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Archive for the ‘Quotes’ Category

Pascal: Why Man is Unhappy

Posted in Coincidence, Content, Pascal, tagged on June 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Be still, and know that I am God — Psalm 46:10

Blaise Pascal, the famous philosopher and mathematician, had an interesting idea why people go to war and/or pursue various diversions which cause heartache and troubles — It’s because they can’t sit quietly alone in their rooms without regret.

“I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber…there is one very real reason, namely, the natural poverty of our feeble and mortal condition, so miserable that nothing can comfort us when we think of it closely.” — Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662). Pascal’s Pensées (p. 40). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Something to quietly think about.

— fritz

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Uncensored Praying

Posted in Prayer, Quotes, tagged on May 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Mark D. Roberts

I often want to censor what flows from my heart because it’s so messy.

In times of fearful desperation, I’ve wanted to cry out to God, “Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?” But then I catch myself. Of course God isn’t sleeping, I reason. He doesn’t need to wake up. Besides, who am I to say such things to the Lord?

So I end up with some insipid confession of God’s care for me, rather than the fearful and frustrated but altogether genuine cry of my heart.1

The Psalmist prayed this way:

“Get up, God! Are you going to sleep all day?
         Wake up! Don’t you care what happens to us?
Why do you bury your face in the pillow?
         Why pretend things are just fine with us?
And here we are—flat on our faces in the dirt,
         held down with a boot on our necks.
Get up and come to our rescue.
         If you love us so much, Help us! – Psalm 44:23-26 (Message)

Uncensored prayer may not be polite — but at least it’s heart honest, and that’s appreciated more by the one who counts and gets better results.

— fritz
=-=-=-=-=-=-==-
1. Roberts, Mark D. (2010-06-18). No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (Kindle Locations 550-553). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

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Love and Loneliness

Posted in Benjamin Franklin, Creation, Explanations, God's Character, God's Favor, James Weldon Johnson, John Wesley, Quotes, tagged , , , on May 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Funny how literary works and old sayings get stuck in the back of the mind and we accept wrong ideas without thinking!

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)


Benjamin Franklin said, “God helps those who help themselves”, and over the years most think that is in the Bible. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism says, “Cleanliness is next to godliness”, and we think that’s somewhere in the Bible, too.

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) wrote a poem in 1922 called, “The Creation”,

AND God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said,
“I’m lonely—
I’ll make me a world.”

And it filters down that God was somehow lonely — creating us to keep him company.

While it is a great poem (I presented it in high school drama) it is not very accurate. God was NOT lonely, did not create us from a sense of need, and has never depended on us for anything.

Why is that important? Because there is a difference between Love and Loneliness.

Loneliness focuses on self whereas Love is selfless. Ever known someone who “loved” you because they were lonely? How about someone who really loved you (regardless of what it did for them)? Notice a difference, did you?

God created through selfless love even though he knew it would cost him what was most dear (Rev. 3:8). He gave his eternal Son because he Loved (John 3:16) though most would reject (John 1:11). And throughout eternity he shall demonstrate that selfless love by pouring grace and blessing on those who enter the “secret place”1 (Ephesians 2:7)

No, God is complete within himself needing nothing but decided to share that love with the universe so they could enjoy it, too.

— fritz

1 See “A Secret Place” — April 22, 2012

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