Love and Death make us all children — Can old age be an evil thing, which does the same?

George MacDonald

Childhood is among the most precious gifts that God has given us. It is a period of trust, a time of experiencing and exploring new things, and a sense of security without even realizing it. In Western society the children grow up too quickly. With constant exposure to television and adult drama played out in the home, children begin to imitate, to mimic adult behavior, whether it be good or bad.

Before long the child begins to desire those privileges and responsibilities that only an adult can “enjoy.” Oh, to remain a child for a bit longer! One of the most amazing abilities of the human mind is to remain young and healthy while abiding in frail or broken bodies. While asleep, the crippled dream of walking, the blind dream of seeing, and the elderly dream of bygone days of youth.

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Anyone reading this blog could probably not help but notice that I reference Scottish author George MacDonald fairly regularly.  In fact, one of my favorite MacDonald quotes appears on my home page.  George MacDonald lived from 1824 to 1905.  He was a pastor, poet and novelist.  I’d never even heard of him until a few years ago, but I am firmly convinced that God sent him my way, because my exposure to his writing has literally changed my life.

I like to read.  I wouldn’t exactly call myself an avid reader, but I have enjoyed reading various books, as well as magazine and newspaper articles over the years.  A large part of my reading of books has been in the area of theology.  But I am naturally drawn to a bookstore and can be found browsing a variety of subject matter.  Oddly enough, I hadn’t utilized the library as much as I should have.

Back to my encounter with George MacDonald.  I went through a reading dry spell a while back (more like several years back), and my wife offered for me to look at one or two of her books, novels by MacDonald.  She thought I might like them because of the frequent religious/Christian dialogue by the characters.

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How did we come to be so bad?  Some folks don’t seem to be so bad, some are more consistently bad, and still others appear to be ”rotten to the core.”  As the saying goes, “Nobody’s perfect.”  Why is that?  Is badness contagious?   Does the Devil always make us do it?  Or do all of us have varying quantities of bad genes?

In the religious circles we’re taught that we can’t help being bad, that we’re born that way.  Ironically, they also teach us that our badness destines us for destruction — even though it wasn’t our fault.  We were born that way, right?

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Framed By Faith.  I know what it used to mean.  But now I want it to be something different.  I’ll need to change a few things though.  Like getting rid of the Headlines title.  And figuring out what to do with the stuff on the right.  My daughter is my IT expert (along with her husband); maybe she can fix it.  And maybe add a Comments button back in for those who may want to argue with me.

I originally had the bright idea that Framed By Faith would be a collection of relgious-centered news articles, with no regard for denomination or doctrinal position.  The basis for this was my belief that God created us all and that his truth can be found in all religions — or no religion.  The title implied that our very lives are framed by our view of faith, or our ingorance of it, or just simply ignoring it.  It also represented a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that many of us are led by well-meaning, charismatic Christian preachers/teachers who might well be lacking in the truth, giving us wrong directions for our lives, thereby framing us.

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