02-21-2016, 09:06 PM
I forgot to capitalize Saint, but I'm not sure that would clarify things. I meant Saint as in a holy and saved dude to be venerated (I guess a liturgical saint), not merely a saved dude, but whatever; thus also question mark.
As for your point, Achebe, I think you generalize the nature of being a sinner too much -- there are, at least based on the stuff I've experienced and read, many different kinds of despair, of being a truly unrepentant sinner. I'm betting true, er, hedonists are very, very few among the house of the world, complete surrender to sinful nature being despair's both lowest (as in the ignorant) and the highest (as in the existentially realized) forms. And there are certain forms of the Christian faith that, if thought through enough, really could leave to this sort of suicidal silliness: to wit, "since I've been saved and am born again, and there are already many evangelists throughout this place, then why do I have to keep on living, especially since I suffer so? perhaps even that is God's plan for me -- God, after all, is beyond our conceptions of sin", and so on.
"A" could be right, but "the" in "Jacob's ladder" for me works better because it limits it to one thing, to one grand stairway to heaven -- "a" might lead to unhealthy thoughts of, say, the kind of flowering plant.
"The" or "that" I don't think matter, but your point stands, Paul. I'll change it.
Thanks for the feedback.
As for your point, Achebe, I think you generalize the nature of being a sinner too much -- there are, at least based on the stuff I've experienced and read, many different kinds of despair, of being a truly unrepentant sinner. I'm betting true, er, hedonists are very, very few among the house of the world, complete surrender to sinful nature being despair's both lowest (as in the ignorant) and the highest (as in the existentially realized) forms. And there are certain forms of the Christian faith that, if thought through enough, really could leave to this sort of suicidal silliness: to wit, "since I've been saved and am born again, and there are already many evangelists throughout this place, then why do I have to keep on living, especially since I suffer so? perhaps even that is God's plan for me -- God, after all, is beyond our conceptions of sin", and so on.
"A" could be right, but "the" in "Jacob's ladder" for me works better because it limits it to one thing, to one grand stairway to heaven -- "a" might lead to unhealthy thoughts of, say, the kind of flowering plant.
"The" or "that" I don't think matter, but your point stands, Paul. I'll change it.
Thanks for the feedback.