Todd's TRUTH; Page IV


"Scripta manent.... verba volant."
( Latin, meaning: "Written words remain.... spoken words fly away." )


Unspoken words -- and unshared thoughts -- can never be heard....
and will never teach, or stimulate, or comfort.

See "Todd's Truth, Part 1" .... CLICK HERE
See "Todd's Truth, Part 2" .... CLICK HERE
See "Todd's Truth, Part 3" .... CLICK HERE



Selected from the on-going INTERNET BOOK, "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets"
http://www.terrific-tabs.com (link)
by
John N. Todd III, M. D. (link)

START -- 3/04; 5/04; 6/04; 8/04; 9/04; 10/04; 11/04; 1/05; 2/05; 4/05; 5/05; 6/05; 7/05; 8/05; 9/05; 2/06; 4/06; 5/06; 6/06; 9/06; 8/21/07


CLICK HERE to go to the "FRONT PAGE" of "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets"
CLICK HERE for ALPHABETICAL INDEX of this entire WEBSITE
CLICK HERE to EMAIL your thoughts to the author

 

LINKS to other pages:

FRONT PAGE of "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets"
ALPHABETICAL INDEX of entire website

Editorial Page
Politics; Public Education
Todd's Truth I
Todd's Truth II
Todd's Truth III
Todd's Truth IV
Bible Favorites of Author
Bible Favorites II
Bible Favorites III
Bible Favorites IV
Pop's WISDOM
Pop's WISDOM, PAGE 2
Pop's Wisdom -- Page 3
PJT's Page

Doctor's Terrific Tablets i
Terrific Tablets II
Terrific Tablets III
Terrific Tablets IV
Terrific Tablets V
Terrific Tablets VI
Terrific Tablets VII
Terrific Tablets VIII
Terrific Tablets IX

Tuscaloosa NOOSE
Tuscaloosa Snooze
Temporary Items

Scroll down (or scroll "up" from the bottom) --
for brief quotations from various "tablets" on other web-pages of this Internet BOOK -- with links to the full "tablets".




Additional links to other pages; and to author's opinion-pieces:

The Tuscaloosa Awake


8/21/07
"Dress for the job you want... not for the job you have."

In whatever work you do.... whatever job or profession.... always dress well, and look good.
If the messenger looks fat, and unkempt, and unattractive... the "message" will never "sell".

And... if you expect to be promoted in your business... learn to speak well, and to write well... using correct grammer and syntax.



9/2/06; 8/21/07

As I, John N. Todd III, contemplate the end of my life in this world, the following truth has come into my thoughts: If God wants me to recover from these various ailments that now overwhelm me... I will recover... on God's schedule (as I have, in the past).
If God does not want me to recover.... then there is nothing that I, or anyone else, can do to prolong my existence.

I say that God has His plan, and His intention -- for me. And... God has the power.

Psalm 127: 1 (Moffatt) "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keeps the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain."



6/30/06

Copied from an email, forwarded to me by my Cousin Sherrard:

"To the world you might be one person.... but to one person you just might be the world"


5/2/06

I learned the following basic truth, when I was spending a few days in a motel in Hollywood, Florida.... in 1950. Another guest in the motel (a guest whom I had never previously known) was expounding on the subject of "loves-lost".... and the "pain" of separation from devoted friends and "sweethearts". He quoted the following:

"Truly there is pathos in doing even the smallest thing, for the last time."

That beautiful quotation, of unknown origin, has stayed with me.... for a lifetime.


4/29/06

Copy of a paragraph from Man's "free will"... or God's WILL (link)

I cannot imagine that God's human-creations (
God's children) are casually "dumped" into the cauldron of this world, this life.... and that we are then cast-adrift, to fend for ourselves.... ignorant, unguided and unloved.... and that we are abandoned to the "forces of nature".... and to our own animal instincts, human schemes, religious combat, and primal jungle-thoughts.... and that we are then expected, somehow, to "make a decision", and "choose God", and join the "right" church.... based on our worldly "free-will".

(See link
A SIGN for the FRONT DOOR of every CHURCH.)


2/24/06
(JNT) -- "Establishment clause"

Yes, the government should not attempt to "establish" a religion.... and there should be a "separation of church and state".

There should also be a worldwide "establishment clause" for churches, "religions", and doctrines. That is, a church-of-humans should not attempt to "establish" a church for other humans. There should be "separation of church and church".


