Posted on 09/14/2013 5:34:39 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
The Thai telecommunications conglomerate True is getting rave reviews worldwide for its latest spot, "Giving," which tells the story of a man unexpectedly rewarded for a lifetime of good deeds he performed without expecting anything in return.
{{{snif}}}
Those Thai people sure know how to pull the heart-strings!
Yeah, they do. I have lived in Thailand before. Very nice people. Among the most polite and friendly people I’ve ever come across, and it definitely has a lot to do with the predominant Buddhist culture there.
Not to mention, a very beautiful place. The conventional tourist areas have all the failings of a dysfunctional cosmopolitan area with too many foreigners, though.
Well, some people have, perhaps, a god with no empathy. A god made out of antigod matter, I suppose.
Oh, wow!
Consciously or subconsciously, the things we do are because they have a self-interest value, partly coded in genes (like how dogs vary in temperament with breed), partly enforced by a societal grouping that has provided survival advantage (compared to the lone-wolf alternative). A culture that fosters kindness is more likely to survive during times of hardship than one that doesn’t. Hence the reinforcement.
The bedouins are fanatically hospitable to strangers in the desert, for similar reasons. Reciprocity.
God is just a placemarker concept as far as I see, to give the above a descriptive form that one can pretend to relate to, or seek comfort in.
Everything that God has communicated about Himself, he has had to teach by accommodation: that is, by adapting his message to our very limited ability to receive it.
I have been thinking a lot about this lately. May I tell you the gist of it?
I've been thinking that if a 4-year-old asked you "What is the sun?" you might respond, "It's a big ball of fire. When it comes up in the morning it gives us light, and heat, and the plants drink it in and it makes them alive. Then the sun goes down and you'll see it gets cold and dark."
Well, everything in that description is "wrong" in a literal sense: the sun is no ball of fire, which entails a rapid oxidative process; it's a thermonuclear hydrogen fusion reactor. And it doesn't come up in the morning, it's the earth that turns in relation to it... etc. etc.
And yet that's the only way you could have answered the 4-year-old's question, and it's over-all right, to the measure that the child has the capacity to receive it.
So everything we know about God, we know by virtue of His accommodation to us. It's all analogies. Analogies are not false, but when applied to God they are always more false than true, because God is infinite, and whatever we "capture" in an analogy, there is always an infinity that was not captured. No matter how large "n" may be,
The only way to grasp the whole of God, is by love, because love itself is infinite.
OK, now I've gone all mystical on ya. It's past my bedtime, I'll go sleep it off! G'night, James, and God bless you.
Well I did enjoy it. Thank you. I was just saying that some of the comments I read on FB, where I first saw the video, the 47 percent were well represented.
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Two more ads from the same organisation:
And Yasmin Ahmed's (the producer of the ads) behind-the-scenes extra on the Funeral ad:
Be sure to check them out!
Thank you so much for these Youtube links, James. Amazingly touching.
Thanks, Mrs. Don-o!
I know where you come from on this topic, and my views don’t line up with yours, for many valid reasons. Absentee gods are false gods. Self-contradicting gods, even worse. I don’t know how to explain it any more than how Mother Teresa wrote about her doubts and feelings of divine absence, in spite of being so immersed in the religion.
Good night.
Exactly right, neither can those politicians and bureaucrats LEGISLATE it through redistributionist economic and social policies, though the bastards do try!
That’s not fair! That one made my screen all blurry....
The acts of compassion and charity can be viewed as a human transaction.
The giver helps the needy out of a PERSONAL recognition that the person needs help. He makes the judgement as to whether that person deserves his compassion (which is coming out of his own pocket). That is the first part of the “transaction”. In return the receiver showers (or should shower) the giver with gratitude. That is the second part of the transaction. (Were the receiver to be an ingrate, he would not fare as well next time he extends a hand).
When a bureaucracy becomes the giver, the bureaucrat involved simply follows a set of rules handed to him. He does not (in fact he cannot) personally judge whether the receiver deserves the help. And the money he hands out is not the bureaucrat’s money, so he has no personal stake in the transaction. The receiver in this scenario has no incentive to express any gratitude. As a matter of fact, he has been taught that he is entitled to what he’s about to receive, and if it’s not exactly right or on time he will also feel entitled to sue the system using a lawyer also paid by the system. (Being an ingrate in this case may actually reward you, since the system will treat you with kid gloves when you come around the next time - Sharpton and Jackson are good examples of this, but there are millions).
Is it any wonder why this country is going down the toilet?
Exactly
That was sweet. Kind of reminds me of “Les Miserables” where the priest shows forgiveness and compassion to Jean Valjean after he is caught stealing from the priest.
I think you might have missed the point in that other discussion.
Any human being can do good deeds but that does not negate the need for the Savior. That same human is also capable of sin and no amount of good deeds will make him acceptable in God’s eyes. Only Jesus can do that and in order to be counted righteous in God’s eyes that same human must believe in the One God sent.
These videos celebrate the human spirit, which seems perfectly fine to those who do not know it is Jesus who should be celebrated. And before everyone here jumps all over me, let me just say that there is nothing wrong with doing good and these videos are lovely from a humanistic viewpoint.
However for our good to be counted as righteousness before God, we must believe in the One He sent, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and have our works and deeds directed by His Spirit. Otherwise, they are just earthly works that have no value whatsoever in God’s kingdom.
I apologize for my snarkiness.
-— But isn’t it wonderful that this shared recognition of what “humanity” is, stretches across all of humanity? ——
Very true. Thanks for posting. Even better that it’s a true story!
Where does the grace for such compassion come from, except from God?
I don’t want to spoil this thread with a long argument, so I’ll leave it there.
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