Monday, March 10, 2008
Philosophy of Socrates
Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you either hear or are about torepeat a rumor.In ancient Greece, Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day thegreat philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly andsaid, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?""Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you topass a little test. It's called the Test of Three.""Three?""That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about mystudent, let's take a moment to test what you're going to say.The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you areabout to tell me is true?""No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it.""All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not.Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are aboutto tell me about my student something good?""No, on the contrary...""So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him eventhough you're not certain it's true?"The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a Thirdtest -- the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about mystudent going to be useful to me?""No, not really.""Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True norGood nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"The man was defeated and left, ashamed.This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such highesteem.
Monday, March 3, 2008
EXPLANATION OF GOD
EXPLANATION OF GOD
Although this delightful message has a Christian setting, there are some touching parts within it that would be of interest to people of all faiths. It was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista, CA. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to "explain God" I wonder if any of us could have done as well?
EXPLANATION OF GOD
"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth.
He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers."
"God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off."
"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your Mom and Dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have."
"Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church."
"Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him but he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K."
"His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important."
"You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time."
"You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!
Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach untilnoonanyway."
"If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids."
"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure
God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
And...that's why I believe in God."
Although this delightful message has a Christian setting, there are some touching parts within it that would be of interest to people of all faiths. It was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista, CA. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to "explain God" I wonder if any of us could have done as well?
EXPLANATION OF GOD
"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth.
He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers."
"God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off."
"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your Mom and Dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have."
"Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church."
"Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him but he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K."
"His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important."
"You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time."
"You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!
Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach untilnoonanyway."
"If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids."
"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure
God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
And...that's why I believe in God."
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