Re: A Parable of Two Carpenters

From: Nathan C. Baker (nbaker2328_at_charter.net)
Date: 12/03/03 

Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2003 11:50:42 -0500

Get your nose outta those Joseph Campbell books... ;-)

Da Bible tis the LITERAL TRUTH 'cause my daddy says so! Also, Santa Clause
is REAL and he spoke modern English and brought toys that said "Made in
Japan" when he slid down Adam and Eve's chimney!

"Beth" <BethStone21@hotmail.NOSPICEDHAM.com> wrote in message
news:5_Iyb.743$4P5.426@newsfep3-gui.server.ntli.net...
> Alan Connor wrote:
> > So I guess I owe everyone an apology.
> >
> > (except a certain juvenile delinquent who remains in
> > my killfile)
> >
> > I hope you will accept it.
>
> Don't worry, that was one of the most important things that the first
> carpenter taught is that forgiveness should basically be
> automatic...as, in fact, as our second carpenter demonstrates to an
> unbelievable level of clarity: Hatred and anger hurts _YOU_ more
> eventually than it does anyone else...Rene's "wrath" has simply turned
> him into a bit of a mockery, scared away plenty of people who would
> otherwise be _very_ interested in his all-in-one solution, he would
> have received - as Hutch suggested - plenty of help from skilled
> others which he's lost by insulting them all the time, his "rebirth"
> is forever delayed, etc....whereas, HLA has gone from strength to
> strength...all because Randy listened to the first carpenter...note
> that Rene's been at this for _ages_ and still Randy takes a perfect
> forgiving and still tries to offer genuine and honest advice...
>
> Unfortunately, increasingly, because many of the "Bible belt"
> persuasion shout and act all judgemental (which is _highly_
> unChristian, in fact..."Love thy neighbour", "Love thy enemy", "Judge
> not, lest thy be judged", etc.), there's often a perception that the
> things Jesus was saying are like "restrictions"...you know, like
> "daddy" spoiling the kids "fun"...but, in fact, it's all really good,
> self-evident advice for living...which was what shocked a friend who
> once tried to annoy me by saying the old joke: "They've found the
> first missing page of the Bible...it says: 'the characters and events
> in this novel are purely fictious and any similarity to people,
> companies living or dead is purely coincidental...'"...and he found it
> odd that I just laughed at this joke, which he thought he could wind
> me up with...knowing I'm a Christian...but I simply said: "Perhaps
> that's actually true...maybe the whole Bible _is_ a work of
> fiction...not that I personally believe that...as, after all, many of
> the historical events and so forth are actually _known_ to have
> happened from other history and geological studies...but, were it all
> just a fiction novel, IT DOES NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST ALTER THE TRUTH OF
> THE MESSAGE"...and the Bible itself stresses the importance of the
> actual _Message_ of Love, Compassion, Forgiveness and so forth as most
> relevent...
>
> Rene proves almost every time he opens his mouth that his anger and
> fear and wrath are, in fact, HARMING HIMSELF more than they actually
> harm anyone else...interestingly, you can also see completely separate
> religions - and sciences even - independently come to basically the
> same rough conclusion as this themselves...notions of Yin and Yang,
> the concept of balance and "karma", etc....very different ways to
> approach it but, essentially, there is more or less the same basic
> underlying message there too...
>
> Heck, even _YODA_ knows this stuff in Star Wars and those Jedi are
> very chivalrous Arthurian knights (and King Arthur's _true_ historical
> significance was in being the first _Christian_ warrior king...note,
> England didn't actually exist at that point and he was a likely a
> rough-around-the-edges Celtic warrior...but the actual historic record
> going right back to the first record of a "king" called Arthur
> specifically stresses the importance of Arthur: he carried the _cross_
> on his shield...and the historical record makes a big deal about
> that...as it should because the British Isles was not yet supposed to
> be Christian...later on, of course, they cleaned up the myth and
> stories...transplanted them in time to medieval England and gave them
> more "modern" armour and romantised the whole history a bit...Merlin
> was another myth doing the rounds and was married together with the
> Arthur myths...anyway, the Christian elements are still mostly there:
> the round table ("all are equal in the eyes of God" so there's no
> "head" of the table at which the king sits ;), the knights following
> the "noble" code of chivalry, going to seek the Holy Grail,
> etc....basically, the _real_ Arthur was, one supposes, the first
> Christian warrior king who probably won a lot of battles and made lots
> of good pacts with other kings and all his people thought him a
> fantastic king that his name got into legend and myths permanently
> that, even today, we all know about King Arthur...even if, well, the
> stories today are so distorted from the reality of the "bear man"
> Celtic warrior king (that's what "Arthur" means..."arth" is still the
> Welsh word for "bear" today, in fact ;))...
>
> The hero has a thousand faces...all the myths and legends of the world
> are essentially the same in the underlying messages and truths...but
> this is to be expected, in fact...we're all human, we're all on the
> same planet, we're all subject to the same forces of Nature, the same
> _TRUTHS_ apply to us all, etc....it was humans themselves that
> invented these _PATENTLY ABSURD_ notions that because there was a
> river and a mountain, they'd draw a line on a map, create a flag of
> different colours and then proceed to kill each other repeatedly in a
> periodic cycle because of...well...it's anyone's guess why humans
> insist on this nonsense...but, regardless, humans have insisted on it
> for thousands of years and will, no doubt, keep doing it until it's
> simply not possible to do so anymore (Judgement Day? Which you can
> read as the Biblical or Hollywood "Arnie" one...again, different
> actors at a different theatre but the same basic play in which we are
> all actors playing our part :)...
>
> So, remember, kids:
>
> "Fear and Anger the path to the Dark Side is, young padawan Annakin"
> [ Yoda! :) ]
>
> "The only way to win, is to _deny_ the battle"
> [ Daniel Jackson learns in an episode of Stargate, for those who
> prefer that to Star Wars ]
>
> Yup, Jesus right next to pop culture references...I don't care
> because, you see, that's my whole entire point here...the colour of
> someone's skin (which, by the way, in Jesus' case was NOT likely to be
> white whatsoever ;)...the media by which you learn your lessons in
> truth (movie or holy book)...the person speaking and / or
> listening...these are _independent_ of the message...independent of
> the truth..."From the mouths of babes...", as the saying goes...which
> is why I never killfile on principle...
>
> So to speak, we accepted the apology long before you actually offered
> it ;)
>
> Beth :)
>
>