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I put this story in a PM to some one, I thought it might be interesting to you all, in relation to the idea that actions have consequences, and that choices often reach further than we realise. I was visiting an old church in Europe, and I got talking to the minister/pastor.
Centuries ago, the minister told us, they had a big problem with grave robbers… One night, the grave robbers decided to dig up a recently buried woman. When they dug her up, she was alive. She had been very sick, and left for dead. Anyway, the upshot of the story is that the woman scared off the robbers… got better, and went on to have several children!
So, the moral here is that a couple of folk out for short term gain, not only saved a woman, but one who has dozens of descendants, most of them in America apparently. So, if those thieves hadn’t decided to break into that grave on that night, that woman would have been dead, and none of those people would have been born.
Wow. Weird story. Truth is often stranger than fiction. There really is a profound truth in that story, but I’m not sure I understand it fully yet – other than to say that absolutely nothing is as clear as we tend to think it is. Some things are pretty clear, but I’m not willing to say I understand all the ramifications of my own actions, much less those of someone else. Nice story but it has been disproven that anyone could last long at all being buried alive unless there is an oxygen source. Unless dug up within the hour she would have died from lack of oxygen. Sometimes fiction is stranger than truth. SamBee wrote:I put this story in a PM to some one, I thought it might be interesting to you all, in relation to the idea that actions have consequences, and that
choices often reach further than we realise.
The real dilemma is that you can’t always predict what the consequences of a specific action (or lack of action) will be so how are we supposed to know what the best thing to do in each situation really is for sure? On top of that, what seems like an easy choice now could end up making a major difference in where you end up several years or even decades from now. For example, I definitely wouldn’t have gone on a mission if I had been aware of some of the things I am now and my life would probably have turned out very differently in that case (not necessarily better). At this point I would rather make decisions based on the most likely expected results instead of worrying too much about every remote possibility.
Quote:At this point I would rather make decisions based on the most likely expected results instead of worrying too much about every remote possibility.
That’s how I operate – unless I feel a very strong prompting. Yeah, I know . . .
Quote:At this point I would rather make decisions based on the most likely expected results instead of worrying too much about every remote possibility.
I don’t think you – or anyone else – should. However, we should be aware that the things we do sometimes do have more far reaching consequences. I think this is actually one of the most compelling arguments for good, but… in this case, the grave robbers did NOT have good intentions. Maybe this was God’s little joke, death thought it had this woman, and then she went on to have a family, and change people’s lives. It’s a bit like Adam’s Fall, bad transmuted into good.
But… on the other hand, when we do a kindness, it can actually have certain good effects. One small act can change someone’s outlook, and even save a life in a roundabout way.
I won’t go into details, but I wouldn’t be here if a German gun had been aimed several centimetres in another direction. Or if my g…grandfather hadn’t been marched up the aisle with his four month pregnant girlfriend (and her two brothers as witnesses). He could have run off, and he wouldn’t have sired my direct ancestor. And several thousand years ago, if my ancestors had been living/working/visiting a certain bit of coastline a few miles from where they lived, then they would have been wiped out by a certain tsunami. (Only recently discovered by geologists!)
Quote:I definitely wouldn’t have gone on a mission if I had been aware of some of the things I am now and my life would probably have turned out very differently in that case (not necessarily better).
I never went on a mission, and I really feel it’s just as well I didn’t. No doubt, I may have touched lives, and even converted some people, but I also think that my personality would have worked against it, and against the message. I don’t think our “mission” in this world is just to don a suit and go off for a couple of years. You may have actually done some good, by staying behind. Who knows…
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