Comments on One Quaker Take: Universal Language of Friends

Well said.

2008-11-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

Well said.

I'd also like to suggest a 3rd definition for the ...

2007-03-03T20:02:00.000-08:00

I'd also like to suggest a 3rd definition for the Light:

The living Christ within.

Timothy, A simple list but very chewy! I'll need ...

2007-03-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

Timothy,

A simple list but very chewy! I'll need to return here to see how others respond...

Here's another word for your list:

Authority.
-That which is asserted and wielded by individuals, groups, or institutions to maintain order
-That which requires humble obedience in order to align oneself with a larger Order

Blessings,
Liz Opp, The Good Raised Up

Language is a very uncertain necessity. Understan...

2007-03-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

Language is a very uncertain necessity. Understanding the reality we have to cope with daily is essential for our survival, but the only way we have to tell whether or not we understand it is by our continuing to maintain our health. When we get sick or damaged (or die) we can be fairly sure that there was something we didn't fully understand.
Being human beings we are bound to make mistakes in perception, in understanding, in memory, in choice of words that (we hope) will comunicate our understandings accurately, but we can't really tell if they have until our auditors have acted on their understanding of our words. Every understanding must be confirmed by further experience! [I call this the human predicament!] So we have devised language in a problematical effort to try to get our understandings confirmed by others' experience.
Since realty always has the last word, we better follow Paul's advice to the Thesselonians: "put all things to the test & hold fast [but not too fast!] that which" seems to work!

That's an excellent list, Timothy! -- and a fine t...

2007-03-03T04:12:00.000-08:00

That's an excellent list, Timothy! -- and a fine teaching tool. I hope you'll keep us informed of what you do with it.

I'd like to see you add, under "Truth", the meaning of "faithfulness" -- as, an arrow that flies true is an arrow that is faithful to the course the archer gives it; a true friend is a faithful friend. "Faithfulness" is the first meaning given for "truth" in the Oxford English Dictionary, and was a meaning quite current in George Fox's day; it seems to me that the first Friends used "truth" in the sense of "faithfulness" a great deal.

Similarly, under "Convincement" I'd like to add the first Friends' understanding, that the word is a synonym for "conviction", as in being convicted by a judge.

I think the notion of a notion is more negative th...

2007-03-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

I think the notion of a notion is more negative than this. A notion (in my sense) is a word people use without having any clear meaning attached to it. Like when people say "of one substance with the Father..." or "the bread was transsubstantiated into the body of Christ" they are saying words that they think mean something but do not.