Did Gandhi say that?
My friend Adam, passed along to me an article from the NY Times entitled "Falser Words Were Never Spoken." While I can be mistaken, this article comments on how some quotes of famous people are sometimes not historically stated by the people they are credited to.
Here is an excerpt towards the end of the article to give you a synopsis:
Thoreau, Gandhi, Mandela — it’s easy to see why their words and ideas have been massaged into gauzy slogans. They were inspirational figures, dreamers of beautiful dreams. But what goes missing in the slogans is that they were also sober, steely men. Each of them knew that thoroughgoing change, whether personal or social, involves humility and sacrifice, and that the effort to change oneself or the world always exacts a price.
Gandhi is credited with a variation of the quote "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." For those of you who do not know, there is no historical evidence that he stated this line.
Some might be jaded (perhaps like the author of the Times article sounds to be) that since the line was not actually of the source that it is credited to, it looses a great deal of credibility.
This is also what many have "against" the words of Jesus in the Bible. We do not know for certain if Jesus actually stated each and every word that is in red in the Bible.
Likewise with the apostle Paul who is credited for writing letters he did not pen.
This line is a wonderful example of the difference in reading for truth (historicity) and reading for Truth (Myth).
If we were reading for truth, then yes, the quote is not true. It is not from Gandhi. It is not true.
If we are reading for Truth, then yes, the quote if True. It does not matter if Gandhi stated it or not. We really much be the change if we want the world to change.
Gandhi might not have said it. There might not have been an arc built by Noah. There might not have been an Odysseus tied to mast of a ship. There might not have been a virgin birth of Jesus. There might not even be a bodily resurrection of Christ. That does not make the stories/Myths any less True.
Truth is more than facts.
Facts do not move people to action (no one supports a child in Africa after hearing the life expectancy of children, which is why they do not use them on the commercials late at night).
Facts do not transform people (if so then global warming would be a non-issue now).
Facts only support our position and the other person's facts are wrong (which is why MSNBC and FOX each have access to their own set of 'facts' on the government).
Facts do not change the world.
You do.
Just like Gandhi said.
Here is an excerpt towards the end of the article to give you a synopsis:
Thoreau, Gandhi, Mandela — it’s easy to see why their words and ideas have been massaged into gauzy slogans. They were inspirational figures, dreamers of beautiful dreams. But what goes missing in the slogans is that they were also sober, steely men. Each of them knew that thoroughgoing change, whether personal or social, involves humility and sacrifice, and that the effort to change oneself or the world always exacts a price.
Gandhi is credited with a variation of the quote "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." For those of you who do not know, there is no historical evidence that he stated this line.
Some might be jaded (perhaps like the author of the Times article sounds to be) that since the line was not actually of the source that it is credited to, it looses a great deal of credibility.
This is also what many have "against" the words of Jesus in the Bible. We do not know for certain if Jesus actually stated each and every word that is in red in the Bible.
Likewise with the apostle Paul who is credited for writing letters he did not pen.
This line is a wonderful example of the difference in reading for truth (historicity) and reading for Truth (Myth).
If we were reading for truth, then yes, the quote is not true. It is not from Gandhi. It is not true.
If we are reading for Truth, then yes, the quote if True. It does not matter if Gandhi stated it or not. We really much be the change if we want the world to change.
Gandhi might not have said it. There might not have been an arc built by Noah. There might not have been an Odysseus tied to mast of a ship. There might not have been a virgin birth of Jesus. There might not even be a bodily resurrection of Christ. That does not make the stories/Myths any less True.
Truth is more than facts.
Facts do not move people to action (no one supports a child in Africa after hearing the life expectancy of children, which is why they do not use them on the commercials late at night).
Facts do not transform people (if so then global warming would be a non-issue now).
Facts only support our position and the other person's facts are wrong (which is why MSNBC and FOX each have access to their own set of 'facts' on the government).
Facts do not change the world.
You do.
Just like Gandhi said.
Gaining and loosing the gift of prophecy
In Romans 12, Paul writes these words:
Recently I completed reading "The Prophetic Imagination" by Walter Brueggemann (which you can find my Kindle notes here). And in my reading of this book, with the Scriptures as well as what I recall from Seminary, it has awoken an awareness in me that prophecy is something more of a skill that we cultivate than a trait that we possess (or do not possess).