2/24/06

(From JNT)

The beliefs of humans cannot change or circumvent God.... but God can circumvent and change the beliefs of humans.

A "religion" of humans (a man-made doctrine) can claim for itself whatever it chooses.... but the "claims" of that religion do not necessarily portray or reveal God's "truth".

Similarly, a good "salesman" can claim marvelous and magical effects for his "snake-oil".... but the salesman's claims do not generate a true "medicinal" effect.

2/7/06
INITIAL THOUGHTS

RETIREMENT PLANNING

Planning for your "retirement" should begin when you're born.

Obviously, for the first several years of your life, the responsibility for planning your later "retirement" is in the hands of your parents. It is the obligation of your parents, in preparing you for retirement (many years down-the-road) to make sure that you are disciplined, studious, and well-educated.... and that you have good health habits (eating correctly, and exercising properly, and avoiding harmful substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and "drugs"). It is the duty of all parents to instruct their children in the value of money, and in the importance of saving and investing a portion of their income, however meager the "income" may be. It is mandatory, also, that the parents instruct their children in the futility of senseless gambling. Furthermore, the parents must emphasize, early in your life, the crippling effect of the "charge-card mentality", of spending more money than you earn.

The parents' responsibility for preparing you for retirement lessens when you finish high-school.... and the obligation of your parents to train you for retirement abruptly terminates.... when you have finished your professional training.

Your personal responsibilty for the financial planning for your own retirement begins during the years when you are 18 to 22 years-old. Beyond that age, especially after you have completed training for your profession, the total responsibility for financial success, leading to later retirement, rests fully on your own shoulders.

Specifically, it is not the duty of anyone else to save and invest for your retirement. No one should rely on an employer, your union, the government, an inheritance (link), marrying a rich spouse, winning a lottery.... or any other uncertain accumulation of money, for your personal retirement.

It is true that the "fringe benefits" of some jobs may include a retirement pension-plan, that puts aside a portion of your income.... matched, in varying degrees by your employer.... into a long-term investment fund for your benefit, many years down-the-road. It is also obviously true that "the government" takes a part of your annual income for "Social Security" benefits, that begin for you at age 65.

BUT.... the basic fact remains. The operative consideration is the "uncertain" nature of benefits that someone else may be accumulating for you. No one cares about you as much as you should care about yourself.

Just remember some of the recent failures that have befallen certain retirement plans. Consider the likes of "ENRON".... and its total collapse. What happened to the accumulated lifelong benefits of Enron's employees? GONE.

Do you remember Worldcom.... and its financial collapse, and its "disappearance", along with its pension plans for employees?

What about the bankrupt airlines.... and their pension plans? And Delphi?

And many other corporate giants, now in jeopardy.

Many of the now-destitute organizations will depend upon the federal government's "Pension Benefit Guaranty Administration" (PBGA) for propping-up the failed pension plans of bankrupt corporations. Some have said that the PBGA will be able to pay only "20-cents" on the dollar of promised benefits.



And on-and-on. More will be added here, as time and energy allow.




2/2/06; 2/6/06

Attributed to Charles Kingsley
(PJT located this quote in an old collection of her favorite themes.)

"Thank God every morning, when you get up, that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance, self-control, diligence, strength of will, content.... and a hundred virtues which the idle never know."



2/2/06

(Author's email to his wife, PJT.)

Dear Wifey (PJT),

Thanks for the quotation.... that you re-discovered, today.

I posted the quotation in "Todd's Truth", page IV, today.... for you and I have felt exactly the same way as Mr. Kingsley, for our 49 years together.

Thank you, PJT,
For being "The Indefatigable, My Phyllee".

A JNT-PJT addendum would be: Thank God that you feel good; and that you're on your feet; and that you live in the United States (and in Alabama); and that you've been given so many opportunities and blessings.

A second addendum, which all of us in our family have heard over-and-over is: WORK PAYS. (The more WORK; the more PAY.)

I'll share this email, and the quotation, with a few listeners.

"King"
JNT3


2/6/06

Add the following quotations, from Voltaire, to the remarks above:

"Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing."

"All people are good, except those who are idle."

"One must give one's self all the occupation one can, to make life supportable, in this world. The further I advance in age, the more I find work necessary. It becomes, in the long run, the greatest of pleasures, and takes the place of the illusions of life."

