Posted by Pastor Steven on August 09, 2002 at 15:17:35:
In Reply to: Re: Bob's Answers -- for whatever (2 cents) they are worth. posted by john on August 04, 2002 at 11:57:46:
: Great advice from a decidedly philosophical point of view....
: ...But the comment on living as if you would die tomorrow can't be lived practically because the fact is most of us won't die tomorrow, and then what. We can't realistically throw our responsibilities out the window with complete abandon because you can't go backward. I mean I get your point, but if I was going to die tomorrow I sure as anything wouldn't go to work, and I'd leave my car right wherever it was and go do something real. But then the next day I would be forced to revert to my life and patch up the damage or make another conscious decision to throw away the trappings. You see it's a downward spiral and you can't live like that for long.
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I have lived it for years. I am ready and willing to die, and yet still I live and work hard. I have lost fear of death, and yet I still cherish life and recognize every breath as a gift from God. This realization has not produced the effects in my life you claim it produces.
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: I'm not disagreeing, only saying it can't be practiced. The statements, like many philosophical ideas must get dilluted with reality until they can be implemented, and this is often less than satisfactory for the practitioner... at least it is for me. That's why I continually search for the answers that work in expereince. They are out there, but we must never discount experiential knowledge. Ideals are like paintings, they are nice to contemplate, but they do little in the real world.
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You are the one speaking "philosophically" here; that is, your argument is more "a priori" than Dave's or mine. My "a posteriori" experience of this philosophy in my life over more than a decade is validated by the empirical evidence in my life, and is observable by others beside myself.
More than this, this reality has been experienced by many others--people who really were the kind of rebels you claim to be. You rebel against the fashion of this world in a sense, in word and philosophy, but you completely discount the greatest and most beautiful freedom from this delusion which God desires to impart. You are an argument unto yourself.