[Vision2020] Hope For Healing Pooh, Winnie The
Donovan Arnold
donovanarnold@hotmail.com
Wed, 20 Aug 2003 20:06:45 -0700
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<P>Put in on a Hallmark. </P>
<P>Donovan J Arnold<BR><BR></P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Douglas <DOUGWILS@MOSCOW.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>To: vision2020@moscow.com
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Hope For Healing Pooh, Winnie The
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 10:11:48 -0700
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Visionaries,
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Finally! Someone understands! Of course, it is my son who
<DIV></DIV>>understands, one who knows my quirks, like believing in right and
<DIV></DIV>>wrong, not in mostly right and kinda wrong, but nevertheless I am
<DIV></DIV>>encouraged to persevere.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Cordially,
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Douglas Wilson
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>At 10:58 PM 8/19/2003 -0700, you wrote:
<DIV></DIV>>> In my years on this mortal coil, there is only one person whom
<DIV></DIV>>>I have known to have the patience of Job. It's a handy trait in any
<DIV></DIV>>>walk of life, but is especially helpful for such a locally loved
<DIV></DIV>>>pastor. For the last year or so, or however long its been that my
<DIV></DIV>>>father has been sticking his oar in this particular puddle of
<DIV></DIV>>>vision, I have continued to be amazed, once again, at my father's
<DIV></DIV>>>patience. It's not as if he profits from any of this, but for some
<DIV></DIV>>>reason he continues his interaction, covering the same
<DIV></DIV>>>philosophical ground repeatedly, and somehow still enjoying you
<DIV></DIV>>>all, and the interaction. I grow impatient much more quickly, am
<DIV></DIV>>>surprised at the continual fog that passes for secular orthodoxy,
<DIV></DIV>>>and leave despairing. He expects the fog, and does not despair. He
<DIV></DIV>>>laughs and answers the same questions over again, only to have his
<DIV></DIV>>>answers once again dismissed with such deadly repartees as "Logic?
<DIV></DIV>>>I think not." or equivalent responses. Folks that he somehow still
<DIV></DIV>>>finds amusing, and manages to enjoy, then poo-poo him because
<DIV></DIV>>>that's what they're supposed to do. I wonder to myself "Are any of
<DIV></DIV>>>these people thinking?" (Note to Mr. Courtney: Could you provide a
<DIV></DIV>>>graph with projected cognitive ability among visionaries? Is there
<DIV></DIV>>>a correlation with government education? A pie chart would be
<DIV></DIV>>>nice.) and yet he is patient.
<DIV></DIV>>> I don't think anyone has taken more abuse in this little arena
<DIV></DIV>>>than my father, and I don't think anyone could be less affected by
<DIV></DIV>>>it. And so we come to the latest lap in the same old race:
<DIV></DIV>>>Philosophical foundations of morality, specifically in regard to
<DIV></DIV>>>homosexuals. I happen to watch, again, as my father wrote in a
<DIV></DIV>>>basic question about moral epistemology, only using much smaller
<DIV></DIV>>>words, and received the same old responses that pass for
<DIV></DIV>>>interaction is these circles. And I can't help it, I have to try.
<DIV></DIV>>>"Maybe this time they will see it," I tell myself. My Eeyore heart
<DIV></DIV>>>says otherwise, but I will try regardless. I will speak louder and
<DIV></DIV>>>slower, like an American in Paris, in the hopes that something, be
<DIV></DIV>>>it ever so small, might sink in. Of course I run a great risk
<DIV></DIV>>>attempting this. I might be told that it is hot outside, and mommy
<DIV></DIV>>>doesn't have time for me. That's always a dangerous rebuttal.
