"The days of this life are short and evil, full of sorrow and misery, where a person is
stained with many sins,
ensnared by many passions,
bound by many fears,
swollen by many cares,
distracted by many curiosities,
entangled by many vanities,
surrounded by many mistakes,
weakened by many effort,
weighed down by temptations,
sopped by pleasures,
tormented by wants.
Oh, when will there be an end to all these things that have gone awry in God's plan?"
----- Thomas a' Kempis, "The Imitation of Christ", ca. 1418
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4 comments:
You haven't read 'The Fifth Mountain' yet, have you? Seriously, suck it up. Accept the challenge that has been laid before you.
Geez, read it just so that WE don't have to read about The Seduction of the Produce.
Jeepers! You guys are getting ornery.
I'm just quoting from a 15th century theoloogian. I'm not saying the guy has a corner on truth. But if he thought about life in those terms in the Middle Ages, and could write a book like "The Imitation of Christ" which has inspired many to a life of devotion, and he sounds so much like the author of Ecclesiastes 1500 years before him who said "life is meaningless"... why should we expect it would be any different today, for us?
Life is truly short and full of trouble. Delectable produce notwithstanding.
This quote from a' Kempis almost sounds like an expansion of Job 14:1-2... "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue."
Job, too, questioned God, yet.. kept his basic faith that God was good.
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