----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 12:52 AM Subject: ....(war and rumors of war....sounded King James)
> On Fri, 28 Feb 2003 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > <snipped> > > .....btw....(war and rumors of war....sounded King James) > > > > Elliot > Yes, Elliot, > > I knew it was from the biblical expression, but wasn't sure which > translation. > It was intentional ... to draw attention to the fact that the subject of > war was becoming THE major focus of our life. > > War here, maybe war there, etc. Woe is me!!! The sky is falling!!! /////// Those kind of headlines....I guess are on top every day all over the world..... //////// Here the very southern cone of the Americas....there is a large Jewish community.... ....We argentinians suffered in the 90's criminal attacks . Some jewish buildings were destroyed, acts suspectedly commited by Middle East terrorist organizations.... If you see a world map...you'll see that we're almost near the Antarctica.... so in a globalized world nothing is too far from conflicts..... ////////// > But there are other options ... let's get involved in the solutions and > not just bemoan the problems. > It seems to me that one solution might be to create understanding and > friendships by helping those who feel disadvantaged to overcome obstacles > to their progress. Not so much *stopping war* as (hopefully) *creating an > element of peace* by putting opportunity for options into the hands of > those who feel hopeless. > It's based on a recent paper by Rice University professor Eli Berman - > essentially an economic theory about how the Taliban and Hamas have > limited community services as a tool for eliminating opposition from > among their people. The counteraction to this tactic is to provide > multiple opportunities for services from multiple sources ... basically > flood the market with abundant help. Taking the tool (of controlling > services) out of the hands of terrorists would minimize their influence > within the bases of support. > > So, I was alluding to the threat of war in order to possibly mobilize > somebody to action (maybe as a Virtual Volunteer - hint, hint). > I hope you weren't offended by the biblical phrase. ******************** Not at all. The Bible is like a very precise roadmap. The human beings are who fail to decode the road signs. Volunteer work you are proposing confirms that your point of view comes from what is known as a virtue of our culture: compassion (misused word by some politicians). I accept that this kind of virtue, sometimes is a rare coin, cause many people are so skeptical about Christianity. In my opinion doing something for the less favoured is one of the few assets that can show ourselves as different western world now that a new Crusade is just in the line to show how fierce can be the competition. The announced war will not a Super Bowl....indeed. I personally pray for few casualties (from both sides,...as we all are God's creatures). > I was trying to *convert* people ... but to action, not Christianity. <g> *********************** That sounds good....."conversion" comes from "metanoia" what in Greek language is like to do a turn of 360�. And that's not so bad in these times where bad rumors are flooding our lives. It can be understood that "conversion" in this post-modern times and in a self-centered hedonist culture hasn't good press as long as "compassion" It's not my opinion but a commonly accepted concept in the mass media. Saddly the so called Christianity sometimes ignores their own values rooted after Constantino (fourth century DC) , the Roman Emperor famous by his"conversion" when he stopped to chase and to kill the first christians Thousand of them were sacrificed as they didn't accept to accept publicly to be atheist. Then the particular definition of "atheism" was not adoring the roman eagles ... the final evidence of being an "atheist". Now we can have a new look for the same trouble like getting busy with things more productive that worries....... I am not naive so I have full respect for those which don't accept any written word or book as source of ethical behaviour. After all from a philosophical/theological definition of what God should have in terms of attributes.....is divine essence of who reigns ......not whom obey (we the creatures). That's not a creed ........just my point of view. I agree with it was told here ......these threads are less boring that daily international headlines ! Elliot /////////// > Bob
