Justice and Mercy

Students Shocked by Professor's Judgment

On the first day teaching his class of 250 college freshmen, R. C. Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers. Each paper was due on the last day of September, October, and November. Sproul clearly stated there would be no extensions (except for medical reasons).
At the end of September, some 225 students dutifully turned in their papers, while 25 remorseful students quaked in fear. "We're so sorry," they said. "We didn't make the proper adjustments from high school to college, but we promise to do better next time."
He bowed to their pleas for mercy, gave them an extension, but warned them not to be late next month.
The end of October rolled around, and about 200 students turned in their papers, while 50 students showed up empty-handed.
"Oh, please," they begged, "it was homecoming weekend, and we ran out of time."
Sproul relented once more but warned them, "This is it. No excuses next time. You will get an F."
The end of November came, and only 100 students turned in their papers. The rest told Sproul, "We'll get it in soon."
"Sorry," Sproul replied. "It's too late now. You get an F."
The students howled in protest, "That's not fair!"
"Okay," Sproul replied, "you want justice, do you? Here's what's just: you'll get an F for all three papers that were late. That was the rule, right?"
"The students had quickly taken my mercy for granted," Sproul later reflected. "They assumed it. When justice suddenly fell, they were unprepared for it. It came as a shock, and they were outraged."

Matt Woodley, in the sermon "The Grieving Heart of God,"
PreachingToday.com

Christians So Unlike Christ

"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

~ Mohandas Gandhi

An Ecumenical Parable

From Max Lucado’s “A Gentle Thunder”, pp. 139, 140

Some time ago I came upon a fellow on a trip who was carrying a Bible.
“Are you a believer?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he said excitedly.

I’ve learned you can’t be too careful.
“Virgin birth?” I asked.
“I accept it.”
“Deity of Jesus?”
“No doubt.”
“Death of Christ on the cross?”
“He died for all people.”

Could it be that I was face to face with a Christian? Perhaps. Nonetheless, I continued my checklist.
“Status of man.”
“Sinner in need of grace.”
“Definition of grace.”
“God doing for man what man can’t do.”
“Return of Christ?”
“Imminent.”
“Bible?”
“Inspired.”
“The church?”
“The body of Christ.”

I started getting excited. “Conservative or liberal?”
He was getting interested too. “Conservative.”

My heart began to beat faster.
“Heritage?”
“Southern Congregationalist Holy Son of God Dispensationalist Triune Convention.”

That was mine!
“Branch?”
“Pre-millennial, post-trib, noncharismatic, King James, one-cup Communion.”

My eyes misted. I had only one other question.
“Is your pulpit wooden or fiberglass?”
“Fiberglass,” he responded.

I withdrew my hand and stiffed my neck. “Heretic!” I said and walked away.

The Universality of the Golden Rule

Despairing of the possibility of ever bringing about religious unity through doctrinal, philosophical or theological dialogue, a great many people have latched onto the Golden Rule as the ultimate expression of their faith. It is provocative and inspiring to discover the remarkable universality of this ethical principle.

In Hinduism it is stated like this: "Those gifted with intelligence should always treat others as they themselves wish to be treated."
The Shinto version is: "The suffering of others is my suffering; the good of others is my good."
In Buddhism it is: "A person can minister to friends and familiars by ... treating them as he treats himself."
Taoists say: "Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain and regard your neighbor's loss as your own loss."
In Islam: "None of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."
For Sikhs it is: "As thou deemest thyself so deem others. Then shalt thou become a partner in heaven."
In Confucianism and Zoroastrianism the rule is stated in the same way as in the New Testament except that it is couched in negative terms: "Do not unto others what you would not they should do unto you."
The Jewish equivalent in Leviticus 19:18 is "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

~ Carl L. Jech, Channeling Grace, CSS Publishing Company

If I Should Die Before I Wake

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
bless the bed that I lie on.
Before I lay me down to sleep,
I give my soul to Christ to keep.

Four corners to my bed,
four angels there aspread,
two to foot, and two to head,
and two to carry me when I'm dead.

I go by sea, I go by land,
the Lord made me by his right hand.
If any danger comes to me,
Sweet Jesus Christ, deliver me.

He's the branch, and I'm the flower,
pray God send me a happy hour.
And if I die before I wake,
I pray that Christ my soul will take.

~ an Old English prayer

Let Us Begin

"All of this will not be finished in the first one hundred days.
Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days...
Nor in the life of this administration,
Nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.
But let us begin."

~ John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961

Simpsons Quotes

Homer:
"Here's to alcohol, the cause of -- and solution to -- all life's problems."

Marge:
"Our differences are only skin deep, but our sames go down to the bone."

evil Mr. Burns:
"I'll keep it short and sweet -- Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business."

