Hello Good Hokomai -- From JohnJFarren Trinity5635@aol.com / I just read your private message to me .. and promptly lost it. That's okay. I read it and valued it. It may take me a few days but I intend to write you sharing some things I have. Not to convince or to persuade .. but to share. Why with you? Because you seem to have a heart that also thinks. Often I find a good heart but no head. And I'm not interested in a brilliant mind without a heart. You have a good heart AND a good mind. Give me a couple days. This "private message" stuff I seldom use and I screw things up. Better email. Anyway .. be Blessed and worship and love whatever is real to you. John

Hi John - I just caught up with this kind message from you. I applaud your approach. There are some here who seem to have very fragile beliefs, and who defend them by declining to engage in actual debate. I have been working on trying not to cause offense, which is a generally useful skill (!) and I think when I began posting on CAF I was too sharp in my use of words. I think some who attack me probably just have the same tendency I have, and I am not easily hurt. Oddly, the only people I have actually been upset by are one of the apologists and a couple of the mods, who assume I am some sort of evil force about the place, and keep telling me what my intentions are! Anyway, my upset lasts only seconds, and is a small price to pay for receiving pleasant messages such as yours. Thank you

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One of the courses I introduced (high school) was an elective Philoosophy course. And I stressed greatly Metaphysics (Aquinas, Aristotle) .. and I urged my students to take their most sacred beliefs, convictions, place them on an anvil .. and then with a sledge manner to do everything they could to DESTROY that conviction. If it stood the test, hold fast to it and live by it. If it smashed, GOOD!, the sooner the better. I'm continuing to extract quotes from that particular thread, and my intention is to put together a response, addressing a number of basic statements and sharing what I have to offer. I do not want to argue or dispute. Rather I want to share .. to listen and share. Blessing on you, Hokomai. JohnJFarren Trinity5635@aol. com

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Hello Hokomai -- I am a born Roman Catholic. Not a blind follower of the Church but an intelligent and responsible son of God and son of the Church. In reading some of the postings regarding the cause(s) of human suffering, I am shamed and disappointed at an unkind remark sent to you to "get off and don't influence people" (not an exact quote). Please, do NOT get off. Please stay .. at least in contact with me and some others of that forum thread. We Catholics who love God and the Church ALSO LOVE YOU. I taught for many years.