The Builder

2006-6-15 06:55:00

Dean:

That is the testimony of god according to what JJ says about him.

This statement at the end of your dialog is about as far away from reality as illusion can be. Have you read any of my teachings about God and man? You have so misrepresented my views that I can only conclude you have not read my teachings or are consciously trying to distort them.

I keep telling you to argue with what I do say, not with what I do not say.

Your argument may apply somewhat to the Bible thumping, born again, fundamentalist, snake handling black and white extreme of the Christian ultra right wing, but it deals not with my teachings.

The difference between you and me is becoming obvious here. I understand your view of God and can represent it with reasonable accuracy. You do not seem to have a clue as to what my view is, outside the fact you know I disagree with you.

Now if we examine the dialog representing your view I think you are in la la land if you think a judge would listen to anyone accused of rape insist that the woman was raped for her own good. You need to use a realistic dialog that could occur in the real world if you want to convince anyone.

Consider a person who decides to design and build his own home. He works many hours and makes many corrections in the design. He's just about done and spills coffee right in the middle of it and has to recreate it. His corrected mistakes, which were not a part of his design, did not deter him from finishing it. When the design was complete he did not see the mistakes as being anything that made the design perfect. Instead, he saw them as problems that caused delay, but not discouragement.

Next he decides to physically build the house. As he starts, a neighbor comes to him and tells him the house is already built. The builder gets such a good laugh out of this that he loses an hour of work that day because his mind is distracted. As he works away the next day he hits his hand with a hammer and walks back and forth letting out a few choice words. The neighbor approaches him again and tells him to be of good cheer. His house is already built and hitting his thumb was part of the plan. It is good, as well as necessary, this happened.

"I drew up the plans myself and believe me it was not part of any plan," said the builder. "What are you trying to do, irritate me?"

The next day a thief came on his property and stole some of his tools. Again the builder was upset and this was noticed by the neighbor who approached him and said, "Friend, this theft is a part of a great plan designed for your good. Your house could not be perfect unless you went through this experience."

The builder felt like slapping some sense in the neighbor but constrained himself. "I'll tell you what this theft did," he replied. "It has cost me time and money and delayed the building of my house. This thief has done nothing to add to the perfection of anything as far as I am concerned."

"Wait and see," said the neighbor.

Everything went pretty smoothly until it was time to paint. The builder hired a man to paint the house while he went fishing for a few days. When he returned he was aghast to discover that the man had painted the house the wrong color. As he was walking back and forth saying more choice words, the neighbor approached him again.

"So the painter got the wrong color? It would help if you understood that this bright pink is just part of a greater plan on the road to your perfect house and perfect enjoyment thereof."

Again, the man constrained himself.

The painter skipped town and the builder couldn't afford to hire another so he finished the job himself. It took him a week to scrape off the pink paint and change the color.

Finally, he was done. The house looked just like he had planned. He stood back and admired his work. As he was doing this the neighbor approached him again and said:

"See. It's worked out just like I said."

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

"Your house is now perfect," said the neighbor. "All those things you thought were mistakes were just part of a plan to create a perfect house for yourself."

The builder was incredulous at the man's audacity. "Those mistakes did nothing to add to any perfection. The perfection was achieved in spite of them. All they did was cost me time and money. If they didn't happen I could have moved in some time ago and would have money left over for landscaping. I'll still get the landscaping done. I'll just have to save up some more money."

"You just don't understand the great plan behind all things," said the neighbor. "If you did you would see I am correct. You needed to see your house as bright pink before you could really enjoy it now."

The builder was astonished at the smugness of the neighbor and decided to give him some of his own medicine. He bought a dog that barked like crazy throughout the night. During the second night of barking the neighbor knocked on the door and said. "That dog is driving me crazy. Please shut him up."

The builder replied, "I have been thinking about your philosophy and have concluded that this barking dog is perfect for both of us. His barking is music to my ears and it is also part of the perfect plan that he drives you crazy so you get no sleep. You need to be driven crazy."

The neighbor cursed the builder but his cursing was music to the builder's ears. He encouraged his dog to bark all the more, especially at night. Maybe the neighbor would finally get it into his head that some events are not a part of a master plan, but just temporary distractions we pass through on the way to reaching our goals.

Jesus said:

The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Matthew 26:24

Obviously, we are better off avoiding really bad mistakes if some are so bad it would be better if we had not been born in order to avoid them.

If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?
Vince Lombardi (1913 - 1970)