"If you do not want to commit suicide, always have something to do."


9/25/05

It's past my bedtime.... but stay another 3 or 4 minutes.... anyway.

8/17/05
(Arz):

Typical human prayer, to Almighty God:
"O Lord, MY will be done."

 

7/31/05

Heard on TV...

"It's hard to be ambitious, when you're content."

7/7/05

JNT: Concerning God, and
"religion":

It's a lot easier to describe and state what you DON'T believe...
than it is to explain what you CLAIM to believe.

See link
Faith, belief, and believers.

6/20/05

Ascribed to Ronald Reagan in a campaign speech for Barry Goldwater:

"Our unalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of benefits from the government"

See link: What would Santa Claus and Robin Hood do about welfare.


6/11/05; and 7/31/05

Can "the rich" ever convince the "un-rich" to adopt the attributes that made "the rich" rich?

Should the "rich" be made poor, so that the "poor" can be made rich?

See link POVERTY and RICHES -- on this website.


5/15/05; 5/18/05

God's "School-of-Life"

It is important to remember that not all Godspeople (link) are in the same "grade", in God's "School-of-Life".... the "school" that prepares each of us for our present "ministry".... and for our ultimate "mission". Each of us is led-along in this life.... and given instruction in our current "grade" of school.... according to the "subjects" that our Master Teacher has assigned to each of us, individually (link). We are evaluated by the Teacher.... on an on-going basis.... and then "promoted", in this life, to a different and "higher" level of purpose.... on a time-schedule established by our Teacher-God.

Hebrews 5: 12 (NRSV) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; 13 for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature.... for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

1 Corinthians 3: 1 (NRSV) And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3  for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh.... and behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.

Isaiah 30: 20 (NRSV) Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Isaiah 50: 4 (NRSV) The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning He wakens -- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. 5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear; and I was not rebellious. I did not turn backward.

Matthew 11: 1 (NRSV) Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim His message in their cities.

Job 36: 22 See, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like Him?



(In the NRSV, there are no references to "school" or "schooling".... in either the Old Testament, or the New Testament. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, there are 291 verses referring to "teach", "teacher", and "teaching".)


 

4/11/05; 4/12/05; 4/13/05; 5/15/05

The Doctor's Prescription
Dr. Todd's "prescription" for reducing medical "malpractice" suits

Click HERE for Easy-Print format of this page




Before long, all practicing physicians will find it necessary to present a "disclaimer" to every patient... saying something like the following:

Dear patient,

It has become necessary to inform you, and warn you, that every medication ever produced is potentially harmful to you. You should understand that all medications have differing effects in different patients. Each of us humans is different from all other human-beings. We all have different combinations of "genes".... and, hence, there is potentially a great variety of different chemicals ("enzymes") in the various digestive and metabolic systems of each of us.... chemicals that alter the absorption, and break-down, and excretion, and systemic effects.... of all medications.

In other words.... among all animals, including "human-animals", there is a great individual variation in responses.... some "good"; some "bad".... to any-and-all medications. Therefore, there is a potential risk to you, the patient, in taking any recommended medication.

For example, it has long been known that certain medications, in some individuals, may severely damage the kidneys, unpredictably. Or, the function of the liver may become impaired, for reasons that no one can foresee. In a few individuals, the bone marrow may be irreversibly suppressed by certain medications. Various manifestations of "allergy" and hypersensitivity may develop in some patients.... following the use of a specific drug.

In addition, there is the problem of "drug-interactions", in which the function of one medication (which an individual may already be taking) interferes with the anticipated effect of other medications. Furthermore, in an individual's metabolism of some medications, other pharmacologically active by-products may be generated (usually by the liver).... and these active "by-products" may induce unexpected medicinal effects, in some people.

Additionally.... one must always consider the risk of habituation to any of a number of different classifcations of medications.... "pain pills", sleeping pills, tranquilizers, anti-depressants, and others. Habituation is unpredictable.... but is clearly a risk to almost everyone.... so, nowadays, every patient who agrees to take any of these "habit-forming" medications must personally acknowledge awareness of this danger, and must use extreme caution. Your doctor has no way to prevent habituation in an individual patient.... especially if the patient abuses the use of a risky medication.

