Buchwald's Goodbye: Writing, Reminiscing (His Opus from Life)

Examiner ^ | 04/04/2006 | DARLENE SUPERVILLE,

[sauropod]

fead later

[George Smiley]

I take it you enjoyed the joke I posted in #73.

[linda_22003]

Naturally, some of us do, some of us don't. Right now, I'm busy being alive. I have hopes for what comes next, but I don't spend all day thinking about it. And Jews tend to be very much in the here and now; eternity will take care of itself.

[estrogen]

yes I enjoyed the joke....I presume you were brought up Catholic too?

[AppyPappy]

I don't think he ever did, but had Buchwald accepted Christ as his personal savior, would he then burn in hell?

Hell would not even be an option at that point. People choose Hell.

It's a lot like the Dialysis mentioned here. The doctor comes in and says "Hey your kidneys are not functioning . Dialysis will replace them". You can respond either "yes" or "no". If you choose to say "I don't believe in dialysis" or "I don't believe my kidneys are not functioning", you have still chosen "no". If it were me, I'd go get another opinion. I wouldn't make up my own cure or ignore it.

We will all die. That diagnosis has already been made. When presented with the "cure" which is the Gospel, we can say "yes" or "no". "Maybe" and "later" are the same as "no". If you do say "no", the diagnosis still stands. Go get another opinion. Don't ignore it.

[najida]

Oh my! Logic....calling the bully god what he is ;)

You're a brave mongoose.

[AppyPappy]

Right now, I'm busy being alive.

Part of being fully alive is having hope for the future. That's why we defer income.

[linda_22003]

I agreed with you when I said "I have hopes for what comes next". And I'm building a good sized retirement fund as well.

[estrogen]

s for devout and godly Baptists, Buddhists, Jews, etc., there's something called "baptism of desire" - iow, if they would have been Catholic if they hadn't been raised Baptist, Buddhist, Jewish etc., and thus not fully informed and/or unable to assent to the Church's teachings, then they are counted as Catholic for purposes of salvations for devout and godly Baptists, Buddhists, Jews, etc., there's something called "baptism of desire" - iow, if they would have been Catholic if they hadn't been raised Baptist, Buddhist, Jewish etc., and thus not fully informed and/or unable to assent to the Church's teachings, then they are counted as Catholic for purposes of salvation

The above is one of the reasons I no longer practice Catholicism. It is the utmost in arrogance, which to me defines the Catholic church.

Their position on birth control, remarriage etc. I predict that 80% of childbearing Catholic women who are the first at the communion line are practicing artificial birth control. What hypocrisy.

Also, I was married to a evil, mean, abusive, alcoholic man who I divorced. I remarried a non-Catholic who agreed he would marry me in the church if it meant that much to me. I visited the priest to talk to him and explained how I felt and there was no way I could marry in the church. At the end of the conversation I casually mentioned that my ex was deceased and he responded " Oh, your ok then , I can marry you in the church" I understood the thought process behind that (that our divorce wasn't recognized by the church death freed me to remarry) but it didn't sit well with me.

The situation hadn't changed, I hadn't changed, the previous marriage situation didn't change , but now that my ex had died, everything was copacetic.Turned me off. I don't think that a compassionate God would care about Church dictates, He would be more concerned about the suffering one is going through in the above description.

[joesbucks]

I guess I don't understand your answer. IF he was saved, how can he lose his salvation? The general consensus is you can't.

if he wasn't saved, then it doesn't matter.

But it goes back to you either believe once saved always saved or you don't.

[little jeremiah]

Unfortunately he says this:

***Waiting for the end, Buchwald said people shouldn't be too concerned about where they will end up in death. What they should really be asking, he said, is "Why was I here in the first place?"

This is sheer foolishness.

[George Smiley]

No, ma'am. It was a gentle jibe directed at some participants in this thread.

If I had to put myself into one of those pigeonholes, I guess I'd consider myself to be a recovering Baptist.

You see, when I was growing up, my church- and most Southern Baptist churches I knew of- (although the modus operandi of Baptist churches runs the gamut from almost-Episcopalian-like to foot washing to bring-your-own-snake) subscribed to a doctrine known as "priesthood of the believer".

This meant that other than believing in the divinity of Christ and in baptism by immersion, it was all pretty much between you and God.

This bears little resemblance to what the denomination has turned into today.

One more thing: Upon re-reading, the article insults Mr. Buchwald by drawing a comparison to the writings of that hack Albom.

If you like parody, check out The Five People You Meet In Hell by Rich Pablum.

To my knowledge, none of the five are Freepers.

[little jeremiah]

There's such a thing as natural law; has nothing to do with particular religious sectarian belief. It's called the law of karma, or "as you sow, so shall you reap". Every religion teaches that the soul is eternal, and will have some kind of future reaction to deeds done in life. This is something that any half-way introspective person should consider.

[Antoninus]

In fact, you're the one who's the troll attempting to rub your so called "piety" in everyone's nose.

Yawn.

Or, as Mark Twain wrote, "a solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg that looked like he was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity."

Mark Twain was a bitter old atheist satirist who used his God-given talents to deny his Creator. He did write a biography St. Joan of Arc, so he may have had a death-bed conversion. You never know.

Your ignorant statement was insulting to the Marines who fought and died on Okinawa as well as all who truly believe in Christ.

Please. Marines are heroes. Your misunderstanding of my statement aside, I have nothing but love for the Corps and all they stand for. If you are a marine, I salute you.

However, the description of the action the Corps saw on Okinawa as "hell" is colorful but not accurate. Those men who fought and died there retained a hope of salvation and that they would be received into the loving arms of God should they be killed in action.

Those in hell have no such hope.

[AppyPappy]

We always have the ability to reject our Salvation.

[Antoninus]

Buchwald is Jewish. According to most fundamentalist Protestant sects in this country he's headed for hell regardless.

I'm not a "fundamentalist Protestant." I'm a Catholic. As such, I don't presume to know who God will accept into heaven and who he won't. Further, I believe there are Jews in heaven. Heck, Our Lord himself is a Jew. As is His Mother.

But when a guy says, "people shouldn't be too concerned about where they will end up in death" and people accept this platitude as somehow sage advice, I will object. If you believe that your actions in this short life have some bearing on where you will end up for all eternity, Mr. Buchwald's advice ends up sounding like the height of stupidity.

[linda_22003]

Actually, it's sheer Judaism, to be focused on our place in the world and the good we can do in the here and now. It's pragmatic in nature. Here's a joke that illustrates the point.

"God appears to the people of the world and says that he will in three days flood the earth again.

Soon afterwards the Pope appears on world-wide television and sends all Catholics the message that they must pray and ask for forgiveness of their sins so they may go to heaven.

Next a Protestant representative urges all Protestants to clean up all of their business and put their affairs right, and pray for salvation as they face end of the world.

Finally their appears a Jewish leader who looks out at the world television audience and says "Well, everyone, we have only three days to learn how to live underwater!"

[Liberal Classic]

Thanks for demonstrating that the world, as Buchwald has said, is itself a satire.

[linda_22003]

"their" = "there", of course. That's what I get for cutting and pasting from a website.

[discostu]

I think you're missing the operative word "too", in this case meaning "overly". He didn't say people shouldn't be concerned with where they will end up in death, just that they shouldn't obsess on it, there are more interesting things to do in life than worry about the end.