More from "On Liberty"

"It is not by wearing down into uniformity all that is individual in themselves, but by cultivating it, and calling it forth, within the limits imposed by the rights and interests of others, that human beings become a noble and beautiful object of contemplations; and as the works partake the character of those who do them, by the same process human life also becomes rich, diversified, and animating, furnishing more abundant aliment to high thoughts and elevating feelings, and strengthening the tie which binds every individual to the race, by making the race infinitely better worth belonging to."

I'm really enjoying reading this book. My only problem with it is that the author ultimately believes these ideas belong to certain classes of people; women, children, and barbarians excluded. I just can't see how you can believe that allowing people to strengthen themselves through liberty will bring those at a lower level up by association, but that it doesn't apply across some boundaries. Won't anyone who associates with liberty be brought closer to that ideal?

The quote above is another that stuck home with me regarding education (my favorite subject). It's what I believe the system of education we use in the United States public schools does to people, "wearing down into uniformity". It isn't the way humans develop.

1 John

This is one that has some nice quotes in it!


"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 2:15


The "love of the Father is not IN him." Not that the Father does not love him. He still loves you, it's just that you haven't grasped the full idea of worshiping the creator, not the created. Something I think some National Park people need to think about.


"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 4:10-11

That's why we are supposed to love one another. God forgave our sins, and nothing we can do to each other is worse that what we do to God. We can forgive others who sin against us.

"This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him." 5:14-15

He's listening. He wants to help. Have faith.

1 Samuel

The stories of Samuel, Saul, and David.

I love in Chapter 2, Hannah prays for a child and promises him to God if she gets one...and then she does give him to serve God in the Temple. For this she was blessed with many more children. Don't make false promises when praying for God's help.

Chapter 8:10-22 Israel demands to have a king over them, as if the Lord in the midst is just not enough. Samuel warns them what a king will do. Sigh.

And my favorite in Chapter 10, Samuel tells them that God is not happy about this king idea but will give them what they want because they are stubborn...they rejoice over their new king. Kind of like when you tell your child asks you for something you know is bad for them, they've had before, and you warn them how sick they will be, or pull the old "I'll give it to you, but I'm so disappointed you won't take no for an answer." face, and they skip off with the request happy as can be, oblivious to your dissatisfaction.

"But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as a man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord Looks at the heart.'" 16:7

Yep.

"Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him." 16:14

What? God uses evil spirits? I'm not sure what the reason was or why it had to happen this way. To show that David was determined to follow God?

Thoughts on "Equal Protection"

We need to stop and think about "Do unto others as you would have them do to you."

One person sues a business because they won't print their shirts for a gay pride parade. The business says they believe that homosexuality is against their religion and they do not want to support that act.

First of all, why would you (the person wanting the shirts printed) want to give your money to a business that thinks you are morally wrong. You think they are wrong. Why do you want to force them to take your money?


When this is turned around, will you want to be forced to serve someone? Will a black shop owner want to print the flyers for a "white pride" event? Will a gay baker want to make a cake for the church event that helps young men suppress their homosexual tendencies?

If we have equal protection in this country, doesn't it stand to reason that these cases will turn out the same way?

Equal protection "under the law" applies to the state, not individuals. I believe I have the right to serve or not serve whom I please, regardless of my reasons, but the state cannot make laws that treat one group of people different than another.

So the court ruling the religious baker bake the cake for the gay wedding has to rule that the gay baker bake the cake for the religious meeting, right? But in my opinion, they shouldn't be ruling on this at all.

From "On Liberty" by J.S. Mill

Usually I wait until I'm done reading a book before I comment on it, but this one has so much, I'm afraid I'll forget or it will lose impact if I put them all together in one book.

Here's my favorite quote from this today.

"I believe this view of the subject is mostly confined to the sort of persons who think that new truths may have been desirable once, but that we have had enough of them now."

Every idea was new at one point. Jesus and His ministry was totally new. People had to stop, read, discuss, and accept this new premise of who God really loved. If we believe He is the Son of God and the way to heaven, we need to be able to hear new ideas about God and compare them to our current beliefs and make the personal choice of what we believe.

2 Peter

Reading chapter 2, I believe that excess of sensuality was a recurring problem.

"For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." 2:18-19

When I was thinking about getting married (in the forever sense, not the temporary sense many of my young friends thought of it), I had one friend who was disappointed in me. She thought that committing to one person for the rest of my life was enslavement and that I should not tie my sexuality down like that.

Strange to see words like the ones I read today and think of that. She begged and harassed me about not getting married. She was outwardly hostile to me because women should not think they have to get married to be whole, women should be free, women shouldn't think they need one man to take care of her.

We aren't friends any more. We weren't really then either. She was enslaved to those ideas. She couldn't see that "getting married" didn't make me whole, committing myself to the love of my life and keeping it that way made me happy. I was free to choose this man, to become a partnership. It's sad for me to think that someone could think like that, find someone they truly loved and felt drawn to, and then walk away from that person because they were enslaved to the idea that they didn't need that to be whole.

1 Peter

"like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation," 2:2

I know it's a fragment, but just this phrase is what interested me this time around. New born babies don't need to taught to want mother's milk, they have an instinct that longs for it and reaches for it when it is presented to them. When presented with a pacifier they don't take to it instantly, they need to be coaxed and taught, then they finally give up looking for the nourishment and pacify themselves.

I think we have that same longing for a relationship with God. Over time, we're given other things that we don't take to automatically but end up pacifying ourselves with. Or instincts lead us toward Him and that is what we need to follow.

Although I'm not satisfied with my reading of 2:13-20, I do like this one, "Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God." 2:16.

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 5:6-7

This reminds me of something I noted in "Zorba the Greek". The author says he was taught about the proper amount of time to take when he was a child. He found a chrysalis with a butterfly just emerging and he was to anxious to wait to watch, so he helped the bug and blew its wings dry only to watch the poor thing struggle and die. We too, need to wait for the proper time. Sometimes the struggle that God has given us is what prepares us to take flight in the next stage of our lives.