sam_gamgee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sam_gamgee) wrote2003-02-05 12:00 am
sam_gamgee) wrote2003-02-05 12:00 am
Entry tags:
part of my credo
Ooohhh! Found something I like in one of my textbooks and wanted to share. It's Pelagius' Denial of Original Sin. Pelagius was a British monk who went to Rome in 400 AD and was upset at what he saw. Most Christians at the time thought of him as a heretic. As far as I know, Original Sin means (aside from the obvious definition) that because of Adam and Eve's sin, we are all born as wicked and evil. And I feel like I'm saying something wrong here or leaving something out, so if I am, please let me know!
Anyway, here's what he had to say:
"Everything good and everything evil, in respect of which we are either worthy of praise or of blame, is either done by us not born with us. We are not born in our full development, but with a capacity for good and evil; we are begotten as well without virtue as without vice, and before the activity of our own personal will there is nothing in man but what God has stored in him." (Bettenson & Maunder, Documents of the Christian Church, 58)
Just something about what he said makes me think, "Yeah, I think he got it right."
And here's another quote which has absolutely nothing to do with the one above. It's from Part 40 of "Repossession" because I thought it was really cool. (And, yes, you are going to have to deal with me babbling about this story until it's done, because it's really cool.) The set up is that Xander's just come home from an office holiday party and he's venting to Spike about it. This quote comes a few paragraphs into it and is probably the heart/point of it (or at least to me it is). And the "they" is people that he works with, but not his close friends at the office.
Xander - "It makes me wonder what else I’ve missed, what other people have thought about me being... Gay. I’m gay. I’d be bi if I were playing the field but I’m not and there’s only ever going to be you so that makes me gay, right? Saying it surprises me. I don’t think of myself like that, I don’t put a label on myself. I mean, if I have to have a label it’s not like it’s a bad one. In a world full of murderers and paedophiles and terrorists it’s actually pretty cool, but these people would have been happier drinking with – with your average Hell god.
"It really hurt. I know it was only a minority of the people there, a tiny minority, but it felt like everyone was pointing and sniggering and staring at me like I was a freak. And you were so right not to come along. I can just about cope when it’s me but if you’d been there and some piece of shit had made a comment I’d have broken their fucking neck for them."
And then their conversation continues from there. And part of me's going, "Yeah, he got that right." The sad thing is - there's still so many people that think like his coworkers/employees. I know that things have gotten better, but we're still so far away from equality for all. Okay - maybe not the terrorists or pedophiles, but everyone else.
Anyway, here's what he had to say:
"Everything good and everything evil, in respect of which we are either worthy of praise or of blame, is either done by us not born with us. We are not born in our full development, but with a capacity for good and evil; we are begotten as well without virtue as without vice, and before the activity of our own personal will there is nothing in man but what God has stored in him." (Bettenson & Maunder, Documents of the Christian Church, 58)
Just something about what he said makes me think, "Yeah, I think he got it right."
And here's another quote which has absolutely nothing to do with the one above. It's from Part 40 of "Repossession" because I thought it was really cool. (And, yes, you are going to have to deal with me babbling about this story until it's done, because it's really cool.) The set up is that Xander's just come home from an office holiday party and he's venting to Spike about it. This quote comes a few paragraphs into it and is probably the heart/point of it (or at least to me it is). And the "they" is people that he works with, but not his close friends at the office.
Xander - "It makes me wonder what else I’ve missed, what other people have thought about me being... Gay. I’m gay. I’d be bi if I were playing the field but I’m not and there’s only ever going to be you so that makes me gay, right? Saying it surprises me. I don’t think of myself like that, I don’t put a label on myself. I mean, if I have to have a label it’s not like it’s a bad one. In a world full of murderers and paedophiles and terrorists it’s actually pretty cool, but these people would have been happier drinking with – with your average Hell god.
"It really hurt. I know it was only a minority of the people there, a tiny minority, but it felt like everyone was pointing and sniggering and staring at me like I was a freak. And you were so right not to come along. I can just about cope when it’s me but if you’d been there and some piece of shit had made a comment I’d have broken their fucking neck for them."
And then their conversation continues from there. And part of me's going, "Yeah, he got that right." The sad thing is - there's still so many people that think like his coworkers/employees. I know that things have gotten better, but we're still so far away from equality for all. Okay - maybe not the terrorists or pedophiles, but everyone else.