It must be understood by all patients that the effect of any and every medicine is to block or alter a normal physiological process in our human (animal) bodies. This "blocking" effect may be more profound in some individuals than in others, and may generate unexpected consequences, and/or symptoms. There is no fool-proof way to determine.... before taking a certain medication.... how you or I will "respond" to that medication. As indicated above, there is a wide array of potential allergies, adverse side-effects, and individual responses and "reactions" to every medication.

There is no universally "safe" medication. Therefore, the effect of a specific medication, on you personally, is simply not predictable.... until the medication is "tried" -- in your own body's innate individual metabolic "system". Yes, even aspirin (Bufferin, etc.) has a variety of potential "side-effects".... some very serious, in some patients. And, the same for Tylenol.... and for all the "anti-inflammatory" drugs, and "arthritis pills". And remember, also, the huge variety of appetite suppressants ("diet pills").... many of which are not only harmful, but also habituating.

Should aspirin and Tylenol be taken off the market, because of potential harmful effects, in a few people? No! But.... all of us human-animals, as patients, must weigh the potential benefit of any medication, versus the risk of an unforeseeable adverse side-effect, in our own body.

As your physician, I desire very much to prescribe only those medications which I believe will be beneficial to you. However, since harmful "side-effects" may occur with any-and-all medications, the time has now arrived that all physicians must warn all patients, in advance, about potentially injurious results following the ingestion or injection of any medication. With this advanced warning, the responsibility for taking a suggested medication falls-back upon the decision and agreement of the patient himself/herself.

Therefore, when I suggest certain medications for you, I will leave it up to you to decide whether or not you choose to take those medications. I will supply you with information that is available to me concerning a certain medication. You must then consult other sources of information and advice; and then, you must decide whether or not you are willing to take a prescription that I have suggested.

I will ask that you sign a "release", indicating that I have warned you about potentially harmful effects of any medicine that I have suggested or recommended to you. I will not give you a prescription for any medication until you acknowledge, in writing, your awareness of the unpredictability of the effect of any medication, in your own particular body. With your acknowlegement of the potential adverse side-effects of any-and-all medications.... you are accepting the responsibility for taking the medication.... and, therefore, you are not setting the stage to "blame" your doctor.... or the drug manufacturer.... for an outcome that no one can foresee.

In this way, I will hope to protect myself from "legal" liability, and from the rampant "medical malpractice" suits that some lawyers have caused to become so widespread, and so threatening to honorable and talented doctors.... those physicians who really care about the proper treatment and well-being of their patients.

Always remember (repeating from above).... there is no medication that is "safe" in all patients. And.... there is no way to foretell whether an individual's metabolic system will.... or will not.... "tolerate" a certain medicine. A doctor, and his patients, must always be aware of the "risk/benefit" ratio in considering any particular drug for treatment of any specific ailment. If the "benefit" far outweighs the potential "risk".... then it would become logical and proper for a patient to agree to take a certain medication. Contrariwise, obviously, if the risks are great.... then the patient should logically consider all other options.

In today's medico-legal climate, it is now you, the patient, who must make the ultimate decision about whether or not to take a medication that has been recommended or prescribed for you. The responsibility belongs to you. Doctors do not ever "dictate" to their patients.... doctors suggest and recommend therapy, which the patient may accept, or refuse.

Signed..... Your Doctor.




Additional "prescriptions" and suggestions....
for doctors and patients to consider:


(1.) For those patients who are unwilling to sign a "statement-of-personal-responsibility" for obtaining and ingesting a certain medication, the patients should be informed, cordially, that it may be possible for them to locate another physician who will prescribe medications for them.... without a signed release. That is, another doctor may be willing to assume the responsibility, and blame, and "malpractice" suits.... for whatever unpredictable injurious results may develop after his patients have taken a medication prescribed by him.

This necessity of requiring patients to sign a "release" may seem harsh to the non-medical "public" .... but it is not as drastic as imposing-upon a competent and dedicated doctor a lengthy malpractice suit, blaming him for an absolutely unforeseeable adverse effect of a certain medication.... in a specific patient.

