it might be useful to making the concept less faith based and more reasoned if we thought of it not being an individual issue, and of expanding the meaning 9of virtue. the gay who (and there are proven historical examples for this) is responsible for 300 or more cases of aids will die of aids....and so will innocents, either from something like factor h, or by being married to needle users, etc..but humanity as a whole is being punished, imho. with fear, depression, etc. and some are picked to carry the load. and given that (despite the game of blaming cancer on individual lifestle) a larrrrge amount of cancer may be linked to manmade environmental issues ranging from benzene to phyto-estrogens to uv rays, with some vcarrying the load of warning mankind in general. and perhaps some of those are being given the lesson of being served, humbly, when it is their desire to serve others. some are being given the job of forcingthe health care provider into the non-judgnmentalism in his oath. and some are maybe just paying bills. i recall in 1995 when my wife was dying that i fervently prayed God that any dues she owed to the world, Him, or to the progress of her physical dissolution be paid by me, and only peace go with her. she died in comfort. over the next year i had bleeding ulcers, an infected gall bladder, gall stones, kidney stones, pancreatitis, and acute muscle spasms (and am left with a slight tremor) and then went back to normal health...with no changes before, during or after in lifestyle, diet etc. somebody might argue that muscle spasms and ulcers are psychological...medical professionals said bacteria and disease of unknowqn origin. hold a kidney stone in ur hand and argue itrs not real. i don;t think we know how many of the wonderful soulsd who don't "deserve" suffering asked for it, and got it, and were proably thankful. i'm verrrry sure we don't get to judge. "surely He wants them all, becuase He made them all." --shoghi effendi "3 a.m. in las vegas, who is hanging around; 9 a.m. in manhattan, dust swirls around." --firestorm _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Introducing My Way - http://www.myway.com ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
