- well, brian hasn't told me to leave, so ...

... I might as well tell you why I'm here.

I originally registered with the board becuase it was the
only way to email one of its members, but then found
out from Al Hartman why the site was organized -
namely as a talking place for people whose lives
have been negatively seared by the religious impulse.

As I told Al and Brian, I am of deep agnostic conviction.
But that makes religious matters MORE important to
me, not less. More about that later, for now, I would
like to bring as a gift the following poem, which I am
sure many of you know.

**************************************
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold:

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men."

The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!

Welcome to the Boards David, Your posts are very thought provoking. There's alot to comment on. And I have to leave here soon. I did think of Brents headline."My opinion is only as valid as the Truth. Please search the scriptures and make up your own mind"....and Romans 10:17 " So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God"....I'll be Back....Summer007............

David,

A personal thanks for the poem. I had to memorize it in ninth or tenth grade English, at which time I thought it offered me a measure of security. I had no religious training to speak of in my parents' home.

After accepting Jesus Christ at age 20, and having tried to live a Christian life for the following 18 years, I gradually fell away from my faith, and once again tried to take solace from the idea that I may not love the Lord, but Iwas kindly disposed toward my fellow man & therefore God would be merciful toward me.

I am a slow learner, and have spent a long time finding out that once the Lord receives a person, He never lets him go. I abandoned Him, but He never abandoned me. It was, in fact, this very BB that was instrumental in leading me back to Christ and helping me to realize that even in my seemingly agnostic/humanistic wanderings God was teaching me about Himself.

How foolish to believe that I ever had within myself the capacity to love my fellows apart from God's purposeful enabling, and yet at the time that was the best concept I had & it seemed valid to me. So I still have a soft spot in my heart (or perhaps it's in my head ???) for poor ol' Abou, because I once was he. (Ben Adhem translates roughly as "son of man" or "son of earth".)

Anyway, thanks for sharing him here, & stick around: the adventure is afoot!

al

Hi David!

I hope your time with us here will be helpful. It is not a site dedicated to the needs of "agnostics" but maybe you will hear something that brings certainty to your thinking.

You have already been told what this BB is about, so I won't go into that again; but what brought you to this site in the first place? Also, what is the geometric figure on your posts supposed to represent?

God Bless, Mark C.

Mark C -

Thanks for taking the time to send a greeting.

I came to the board via a coincidence involving
Stephen Fortescue (I was trying to email him
concerning a mathematical matter and realized
I could probably do so if I registered here.)

But once I did, I realized it was a place I could
learn from, and therefore asked Brian if I could
stay. Since he didn't say "no", I figured it was OK.

The geeomtric graphic is an illusrtation of how
mathematicians can "see" the shadows of
things that exist (mathematically, not actually!)
in more than the usual three dimensions of
"this" world. As I told Lenore, I think that
c"BELIEVERS " can also accurately see things
not of "this" world.

Best regards
David

PS Marcia, Al, Lenore, and summer007 have done
alot to make me feel comfortable posting here.

AssemblyBoard

General Discussion => Welcome Center => : dhalitsky July 28, 2004, 09:23:32 AM