From the Tao

Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter's place. When you handle the master carpenter's tools, chances are that you'll cut your hand.

The flexible are preserved unbroken. The bent become straight. The empty are filled. The exhausted become renewed. The poor are enriched. The rich are confounded. Therefore the sage embraces the one. Because he doesn't display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words. Because he doesn't know who he is, people recognize themselves in him. Because he has no goal in mind, everything he does succeeds. The old saying that the flexible are preserved unbroken is surely right! If you have truely attained wholeness, everything will flock to you.

From the world:
"Nothing should be more highly prized than the value of each day"
Goethe

"Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself"
Shakespeare

"Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye"
Musashi

"On my honor,
I will do my best
To do my duty
to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake and
morally straight."
The Boy Scout motto

From the Bible:

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths"
Proverbs 3: 5-6

"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all"
1 Chronicles 29:11

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction"
Proverbs 1:7

Silent

From the Book of Mormon, Alma 41:10 -- Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.

Psalm 1:1-3:

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

From the Havamal:

Cattle die
kinsmen die
all men are mortal.
Words of praise
will never perish
nor a noble name.

Never walk
away from home
ahead of your axe and sword.
You can’t feel a battle
in your bones
or foresee a fight.

Wake early
if you want
another man's life or land.
No lamb
for the lazy wolf.
No battles won in bed

It is fortunate
to be favoured
with praise and popularity.
It is dire luck
to be dependent
on the feelings of a fellow-man.

All men fear time, but time fears the pyramids.

- Arab proverb

Book of Mormon - 2 Nephi 25:26

26 - And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

Matthew 22:35-40

35. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

36. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

38. This is the first and greatest commandment.

39. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

40. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

It ties in with this...John 15: 12-14

12. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I loved you.

13. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

14. You are My friends if you do what I command you.…

Ecclesiastes 12:8 "Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "completely meaningless."

And....12:13. Fear God and obey his commands for that is the duty of all mankind. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
As I understand what the OP is looking for I'll point out, no where in the Bible or Torah will you find it written that by believing and having faith will life be fair.

I'm pretty sure that was Samuel Colt.

However, Romans 5 addresses faith:
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith[b] into this grace in which we stand, and we[c] rejoice[d] in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

J Buffett



"According to my watch, the time is now
The past is dead and gone
Don't try to shake it, just nod your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on

Dont try to explain it, just bow your head
Breathe in, Breathe Out, Move on…."

"With what shall I come to the LORD and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings with yearly calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil (olive oil)? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with the LORD God."

The above scriptures are from the book of the prophet Micah (one of the 66 books in the Cannon of holy scripture - the bible); specifically chapter 6 versus 6-8. Micah was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea from 704-696 B.C., and his name means "who is like Yahweh!". This was a time in Jewish history when the people were outwardly prospering, but inwardly the heart of the people was far from the LORD. Society was severely corrupted with immorality, paganism, and injustice. Though the people had a relative peace and prosperity, they had forgotten the Lord their God, and God had commissioned Micah to inform them that He was very angry with their sin (because sin keeps God from blessing us, and because of this, we do not have joy and peace; and, God loves our happiness. Also He demands justice and righteousness) and will soon correct them if they do not repent. Micah, along with Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea, tells the people about the severity of the judgement to come, and also of God's unquenchable love for them. Though the judgement will be horrific, He will not make a complete end of the Jews but will restore them after the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord (what we call the Great Tribulation). But, God very much wants to avoid the judgement of the Jews (which began when the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom (Israel), destroying the kingdom and taking the people captive and scattering them among many Gentile nations, and then continuing with the Babylonian invasion of the southern kingdom (Judah) and the destruction of Jerusalem along with the temple which God had vacated just prior to the beginning of the judgement of Judah, and the scattering of the rest of the Jews among the Gentile nations).

But, because the LORD prefers repentance to judgement, He, through the prophets, always urged the people to repent; so God instructs the people through, Micah, that He very much prefers they repent and also how to do it. He tells them that their salvation is not by the works that they do (i.e. their sacrifices cannot save them), but instead the LORD requires of men that we do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him.

Blessed be the LORD
Rushbeau

I find these lines from a Matthew Arnold poem very comforting:

The earth which was ere I was born
The earth which lasts when I am dead
Which never was the friend of one
Nor promised love it could not give
But lit for all its generous sun
And lived itself and made us live.

There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing;
And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.

I grew up in church on or near the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. I was the son of an ordained fundamentalist protestant minister/missionary. I was raised to be a minister. I turned out to be an agnostic and joined the Navy instead of going to the seminary. I live by WWJWD. What would John Wayne do?

Isaiah 4:2

The Branch of the Lord.

In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem, by a spirit of judgement and a spirit of fire. The the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old rugged cross,

Matthew 15:11

"What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

Psalms 5:3

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.

Proverbs 3:27

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.

Proverbs 10:19

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.