Heaven is always gained through a veil of sorrow, tears, anger, pain,suffering and occasionally comfort with warmth.God pulls back the curtain for a moment, the soul enters and loved ones are left wondering.
It's possible to bury your head in the sand and defy good reason. What is more than paramount? How is it that good people can be manipulated into silence at worst and proclaim an injurious diatribe. Is the chanting that Gazans need to be freed while Israel buries its dead,fights for freedom and wants peace?
(1711–1776)
Thus, while people know the experiences they presently have, this provides no foundation for proving anything else. The problem, he pointed out, is that any inference to things beyond present experience depends on a cause-effect relation of which experience itself leaves us ignorant. This skeptical conclusion affects the traditional arguments for the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and almost every other belief one might hold.
Yet Hume’s last word is not of skepticism but of belief.
That is, while we cannot prove even that material things exist outside our present experience, we properly believe that they do. Repeated experiences instill in us the mental expectations and habits we call “belief.”
And while he criticized the theistic arguments in his Dialogues Concerning
Natural Religion, he described the psychological grounds of religious belief
in The Natural History of Religion. His famous essay on miracles appeared
in the same context. Defining a miracle as “a violation of natural law,” he
argued that belief in natural laws is so well established by repeated
experiences that only experiences of greater regularity—or else a miracle—could
upset that belief and lead one to believe in miracles.
But the evidence offered, for miracles, he says, is not that good: it is spotty, inconsistent, from out-of-the-way places, by prejudiced observers. How could it overthrow the better-established belief in uniform natural laws? Hume was indeed skeptical of man’s ability to know, but he allowed the legitimacy of beliefs that have psychological rather than logical grounds. But, it is objected, Hume had too limited a conception of belief.
On his criterion, much of history would be quite unbelievable. But his skepticism elicited work on the psychology and justification of belief that continues to the present day.
A railway gatekeeper, who one bitterly cold night required every passenger to show his ticket before passing through to the train, and was rewarded with considerable grumbling and protesting, was told: “You are a very unpopular man tonight.” “I only care to be popular with one man,” was the reply, “and that is the superintendent.”
He might have pleased the passengers, disobeyed orders, and lost his position. He was too wise for that; his business was to please one man—the man who hired him, gave him his orders, and rewarded him for faithfulness, and who would discharge him for disobedience.
The servant of Christ has many opportunities to make himself unpopular. There are multitudes who would be glad to have him relax the strictness of his rules. If he is their servant, they demand that he should consult their wishes. But if he serves them, he cannot serve the Lord. “No man can serve two masters.” He who tries to be popular with the world, will lose his popularity with the Lord. He will make friends, but he will lose the one Friend who is above all others.
He will win plaudits, but he will not hear the gracious words: “Well done, Good and Faithful!”
AMG Bible Illustrations,
One day Peter looked at John and asked Jesus, ‘… “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “… what is that to you? You must follow me’ (John 21:21-22 NIV). When others disappoint you, remember that you have disappointed others. When others give you bad advice, remember that you have given others bad advice. There is only one person who won’t disappoint you and will always point you in the right direction—Jesus. He doesn’t merely know the way, He is the way. ‘… Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12 NIV).
When you follow even the best of Christians, they will sometimes cause you to stumble or be confused. But when you follow Jesus, He will illuminate every step you take. Christ’s own disciples would have disappointed you. Peter was racially biased and sometimes honoured Jews over Gentiles. James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on those in a village that refused overnight accommodation to Jesus and His disciples. Thomas doubted the truth of the resurrection and said, ‘Unless I feel the imprint of the nails in His hands, I will not believe He is alive’ (see John 20:25). Yes, people will disappoint you. But Jesus won’t. That’s why the Bible says, ‘… let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. …’ (Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV).
The only people who can let you down are the people you lean on. So, the word for today is—lean less on people and more on Jesus.
Soulfood: Jer 4-6 Mark 15:1-20 Ps 144:9-15 Pro 14:5-8
Never put off until tomorrow what you feel like doing today—tomorrow it may be against the doctor’s order.
Always put off until tomorrow what you should not do at all.
One reason for doing the right things today is tomorrow.
Since our task is difficult, we dare not relax; since our opportunities are brief, we dare not delay
The Complete Book of Practical Proverbs, Wacky Wit, and Zingers