Patients should be reminded, by their doctors, that "over-the-counter" (OTC) medications.... those drugs which can be bought at any drugstore, without a prescription.... have just as many potential risks as most "prescription" drugs. But, in a "medico-legal" sense, the implications are very different. If a patient voluntarily "prescribes" a medication for himself, and purchases that medicine at the corner drugstore.... then that patient has assumed the personal responsibility for any adverse side-effects of that medication. Similarly, when a patient understands that all medications have potential risks, and when the patient agrees to accept responsibility for taking a medicine.... even a medication prescribed by his doctor.... then no one except the patient can be "held responsible" for an adverse effect. That is, the patient and his lawyer then have no one to sue for an adverse medicinal result.... and therefore the patient's doctor is not repeatedly threatened with "malpractice", every time a patient is harmed by a medication.

IF a patient says that he will not take responsibility for injury from a medication that is recommended by his doctor.... that is almost like telling the doctor that "If I get a bad effect from your prescription, it's your fault.... not the fault of my body's chemicals.... and therefore I will sue you." (The doctor should tell that patient to find a doctor who will not require the patient to accept responsibility for "negative" effects of a medicine.)

(2.) We now see countless advertisements on television, from various pharmaceutical organizations, and drug-manufacturers.... urging patients to ask their physicians for a prescription for such-and-such a medication. Invariably, a long list of potential adverse side-effects is mentioned in the advertisement (such as an "erection" that lasts longer than four hours). Then, without fail, the advertisement requires that the listener "check with your doctor". In other words, the ad says that if you develop any complication as a result of taking the advertised medication, "Blame your doctor. Sue him. Don't call us; call him.... and remember, we who marketed the medication warned you in advance.... therefore, we are blameless."

So, now, doctors must protect themselves, and must warn patients in advance, before prescribing any-and-every medication.... and the patient must acknowledge each warning.... in advance.... in writing.

Unfortunately, there are many attorneys, in today's litigious world, who make a handsome living.... just waiting to sue a blameless doctor whose patient has developed an unpredictable adverse effect (a so-called "mal-occurrence") after taking a prescribed medication. And, similarly, there are many hapless patients, who hope they can "catch" a doctor, or a drug manufacturer, in this malpractice trap.... so that patient-and-lawyer can reap an extravagant-but-unmerited "settlement".

(3.) Re-statement of a main point.... If a patient allows his personal physician to prescribe a medication for him, that patient must acknowledge (in writing) his understanding that no doctor can foresee how an individual's inborn metabolic system will respond to that medication.

(4.) Some potentially very beneficial medications are (necessarily) held off the pharmaceutical market, because of a rare adverse side-effect.... in a few patients. Since "medical science" currently has no way to detect, in advance, which patients will get an "atypical" effect from a certain medication.... these potentially very helpful medications are never released for widespread use.




More to follow.... including a suggested "release" for patients to sign.


4/10/05

The Doctor Brock Rule:
"Never screw your hired-hands (your employees).
If you do, you'll end-up working for them."

 


2/8/05

About "surgery"...

One of my doctor-friends reported to me that his personal physician had told him, "There is no medical condition known to man that cannot be made worse by surgery."

I agree.

That statement reminds me of what an orthopedist once told me, "Operations are to sell.... not to buy."

I agree with that, too.


1/22/05


Either there is a "god".... or there is not.

Your "belief" and mine, and the "beliefs" of various religions.... do not matter at all. Our thoughts and imaginations and hopes do not generate a "god".
Human concoctions and the "doctrines" of churches do not create a "god". Preachers, priests, rabbis, and imams cannot mold and manufacture a "god" of their own design and liking.

Acts 17: 29 (NRSV) Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that The Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone.... an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.



11/25/04

A PJT thought: In the United States, the "have-nots" have more than the "haves", in many other countries.

(JNT: Why else would so many people from so many countries attempt to "steal" their way into the U.S.)


11/7/04

Carl Rove, on "Meet the Press":
Concerning the COST of changing the way Social Security is currently collected, and paid out: 
"There is one cost that hasn't changed.... and that is the COST of doing NOTHING."

11/7/04

Carl Rove, on "Meet the Press"
quoting the oft-quoted truth:
"Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make prideful."

10/6/04; 11/7/04

"Anti-Semitism".... so-called....

I have noted that whenever someone (like a politician, or a television performer) makes a "negative" comment about Jews, or about Israel.... the routine response from Jews is, "Well, that's simply anti-Semitism".