First off let me use Brueggemann's words to clarify what a prophet is:
While the prophets are in a way future-tellers, they are concerned with the future as it impinges upon the present.
The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us
It is the task of the prophet to bring to expression the new realities against the more visible ones of the old order.
As we grow in the faith of Christ and live into the call of God in our lives...
As we understand the message of Jesus and how he rooted his message in a rich tradition of prophets...
As we undertake spiritual disciplines and grow in the fruits of the spirit...
As we mature into the beings God desires us to be...
We grow in the skill of prophecy.
MLK did not just wake up one day and "discover" he was a prophet. No. He cultivated a love of Christ for years before he stepped into that role of the prophet. Even Jesus was 30 years old before he stepped into public ministry! Becoming a prophet takes time. And it is clear in the Biblical witness, it is something that we can all grow into.
"For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness."
One of the striking phrases to me in this section is the idea of one receives "prophecy, in proportion to faith". It is striking to me because it is often understood that prophecy is either something you have or you do not have. Much like brown eyes - you either have them or you do not.
However, if we are to consider that we are to grow in faith then does that mean that we too can proportionally grow in prophecy? And if we diminish in faith then do we proportionally diminish in prophecy?
Recently I completed reading "The Prophetic Imagination" by Walter Brueggemann (which you can find my Kindle notes here). And in my reading of this book, with the Scriptures as well as what I recall from Seminary, it has awoken an awareness in me that prophecy is something more of a skill that we cultivate than a trait that we possess (or do not possess).
First off let me use Brueggemann's words to clarify what a prophet is:
While the prophets are in a way future-tellers, they are concerned with the future as it impinges upon the present.
The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us
It is the task of the prophet to bring to expression the new realities against the more visible ones of the old order.
As we grow in the faith of Christ and live into the call of God in our lives...
As we understand the message of Jesus and how he rooted his message in a rich tradition of prophets...
As we undertake spiritual disciplines and grow in the fruits of the spirit...
As we mature into the beings God desires us to be...
We grow in the skill of prophecy.
MLK did not just wake up one day and "discover" he was a prophet. No. He cultivated a love of Christ for years before he stepped into that role of the prophet. Even Jesus was 30 years old before he stepped into public ministry! Becoming a prophet takes time. And it is clear in the Biblical witness, it is something that we can all grow into.
Another greatness to the Kindle
If you are not rockin a Kindle yet, then I would invite you to consider this thought.
If you are the type of person who reads and highlights things or takes notes in the margins then you forget what was highlighted or where you wrote that margin note then the Kindle has a gift for you.
All your margin notes and highlights are recorded, organized, and saved in the cloud for later access and manipulation.
If you have an amazon account then go to https://kindle.amazon.com/your_highlights and log in. There you will see your notes/highlights and be overjoyed.
In addition, you will be able to see what looks to be highlights from others whom you have shared the book with right there in your notes. So you can see what your friends are thinking about when they read the book with you!
Oh, and if you want to share your notes with the public you can do that or make them private. Here are my notes and highlights for the book Almost Christian by Kenda Creasy Dean.
This just saved me ton of time typing in my notes and highlights or manually transferring my notes/highlights to documents saved on my computer (which I have saved over 30 books worth of notes and highlights on my computer which I can now delete!).
Kinda awesome.
If you are the type of person who reads and highlights things or takes notes in the margins then you forget what was highlighted or where you wrote that margin note then the Kindle has a gift for you.
All your margin notes and highlights are recorded, organized, and saved in the cloud for later access and manipulation.
If you have an amazon account then go to https://kindle.amazon.com/your_highlights and log in. There you will see your notes/highlights and be overjoyed.
In addition, you will be able to see what looks to be highlights from others whom you have shared the book with right there in your notes. So you can see what your friends are thinking about when they read the book with you!
Oh, and if you want to share your notes with the public you can do that or make them private. Here are my notes and highlights for the book Almost Christian by Kenda Creasy Dean.
This just saved me ton of time typing in my notes and highlights or manually transferring my notes/highlights to documents saved on my computer (which I have saved over 30 books worth of notes and highlights on my computer which I can now delete!).
Kinda awesome.
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.