"Pray as if everything depends on God, but live each day as though everything depends on us."
I heard that saying once from a wise rabbi. Those words are ringing more and more true with each passing day...
(This entry is dedicated to my friend Ari--thanks for talking some serious sense into me <3 ( Read more... )
(This entry is dedicated to my friend Ari--thanks for talking some serious sense into me <3 ( Read more... )
You might end up in trouble (like I'll show you now). You took the first quote completely out of context. The original quote was "Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you," and the quote was by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The quote you gave was made by some rabbi (I don't know who said it, but they are obviously a modern rabbi), and they are trying to draw a distinction between Christianity and Judaism. While Christians emphasize individual actions (accepting Jesus into your heart, repenting, the Apocolypse, etc.), Jews are concerned with living our lives (keeping the mundane mitzvot, having a happy family, daily prayer, etc.). Also Christianity is centered on the individual and their Grace, where Judaism is centered around the community and its welfare.
Sure, most people wouldn't know where that quote came from, but haven't read so much text I instantly thought "that quote doesn't sound like something a rabbi made up."
Also, you are putting your faith in God, but which God? You quote a rabbi, but then at the end you are quoting Luke (or is it John? I can't remember :-/ ).
Anyway, what I was trying to say that one bad deed does not deserve another. And here are two classic sayings from the wisest of rabbis, Hillel:
Pirke Avot 2:6;
Once He [Hillel] happened to see a skull floating on the water and said to it: "Because you drowned others, others drowned you; in the end, those who drowned you will themselves be drowned."
Talmud Shabbat 31a;
Hillel said: "What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow man: this is the whole of Torah; the rest is merely commentary."
and another goody:
Talmud Shabbat 42a;
No good end can justify an evil act; no bad beginning in life can justify a bad continuation. This is not to suggest that we should ignore the "root causes" of crime and other evils, but it does mean that people should be given the honor of being held responsible for what they do.
In other words, harming Jesse only harms you. Just as Jesse's hurting you would have hurt him if it weren't for the fact that you're better than that. Also, Jesse did enough wrong things you should judge him by what he did and nothing else. Honestly, if you judging him fairly will be a much worse sentence than telling everyone that he's a card carrying member of MAMBLA or something like that.
The most important thing that you do for YOURSELF is to treat Jesse as a human, a guilty human, but guilty for nothing more than what he did. By spreading rumors and commiting character assassination you are only harming yourself.
-Ari
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