tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29946685.post725003016008606800..comments2023-05-21T10:03:48.235-05:00Comments on The Chesterteens: Father Brown FridayRiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06384657033530822368noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29946685.post-702362334901548262008-04-18T07:38:00.000-05:002008-04-18T07:38:00.000-05:00I think man can do more than damage. Not on his ow...I think man can do more than damage. Not on his own obviously, but with God's help he can subcreate something good. But the devil can only damage or destroy something, and make it seem as though he had created it. If he succesfully tempts someone to constantly act in evil ways, he did not create the villian, he seriously damaged the man. But men, cooperating with God, can make something better than it was. A blank page into a work of art or a book, a stone into a sculpture, a child into a good man... all to glorify God. Men obviously can follow the way of the devil and "create" by distorting, damaging and destroying. But if they follow God, their subcreations will be God-given and thus they will be good.Riahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06384657033530822368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29946685.post-38144182865533358982008-04-17T07:19:00.000-05:002008-04-17T07:19:00.000-05:00look at books of Mormon and Quraan ... neither Mor...look at books of Mormon and Quraan ... neither Mormons nor Muslims will agree that both works of arts came from Heaven, nor will either the ones nor the others concede theirs is from a merely human authorHans Georg Lundahlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01055583255516264955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29946685.post-62707194614644228252008-04-17T07:16:00.000-05:002008-04-17T07:16:00.000-05:00sorry, the devil has as much subcreative power as ...sorry, the devil has as much subcreative power as man<BR/><BR/>neither can do other than damage by genetic manipulation<BR/><BR/>neither can create lifeHans Georg Lundahlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01055583255516264955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29946685.post-9251472371940413572008-04-03T09:34:00.000-05:002008-04-03T09:34:00.000-05:00Dr. Thursday commented! Hurray!!--------Dear Chest...Dr. Thursday commented! Hurray!!<BR/><BR/>--------<BR/><BR/>Dear ChesterTeens:<BR/><BR/>Alas I have no time to spend, but shall just make some quick comments<BR/>between chores:<BR/><BR/>1. How to appear at once a gentleman and a servant: That's easy. If<BR/> one<BR/>stands at attention then leans back against a wall - from the side one<BR/>may appear as a gentleman relaxing, but from the front, an alert<BR/>servant. (I have not tried it, but it seems possible. This is one of<BR/>those acting things we need to consult the experts on. I shall ask.)<BR/><BR/>2. What is the thread: That's a delightful homeage to George<BR/> MacDonald's<BR/><I>The Princess and the Goblin</I> - but of course is nothing more than<BR/>an extended metaphor deriving from our Lord: "And he saith to them:<BR/>Come ye after me, and I willmake you to be fishers of men." [Mt 4:19]<BR/>This is bolstered by the quote much later in the story where Father<BR/>Brown says, "You are The Twelve True Fishers, and there are all your<BR/>silver fish. But He has made me a fisher of men."<BR/><BR/>I assume you meant those other two paragraphs as questions; at least I<BR/>have something to say about them:<BR/><BR/>3. Odd that a thief should repent: Of course, that ought to be obvious<BR/>having just gone through Holy Week. Someone else, bothered by this<BR/> idea,<BR/>elicits this reaction: "Yes," said Father Brown, "and only a convicted<BR/>thief has ever in this world heard that assurance: 'This night shalt<BR/>thou be with Me in<BR/>Paradise.' " ["The Man With Two Beards" in <I>The Secret of Father<BR/>Brown</I>, cf. Lk 23:43]<BR/><BR/>4. work of art: Yes, though of course only God creates (and Man<BR/>subcreates); the devil can do no more than damage. There is an allusion<BR/>to this in Tolkien which I cannot look up just now; something about how<BR/>the Dark Power cannot create, but only deface, or deform. (This relates<BR/>to the forming of orcs.) But for now I think it important to<BR/>contemplate another line from another Father Brown story:<BR/>"I am never surprised," said Father Brown, "at any work of hell."<BR/>["The God of the Gongs" in <I>The Wisdom of Father Brown</I>]<BR/><BR/>Real Art DOES surprise - and God gives us such things, and Man (to the<BR/>extent that He remains true to Art) can cooperate in such surprises.<BR/> The<BR/>Dark Powers might shock but can by no means surprise. But Art MUST be<BR/>"simple" - that is what makes it Art. It is a principle of Scholastic<BR/>Philosophy that "Any work is more perfect as it is more perfectly one."<BR/>.... but here I find I am out of time... and I leave you to continue<BR/> the<BR/>discussion.<BR/><BR/>--Dr. ThursdayRiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06384657033530822368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29946685.post-82700236278390039932008-04-02T11:13:00.000-05:002008-04-02T11:13:00.000-05:00Silence...Silence...Algernonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00626691125556133885noreply@blogger.com