oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Brian T. Coughlin) (01/26/91)
Hello, everyone.
This is going to be a rather atypical post from me; no logic,
no apologetics, no theology... just a few thoughts that I need to
share.
Yesterday, a friend of mine died at Dartmouth; a friend I hardly knew
at all. It happened right when I was in the middle of some "exciting"
debates on talk.religion.misc, alt.atheism, and so on. Needless to say,
it affected me.
I'd expect one or two people to ask, "Doesn't this shake your faith
in God?" No, it doesn't. My faith in God is, for all practical
purposes, constant. But it DID shake my resolve as far as debating
religious, logical, and philosophical issues on these nets.
Is that strange? Am I just overreacting to an emotional shock?
Maybe. But I can't help thinking that friends/loved ones are far
more important than any theological debate will EVER be... that
a person's willingness to love someone else... FORGET about
religious/philosophical worldviews... is more important than any
debate about omnipotence, cosmology, or any of those things.
I forget that from time to time. My friend kicked my butt and
reminded me... I'm just ashamed that he had to die to do it.
Everyone: I beg you... *please* remember the important things
like this, no matter WHAT the "thread" or "discussion" or situation
might be. Most of you probably do... that puts you a step ahead of me.
Remember that loved ones are more important than anything else this
mortal life has to offer. For my part... I love you all.
Maybe *this* time, I can remember that.
----
Take care!
Sincerely, Brian Coughlin
oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu@cai.UUCP.peter (Peter Hunt) (01/30/91)
[Brian Coughlin writes: > Everyone: I beg you... *please* remember the important things > like this, no matter WHAT the "thread" or "discussion" or situation > might be. Most of you probably do... that puts you a step ahead of me. > Remember that loved ones are more important than anything else this > mortal life has to offer. For my part... I love you all. --clh] Thanks, Brian. A nice post. A 21 year old who was a member of our church died tuesday night at basketball practice. Went to the side lines to sit down because he wasn't feeling well, passed out and never came to. I wish I had known him. Thanks for the reminder. I don't comment here because I'm fairly new to the net and only a one month old Christian. I'm looking forward to participating as I gain more knowledge. However, I only recently came to the conclusion that relationships are more important than anything else here. It seems like a simple concept and it took 26 years for me to figure it out. I've been having bad luck with email. Hope you get this. Cheers, Peter Hunt uunet!cai!peter