--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > on 10/17/05 10:15 AM, authfriend at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > >> on 10/17/05 5:59 AM, Peter at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>> It's the old "is behavior correlated with level of > >>>> consciousness" > >>>> issue. He > >>>>> behaves in ways that clash with "almost > >>>> everyone's" concept of how an > >>>>> enlightened person would behave. > >>>>> > >>>> As did Christ. > >>> > >>> Well, I wouldn't imply Bevan is Chruist like in any > >>> fashion, but I do get your point. > >> > >> I don't. People say someone is "Christ-like" if they display > >> extraordinary degrees of compassion, tolerance, patience, etc. > >> Sound like Bevan? > > > > I didn't get that Lawson was comparing specific > > characteristics, just noting that many people of > > Jesus' time didn't approve of his behavior-- > > socializing with prostitutes and tax collectors > > and such, healing on the Sabbath, etc. Different > > expectations, but the same tendency to be > > disapproving if they weren't fulfilled. > > Yes, because he was doing what he knew to be right, not conforming > to someone else's standards. Bevan?
However, Jesus *was* conforming to *your* standards, right? That's why you balk at the comparison. As far as you're concerned, Jesus was doing what *you* know to be right. But many of those in Jesus' time had other ideas of what was right. It's not inconceivable (although, heaven knows, difficult to imagine) that Bevan also does what he "knows" to be right (I put "knows" in quotes because it may not be intellectual-type knowledge, but rather intuitive knowledge). One of the more peculiar things Jesus did was to make a fig tree wither because it wasn't producing ripe fruit. Seems like an act of wanton and gratuitous destruction, but apparently it was the "right" thing to do at the time, as far as he was concerned. There may well be a significant degree of inscrutability in the actions of an enlightened person, even to the person him- or herself, a function of the "Unfathomable is the course of action" business. [Caveat for the terminally literal-minded: I am NOT defending the notion that Bevan is enlightened, just suggesting that we can't tell from a person's behavior whether they're enlightened or not. And if that's the case, we have to evaluate their behavior as we would that of anybody else. Someone who is said to be enlightened doesn't get to evade such evaluation and have carte blanche for their behavior. We can, if we wish, criticize the behavior of someone who is said to be enlightened, but we shouldn't assume that because the behavior warrants criticism, therefore the person can't be enlightened. And vice-versa, not incidentally.] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
