 | Mograce2U (4)
08/31/2005 |  One of my favorite quotes is attributed to him:
Truth is so obscure in these days and falsehood so established that unless one loves the truth, he cannot know it.
I expect that someone will respond to this like Pontius Pilate did when he questioned Jesus:
(John 18:37-38) Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. {38} Pilate saith unto him, WHAT IS TRUTH? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
So what is the truth about God that Jesus, who was without fault, gives witness to and that we must hear and love (= believe) in order to know it?
(John 14:6) Jesus saith unto him (i.e. Thomas), I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
And how do we know that we love Him?
(John 14:15) If ye love me, keep my commandments. (Found in Matthew ch 5-7)
Is there one in particular?
(1 John 3:11) 11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
How is this love to be manifested?
(1 John 3:16-24 KJV) Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. {17} But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? {18} My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. {19} And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. {20} For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. {21} Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. {22} And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. {23} And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. {24} And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Now beloved, go out and do likewise and your prayers will be answered!
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 | Enkidu (39)
11/23/2003 | Nietzsche called him the most instructive of all sacrifices to Christianity. The Pensees are a great read, and terribly moving, showing Man in the cosmos as trapped between two infinities of unknowing. They are an easy read--relatively, for they require thought, of course--because they are bite-size notes and chunks which did not have time to organize into a book before his death. You can sip them like fine wine, any time. For me he represents best the terrible struggle between faith and reason, which of course is as fresh today as it was then.
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