I suppose the most famous sentence from The Diary of Anne Frank is this:
“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Here’s proof (or some evidence, at least) that she was right (3:44).
And the moral of that video clip is crystal clear:
If you are kind to others, your life will have had a porpoise.
Well that's set evolution back in its tracks. A bunch of dolphins finally decide to venture on land and these guys throw them back!
ReplyDeleteShooting Parrots, while I am neither a hard-nosed evolutionist nor a hard-nosed creationist (the plain truth is, I don't know and neither do you), perhaps that clip actually helps to supports Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest. I mean, at that particular moment on that particular beach, a group of people whose way of life could be threatened, even made extinct, if some dolphins suddenly stood up and started walking around took the necessary action to make sure that sort of thing wouldn't happen, at least on their watch, and so helped further the survival of their own species.
ReplyDeleteWoe unto us, though, if the dolphins ever get Twitter.
You just surprised me on two counts.
ReplyDelete"I am neither a hard-nosed evolutionist nor a hard-nosed creationist (the plain truth is, I don't know and neither do you)"
I would have imagined you to be an evolutionist, and this leads me to wonder if you've studied evolution much, and how much evidence it takes (in your mind) for you to say you "know" that something is true, at least beyond a reasonable doubt. Is it your position that evolution is so rife with controversy within the scientific community itself that school children should be taught both "side of the issue" in the interest of fairness?
As for Anne Frank's statement, it's more popular in humanist circles than in Christian ones (in my experience, Christians tend to agree with Isaiah that human goodness is like "filthy rags), and I'm surprised that you subscribe to it. My own view is that people are neither good nor evil, but have a very large capacity for both.
Snow, you want to go theological on me? Okay. According to Isaiah it's our righteousnesses that's like filthy rags, not our goodness (Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.") Of course, when one inquirer addressed Jesus as "Good Master" he replied, "Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God." So maybe in that sense Anne and I are using the wrong word. Except that we are created in God's image. It became kind of besmirched in that Garden of Eden thing, however. At one time I was "hooked on Calvinism" with its belief in total depravity, but the older I get, the more wiggle room I'm inclined to give others, myself, and God. He actually can do anything He wants with any of us. He is the potter. We are the clay. I know this doesn't exactly jibe with your old CofC teachings, but it's what I have arrived at. This is not to say that we are not in need of a Savior, because we are. We are certainly not totally good but we are not totally bad either. But Isaiah is still right, our iniquities -- like the wind -- have taken us away.
ReplyDeleteI think being a pianist in a Methodist church for the past year and a half is having an effect on me.
As for creation, I quote my mother, "Vas you dere, Charley?"
Of course, Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
ReplyDeleteSo maybe I'm wrong.
I applaud the dolphin rescue; thanks for sharing the clip.
ReplyDeleteMy own creation/evolution viewpoint (influenced greatly by my father's theological and scientific teachings) is that if God wanted to use evolution to create us, that's just fine with me.
Maybe the dolphins should be encouraged to develop Twitter. That should slow their evolutionary progress for a millennium or two.
ReplyDeleteShooting Parrots, mwahahahahahah!
ReplyDeletePat, thanks for dropping by again! Are you still blogging? If so, why can't I see your blog?
P.S. to Snowbrush,, at this Easter season I know John's gospel, chapter 20, and especially the last two verses.
Well all that comment debate aside, the rescue of the diophins brought a tear to my eye.A lovely video.
ReplyDeleteCheers
"As for creation, I quote my mother, "Vas you dere, Charley?"
ReplyDeleteIf you can assure me that you apply this precept to any and everything that you didn't personally witness, then I'll be convinced that you're offering it in good faith.
Helsie, glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteSnow, I have long been thought of as a skeptic among the convinced and convinced among the skeptics. Same thing as being considered liberal among conservatives and conservative among liberals, only different.
It does help to have credible witnesses.
In the absence of credible witnesses, and sometimes even in their presence, that's where faith is required.
ReplyDeleteMy faith does not extend to dolphins having Twitter. But they could have extra-sensory perception.
This video "story" is wonderful and thanks for sharing it with your adoring public! I must say that in my life I have found far more goodness than wickedness in my fellow human beings.
ReplyDeleteRWP -- I am not blogging at present, and have shut down, but not eliminated the site. Perhaps, one day....
ReplyDeleteThanks for missing me.