Ned Flanders:
"Ive done everything the Bible says -- even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"

Go Ahead and Cry--I'm Here To Be With You

Fred Rogers:

People have said, "Don't cry" to other people for years and years, and all it has ever meant is, "I'm too uncomfortable when you show your feelings. Don't cry."
I'd rather have them say, "Go ahead and cry. I'm here to be with you."

from The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember
Fred Rogers

Evil Cannot Stand Forgiveness

Fred Rogers:

One of my wise teachers, Dr. William F. Orr, told me, "There is only one thing evil cannot stand and that is forgiveness."

from The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember
Fred Rogers

Age is Not Important

"Age is not important unless you're a cheese."

~ Helen Hayes

Ten Timeless Lessons from the Fourth-Century Desert Dwellers

"Go sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything."
~ Abba Shepherd

"Many people living the secluded life have died like worldly people. It is better to live in the world and long for solitude than to live in solitude and long for the world."
~ Mother Matrona

"Never stay in a well-known place nor sit with a famous person nor lay foundation for building a cell someday."
~ Zeno, disciple of Silvanus

"To prepare for tomorrow means to cut away the fruit of the spirit and dry oneself up."
~ one of the hermits

"Never be sated with bread, and never run out of wine."
~ Mother Syncletice

"Teach your heart to follow what your tongue tells others."
~Abba Poemen

"Just as smoke drives out bees and takes their honey away from them, so a life of ease drives God from our souls and cancels our good deeds."
~ Abba Shepherd

"Never judge a fornicator. The person who said not to fornicate also said not to judge."
~ one of the old men

Serapion sold his Gospel and gave the money to the hungry. When we asked him why, he said he had sold the book that told him to feed the hungry.
~ the desert fathers

"The hen who stops sitting on the eggs will hatch no chicks; you, too, should stay where you are."
~ one of the mothers

from Spirituality & Health, May/June 2007, "Extreme Simplicity: Ten Lessons from the Fourth-Century Desert Dwellers", by Clair McPherson, p. 57.

She will not be crippled by resentment

from A Thousand Splendid Suns

Laila has decided that she will not be crippled by resentment. Mariam wouldn't want it that way. What's the sense? ... What good is it, Laila jo?

~ Khaled Hosseini

A way to be good again

Amir:

I wished Rahim Khan hadn't called me. I wished he had let me live on in my oblivion. But he had called me. And what Rahim Khan revealed to me changed things. Made me see how my entire life, long before the winter of 195, dating back to when that singing Hazara woman was still nursing me, had been a cycle of lies, betrayals, and secrets.
"There is a way to be good again," he'd said.
A way to end the cycle.

~ Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, 226-7

Rahim Khan about Baba:

I loved him because he was my friend, but also because he was a good man, maybe even a great man. And this is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your father's remorse.
Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.

I know that in the end, God will forgive. He will forgive your father, me, and you too. I hope you can do the same. Forgive your father if you can. Forgive me if you wish. But, most important, forgive yourself.

~ Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, 302

Amelia Earhart quotes

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.

Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.

Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things; knows not the livid loneliness of fear.

Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.

I want to do it because I want to do it.

In soloing - as in other activities - it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.

Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.

Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done.

No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.

Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn't any good reason to refer to it.

Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.

The most effective way to do it, is to do it.

The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.

There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls.

There is so much that must be done in a civilized barbarism like war.

Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but, they also get more notoriety when they crash.

Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.

~ Amelia Earhart, American Aviator, 1898-1937

Do It!

"The most effective way to do it, is to do it."

~ Amelia Earhart, aviator

Better Truth than a Lie

"It hurts to say that," he said, shrugging. "But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie."

~ Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, p. 58

Advancing in another direction

"We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction."

~ Douglas MacArthur, U.S. W.W. II general in the Pacific

Dementors

Prof. Lupin to Harry Potter:

"Get too near a Dementor, and every good feeling, every happy memory, will be sucked out of you."

J.K. Rowling, Prisoner of Azkaban

A Prayer of Alan Paton

Help me, O Lord, to be more loving. Help me O Lord, not to be afraid to love the outcast, the leper, the unmarried pregnant woman, the traitor to the State, the man out of prison.
Help me by my love to restore the faith of the disillusioned, the disappointed, the early bereaved. Help me by my love to be the witness of your love.
And may I this coming day be able to do some work of peace for you.

~ Alan Paton, a South African writer,
author of "Cry the Beloved Country"
who made a courageous stand against racism

A Man Fell into a Pit

Once upon a time a man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out.
A sensitive person came along and said, “I feel for you down there.”
A practical person came along and said, “I knew you were going to fall in sooner or later.”
A Pharisee said, “Only bad people fall into a pit.”
A mathematician calculated how he far he fell.
A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.
An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen my pit.”
A mystic said, “Just imagine that you’re not in a pit.”
An optimist said, “Things could be worse.”
A pessimist said, “Things will get worse.”
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!

~ Ray Pritchard, The Lawyer Who Wanted a Loophole