Mackerni wrote:(This post went from RC to something else and back to RC, in a thread that is named, '"I Am God" Stuff'... Very interesting...)
The RC church continues to evolve ... albeit almost always in a reactive mode versus proactive. The RC institution changes when it can no longer
control the story. For example, Galileo, Copernicus, Columbus, Luther, Ricci and more recently Pierre Teillard de Chardin.
Nonetheless ... the very survival of all large institutions .. religious, political, economic, social and so on ... depends in no small part on their prescience ... ability to identify changing conditions early and adapt/evolve with such changes. A willingness to change or adapt is often not enough ... reading the signs is of paramount importance. Like the farmers who must learn to read the signs for impending weather conditions.
Reminds me of an experience on one of my trips to Israel about 20 years ago. In Jerusalem ... I was staying in a hostel in the Old City at the time. I woke up around 3:00 AM one morning and decided to go out for a walk ... unusual for me. I walked into the new city ... to a Dunkin Donuts I had discovered in a previous visit ... seems my coffee and cigarette addiction is a good thing from time to time.
In the coffee shop I browsed a paper that was sitting on the counter ... I found an article that I've kept ... remains one of my few possessions. The closing paragraph in this article speaks to my above comments.
Woe to the man who says that this Tora wishes to relate simple stories.” We must internalize the profound truth hidden herein.
Great events in our national existence cannot be understood and decisions that will shape our people’s future cannot be made in the ‘Yishaq mode.’
In order to perceive the direction and orientation that must be assumed, to come to terms with the steps that must be taken, and to possess the self-assuredness simply to know when something is right, and to be therefore willing to lead the way -for all these, something more than rigid loyalty to tradition is required.
Our Geula, which was prophetically mapped out for us long ago, is the. ‘What.’ We must supply the ‘How.’
Rav David Bar Hayim is the head of the Makhon Ben Yishai Institute for Tora Research in Jerusalem
"Do not be influenced by the importance of the writer, and whether his learning be great or small; but let the love of pure truth draw you to read. Do not inquire, “Who said this?” but pay attention to what is said”
Thomas Kempis 1380-1471
