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Thought for the Day commentsComments pageIf you would like to comment on today's Thought, please use the form below. For general feedback or questions regarding Thought for the Day please go to bbc.co.uk/feedback/ CommentsWhat you thought...
Mischief-makers and markers of difference are as old as Cain and Abel. British society is more change-accepting but as a black citizen of the Commonwealth, I am required to be better than my white neighbour to be heard or noticed, even after 50 years here. The churches have fast-tracked this lacuna hence we have a colourful Archbishop of York or a new Chair of Free Churches. Much needs to be done by other agencies. Your TFDs have given air-time to ethnic and non-Christian speakers who may not have been heard or noticed at all ! Thanks, BBC
Alan Billings misrepresents the church of England's attitude to social mobility, as found in the BCP prayerbook. There the child being questioned is expected to declare his or her intention 'Not to to covet or desire other men's goods but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me '. SHALL, not 'has'. Anything is possible.
A peacemaking-peacekeeping UNO seems to be tottering a-down Gadarene slopes like the League of Nations but thats our only hope today. Bishop Butler beckons to our human nature. But fallenness is woven into Christian theology and the flawed tapestry of some 'multitudinous sins incarnadine' haunts Christians into some karmic apathy. Rwanda, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sri Lanka today....are all monuments to the UNO's helpless failure to keep the peace. But we keep waiting and hoping that one day the UNO will both make & keep the peace. Even a rank renegade like Col. Gadaffi suggested reforms which can empower this august body to be more effective. We need to build on memories such as Armistice Day and move on. The future belongs to the young who will soon be tired of ceremonial memories.
How does one explain the separation of one's belief and one's identity ? Who one is can be a far cry from personal beliefs. Rosemary, how would one explain away double-standards in politicians ? It may be a Johnsonian last refuge of scoundrels but they do make important decisions that affect our survival and future. St Paul confessed his predicament when talking about the good that he believes in but could'nt act out for whatever reason. Mea culpa can be maxima culpa with the fictional Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. What one believes in is often not what one is. The two can co-exist separately with dire consequences too. Whatever does one do about it here and now without succumbing to the judgmental juggernaut ?
"Lord, change the world, starting with me..." is an evocative prayer which still doesn't blur the camera lens with compassion for my complicity in the death of the innocent. I prefer to sit out in my comfort zone with more than a smidgeon of apathy as human lives are blown to smithereens. Pray, help me, Bishop Butler, with this moral dilemma.
How i wish an envelope containing money ( any amount, even a thousand pounds will do) would tumble through my letter-box and i keep telling my friends and family that i don't earn enough to keep the wolf from the door ! Rhidian Brook, God hears every prayer but answers only some. May be it's better to accept such gifts gratefully without shouting about it from the rooftops. This is where i depart from my local church which believes in a prosperity gospel rewarding each prayer and declaiming that poverty and privation are not from God.
In TFTF today Rhidian Brook claims that some anonymous donor put through his front door a thousand pounds he didn’t deserve. If that is the whole truth of the matter why does he suggest that there was more merit in his windfall than in that of a lottery winner?All lottery participants make a contribution to the pot knowing that it will bring good fortune to someone and also provide significant funds for charitable purposes. The players know that the odds are that they will not be the lucky winner. The stakes are modest. No-one can win without making a contribution. No ticket has a better chance than any other. No player has a better chance than any other. No-one is forced to take part. To all players save the winners it is simply a bit of fun. The only sin one needs to try hard to avoid is envy.In that light lotteries seem a lot less sinister than unexplained cash stuffed through letterboxes. If it was not deserved how does Mr Brook know that his money did not come to him by mistake? Is there yet some poor soul wondering where his or her thousand pounds got to? If I played the lottery I would not attempt to return a legitimate prize but I would never feel able to keep money of such doubtful provenance as the cash in Mr Brook’s tale.If there is a self conscious God who is conscious of our existence, then given the history of the universe and humanity, he seems content with the lottery as an organising principle. So if it good enough for him surely it must be good enough for us, and, dare I say, for Mr Brook?
Great story about the 1000 quid dropping through the letterbox in a brown paper envelope. I don't really believe that you didn't know who sent it though.I'm still not getting the point about God's part in the plot. Did he intervene to help you out or was it just a kind friend or relative... did God put them up to it?And the lottery... does God decide who's number comes up?I prefer to think that events like this, along with hurricanes, tidal waves etc. are random and not directed by an uknowable force for a higher purpose. Messageboards |
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