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nettie
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The Boy and the Alligator
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Oct 5 16:35 UTC 2000 |
Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy
decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.
In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving
behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went.
He flew into the water,not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of
the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.
His mother--in the house was looking out the window--saw the two as they
got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the
water,yelling to her son as loudly as she could.
Hearing her voice,the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to
swim to his mother.
It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.
From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the
alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the
two.
The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much
too passionate to let go.
A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck,
took aim and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy
survived.
His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal.
And,on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into
his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.
The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if
he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with
obvious pride, he said to the reporter,
"But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them
because my mom wouldn't let go."
You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars,too. No, not
from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic. But, the scars of a
painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep
regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let
go.
In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.
The Scripture teaches that God loves you.
If you have Christ in your life, you have become a child of God. He
wants to protect you and provide for you in every way.
But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations. The swimming hole
of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to
attack.
That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on
your arms be very, very grateful.
He did not - and will not - let you go.
"For we do not have a High Priest [Jesus] who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
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| 143 responses total. |
brighn
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response 1 of 143:
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Oct 5 16:38 UTC 2000 |
Personally, I have a boot-shaped bruise on my face where God kicked me towards
the alligator.
I'm generally respectful of other people's faiths, but I'm also generally
disrespectful of blatant missionizing.
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rcurl
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response 2 of 143:
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Oct 5 17:02 UTC 2000 |
And I would like a citation for that story. It could be true, for which I
applaud the mother. The lesson to be learned from it, then, is to not go
swimming in alligator-infested water. If it is not true, then a lie has
been told to lead into a rather contrived metaphor.
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beeswing
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response 3 of 143:
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Oct 5 17:27 UTC 2000 |
yawn
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brighn
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response 4 of 143:
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Oct 5 17:50 UTC 2000 |
#2> Speaking of which, why would Mom (God) let us go swimming in that water
in the first place? Wouldn't a truly caring parent by observant enough of us
to help us avoid that sort of catastrophe altogether?
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jazz
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response 5 of 143:
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Oct 5 18:05 UTC 2000 |
Now let me get this straight - if something good happens to you, then
it's God's blessing. If something good happens after a long period of bad
things happening, than it's God's triumph over bad things around you, or some
sort of test. If only bad things happen, that's not God, it's the Devil.
Sounds like a pretty good gig to me.
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brighn
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response 6 of 143:
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Oct 5 18:39 UTC 2000 |
Well, yeah, but God made the Devil. So God's either a sick bastard or he
likes to create scenarios in which he comes off as a hero. Or both.
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scott
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response 7 of 143:
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Oct 5 20:20 UTC 2000 |
Clearly the mother displayed outrageous irresponsibility by not checking to
be sure the water was safe before the boy went swimming. Therefore, the jury
awards the child $4.3 million dollars for emotional distress, permanent
scarring by the mother's untrimmed nails, and punative damages. ;)
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fitz
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response 8 of 143:
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Oct 5 22:13 UTC 2000 |
#1 <rotfl>
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other
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response 9 of 143:
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Oct 6 00:24 UTC 2000 |
gag me with a pitchfork...
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twinkie
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response 10 of 143:
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Oct 6 04:25 UTC 2000 |
Nettie makes me suicidal.
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bdh3
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response 11 of 143:
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Oct 6 08:08 UTC 2000 |
Thats more a reflection on you than nettie.
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jazz
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response 12 of 143:
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Oct 6 13:46 UTC 2000 |
Nettie, post more! Post more!
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brighn
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response 13 of 143:
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Oct 6 14:35 UTC 2000 |
Nettie, email can be sent directly to twinkie at:
twinkie@cyberspace.org
Feel free to spam him.
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drew
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response 14 of 143:
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Oct 6 15:38 UTC 2000 |
Well it stands to reason that the established existence of an afterlife should
eliminate at least *some* of the objection to dying.
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rcurl
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response 15 of 143:
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Oct 6 16:03 UTC 2000 |
What "established existence of an afterlife"? The concept is used, of
course, as a paliative for the facts of life, but with zero evidence
and a lot of logical reasons against it, why bother with fooling
yourself with fantasies about an "afterlife"?
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jazz
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response 16 of 143:
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Oct 6 16:35 UTC 2000 |
Any established existence of an afterlife is news to me ...
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tod
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response 17 of 143:
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Oct 6 16:42 UTC 2000 |
But I've been there.
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jazz
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response 18 of 143:
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Oct 6 16:53 UTC 2000 |
Didja take pictures or bring a postcard?
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jerryr
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response 19 of 143:
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Oct 6 16:56 UTC 2000 |
harry houdini told me last week that there was an afterlife. you gonna doubt
him?
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brighn
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response 20 of 143:
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Oct 6 16:58 UTC 2000 |
With zero evidence AGAINST an afterlife, and a lot of anecdotal reasons for
it, why bother with fooling yourself with delusions of death per se death?
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rcurl
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response 21 of 143:
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Oct 6 19:20 UTC 2000 |
The evidence against an afterlife is that nothing has been found in a
human being that can survive death and process information, which is
a primary requirement of sentience. That argument that lack of evidence
against a (silly) hypothesis is evidence for the hypothesis is bogus -
as is the hypothesis itself in this case.
There isn't even any "anecdotal" information for an afterlife. Someone
claiming something that has never been substantiated with documentable
and testable evidence, is just spouting words. Because someone hears
it and repeats it is all that makes it "anecdotal". What kind of evidence
is that?
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jazz
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response 22 of 143:
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Oct 6 19:30 UTC 2000 |
Re #20: Proving a negative case like that is almost impossible even
when common sense has no trouble discerning the answer, though, so the
burden's upon the positive case. And when the positive case has strong
emotional ties and zero evidence, I'm skeptical.
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brighn
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response 23 of 143:
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Oct 6 19:51 UTC 2000 |
Rane, I wasn't arguing that lack of evidence against a hypothesis is evidence
for the hypothesis. I would argue, as would just about any "scientist" (in
the Scientific Method sense of the word), that lack of evidence against a
hypothesis is not evidence for the opposite hypothesis.
At any rate, I'm not going down this road again. I was tweaking you. That's
all. Blindered atheists pretending to be scientists have lost real interst
to me.
#22> The middle road is to simply not take the time to trouble ourselves one
way or the other... Don't believe in an afterlife, and don't ridicule people
who do as a matter of course (while feeling free to ridicule those who impose
it on you).
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jazz
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response 24 of 143:
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Oct 6 19:54 UTC 2000 |
The apathetic approach to agnosticism? :)
Anyways, it's germane if there's "proof". I'd really like to see it.
Really. And if he tells me to watch "Crossing Over", I'm going to track him
down, I swear. :)
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