Recently, I have begun to wonder-about this typical glib "catch-all" response from Jews. I am beginning to think that perhaps the true reason for Jews' labelling remarks as "anti-Semitism", may indeed be a reflection of Jewish "anti-Christianism".... or anti-Islamism.... or, perhaps "anti-Americanism".... or even "anti-anything-not-Jewish-or-Israeli".

It disturbs me that some inhabitants of the United States.... those who receive all of the marvelous benefits of "Americanism", and citizenship in the United States.... should have a divided allegiance, based upon ancient "religious" beliefs.... or upon current foreign nationalistic motives.


(See link I am not Jewish, but I am an Israelite.)


8/30/04
A JNT thought; a hope; a prayer...

Lord, may I please turn this problem over to you....
this heartache, this loss, this disappointment.
Lord, help seems to be so far away.
Please allow me to see you, and to hear you....
As I face this challenge....
Along with you.



8/16/04; 8/28/04

Someone has wisely said,
"BELIEFS cannot change TRUTH.... but TRUTH can change BELIEFS."

I want to add: "Your personal beliefs do not generate TRUTH."

6/11/04

Grover Norquist, on C-SPAN: stating the obvious

"The cost of government is total spending. The 'deficit' is an uninteresting and unimportant number.
The 'deficit' is the difference between how much the government takes in.... and how much the government spends."

JNT: Our legislators say, "We have a deficit. We must raise taxes."
They almost never say, "We have a deficit. We must cut spending."

 

5/30/04

C-SPAN guest (Levy) on Book TV....

(This is not a quotation.... but simply a thought that I derived from what the speaker said.)

There are many people, now walking around on this earth.... who are "dead" (mentally "dead", and non-productive). Comparably, there are many individuals, now literally dead and in the grave-yard.... who are still "alive", because of what they did, or produced, or wrote, or taught.... when they walked the earth.

What do you say, about this point?

4/6/04
A JNT thought:
The United States is no longer a "melting pot". A better metaphor would be that we are now a "pot of vegetable soup".... a "soup" in which groups of "aliens" from various countries are "floating". Each group has maintained the culture and the religion and the habits of its native country. Each group "flavors" the soup.... positively, or negatively. Some of the metaphoric "vegetables" contaminate the "soup"... and threaten to ruin the entire kettle.

3/28/04

"In judging who has won a race,
You first must know the starting place."

(See link Granddaddy's Wisdom)

3/14/04

A remark about JNT (the author of this website), when he was in high-school:

"He's a pretty-good guy, if you ever get to know him. The trouble is, that no one ever gets to know him."

3/6/04

From a poem I read when I was in Medical School:

"No truer words, save God's, were ever spoken,
Than that the largest heart is soonest broken."

3/7/04

Paragraphs from
Are you ashamed of your religion? (link)

When we, you and I, arrive at a "spiritual conclusion" that satisfies each of us, at a certain point in our lives.... shouldn't we then become PROUD of our "faith".... and not be embarrassed or ashamed to admit our beliefs. If you and I genuinely believe what each of us claims to "believe".... we will not choose to hide or mask our "religion".

Neither will we opt to attempt to force our understanding upon others.

I believe that all of us should "allow" God to guide each of
His people (link) to spiritual understanding and "faith".... on a "schedule" specified by God Himself.

3/8/04

JNT.... Who knows where "the road" will lead us? Who knows where God's stepping stones (link) will take us?
What do you say ?


3/9/04
A paragraph from A foremost principle of God (link).

The qualities of "justification" and "righteousness", imputed by God to certain individuals of God's choice, are not "credited" to God's accepted individuals because of anything those individuals do or say or claim or decide or recite or pledge.... but because of God's intention, God's creative plan, God's "choice".... a "decision" made by God, at a time and place that we humans cannot know..... and for reasons established by God.... NOT by man.

3/10/04

Paragraphs from The Faith OF Jesus (link)

I conclude that the "beliefs" OF Jesus, the "spiritual" truths that were revealed to Jesus, by God -- and "implanted" in Jesus; and taught and exemplified by Jesus -- comprise "The FAITH OF JESUS"........ and that this "faith" OF Jesus is encapsulated in what Jesus Himself often referred to as "The Gospel of God".

I believe that the Gospel of God (link) -- the "Gospel of the Kingdom of God" that Jesus mentioned so frequently -- IS the message (the "good news") that God intended to portray and exhibit and explain -- when GOD ALLOWED HIMSELF to be revealed, "incarnate" -- in Jesus.