, and other traditions—understand creation and redemption in historical continuity; the accent of hope is not on salvation from the world but on the salvation of the world.” (Richard John Neuhaus, “The Public Square: A Pope of the First Millennium at the Threshold of the Third,” First Things, January 1995, No. 49, p. 84)
You get the idea. (By the way, I’m a Christian, but I think truth is revealed in other faiths, as well.) Now, I would like to expand on each of those thoughts, but right now I’m just collecting and organizing.
So here’s how I would like your help: Share with me your favorite quotes about Religion. It may be really profound or really funny or really sad; most importantly, it should be something you think is true about religion in general.
Missing in Sunday School August 26, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Bible, Christianity, Church, Spirituality.Tags: Sunday School
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This morning I taught my Sunday School class like I do almost every week of the year. It’s a wonderful group of people, and I’ve had the privilege to teach the class for more than six years. The average age of the class is probably a little older than me, about 58-60 probably — men and women.
Usually we have about 30 people in our class but sometimes we reach as high as 40 or more. Earlier this year, the church finally moved us into a larger room that was more fitting to our size, and the attendance promptly decreased. We had about 20 this morning, only 12 last week. Some would say it’s just a summer slump, but I wonder.
I know I shouldn’t care how many people I teach, but I do. It’s not, however, just the numbers that bother me. I get the sneaking suspicion that nothing that Scripture is saying is making a difference — that all of us middle-agers are already pretty set in our ways — and even when we learn something new, it doesn’t matter in how we live.
As in most things spiritual, I do not have a firm and easy answer. I will continue on for now, but I do not want to just say that’s the way it is, get used to it. I don’t want to get used to low living; I want to pursue high living, and I don’t mean what the Miller High Life commercials put forth.