<DIV></DIV>>>Others will chose other ways to attempt to dismiss me. They might
<DIV></DIV>>>try to pat me on my wee head, compare me to a dog, and ask if I
<DIV></DIV>>>have other tricks. That one's used a lot in Philosophy of Religion
<DIV></DIV>>>departments around the country, originally credited to Plantinga of
<DIV></DIV>>>course. These are all dangers that I am willing to risk, and I need
<DIV></DIV>>>to learn patience. This, simple, well ennunciated foreign language
<DIV></DIV>>>explanation is about personal betterment, striving after patience,
<DIV></DIV>>>etc. Not that it will help.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>> My father is against murder. Also racism, rape, torture,
<DIV></DIV>>>unlawful wars, etc. The funny thing is. . . he knows why he's
<DIV></DIV>>>against them. He has faith in an ultimate and absolute Goodness. To
<DIV></DIV>>>simplify: these things are bad because God made the world, He is
<DIV></DIV>>>good, and He hates these things. They are against His nature,
<DIV></DIV>>>contrary to His will, and thus, these things will sicken any
<DIV></DIV>>>faithful Christian. Now anyone can feel free to get all excited
<DIV></DIV>>>here, scoot to the front of their desk chair and twiddle their
<DIV></DIV>>>fingers in the air in the hopes of asking a sticky question about
<DIV></DIV>>>the Problem of Evil (PoE). Despite the fact that the discussion
<DIV></DIV>>>would be awfully interesting and highly intelligent, that's not
<DIV></DIV>>>what this is about. The point is this: When my father says
<DIV></DIV>>>something is evil, it means more than personal dislike. The
<DIV></DIV>>>Christian believes that the murder of a Wyoming homosexual is
<DIV></DIV>>>wicked, not as a matter of his own likes or dislikes. It is wicked
<DIV></DIV>>>because an authoritative, all-good, Creator God hates it. How
<DIV></DIV>>>primitive. Rape is bad because God said so. "Who's He think He is?"
<DIV></DIV>>>you ask. Well, God. He did make the place.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>> But before those of you who want to giggle snicker too much,
<DIV></DIV>>>let's move on to the relativist (secular orthodoxy) paradigm. This,
<DIV></DIV>>>if I say so myself, is one dumb worldview. There can be no
<DIV></DIV>>>absolutes in this world. Absolutes are against the rules. All of
<DIV></DIV>>>them. Absolutely all absolutes are fallacious. But I digress
<DIV></DIV>>>already. People who are moral relativists are in a bind. Murdering
<DIV></DIV>>>homosexuals is bad. Killing your English teacher, shooting
<DIV></DIV>>>classmates, etc. These are all off limits. But here's the kicker. .
<DIV></DIV>>>. why? Is it because anyone in authority said so? Or is your
<DIV></DIV>>>morality based on nothing more than what you personally are
<DIV></DIV>>>comfortable with? Ah, society has spoken has it? You want to go
<DIV></DIV>>>with Kant and the old greatest good for the greatest number bit?
<DIV></DIV>>>That's the ethics of gang rape, and all the picking on minorities
<DIV></DIV>>>that filled our yesteryears. If you can't say why a thing is wrong,
<DIV></DIV>>>then you have no right to say anything more than "I don't
<DIV></DIV>>>personally like it," and the rapist can say "Who the hell are you?"
<DIV></DIV>>>Epistemological foundations are necessary. As depressing as that
<DIV></DIV>>>might be.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>> Well, I'm off to paint the baseboards before my next my second
<DIV></DIV>>>offshoot gets borned (due 9-11). No doubt the next forty-five
<DIV></DIV>>>minutes of labor will reap greater fruit than the last. But
<DIV></DIV>>>remember, it was all about me, and personal betterment. Perhaps now
<DIV></DIV>>>I'm a little more patient, a little more like Pooh. Cheers.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>NDW
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>P.S. And please accept my apologies for my Nieuwsma length.
<DIV></DIV>>>
<DIV></DIV>>>_____________________________________________________
<DIV></DIV>>>List services made available by First Step Internet, serving the
<DIV></DIV>>>communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<DIV></DIV>>> http://www.fsr.net
<DIV></DIV>>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
<DIV></DIV>>>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>_____________________________________________________
<DIV></DIV>>List services made available by First Step Internet, serving the
<DIV></DIV>>communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<DIV></DIV>>http://www.fsr.net
<DIV></DIV>>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
<DIV></DIV>>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
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