...

"I don't always feel His presence. But God's promises do not depend upon my feelings; they rest upon His integrity."

- R. C. Sproul

"We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because He holds tightly to us."

- R. C. Sproul

"For the fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, and it is a monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man's house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light."

- John Calvin

"I gave up all for Christ, and what have I found? Everything in Christ."

- John Calvin

"Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God."

- John Calvin

"Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God."

- John Calvin

Somehow I ended up beneath pines,
Sleeping in comfort on boulders.
There aren't any calendars in the mountains;
Winter ends but who counts the years

- T'ai-shang ying-che

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.

~ Herbert Agar

i go by ways neither old nor new



The steep slope hangs above
The temple calm.
An autumn voyager,
I go by ways neither old nor new,
Finding east, west, the mind, the same.

- Soen (1859-1919)

@rookie54 said
Somehow I ended up beneath pines,
Sleeping in comfort on boulders.
There aren't any calendars in the mountains;
Winter ends but who counts the years

- T'ai-shang ying-che

"If you don't feel close to God, guess who moved?"

- unknown

The way of kindness and justice change, but not the way of the Tao.
No-name is its body.
Name is its function.
Sages embody the Tao and use it in the world.
But while entering the myriad states of being, they remain in non-being.

- Su Ch'e (1039-1112)

Lotus Blossom Peak
pierces the sky;
The temple is connected to the peak.
I've gotten at last to see
this winter moon:
I've wanted to come here
for years and years!
In the cold pond
trembles the pagoda's reflection;
Ancient trees are filled
with kitchen smoke.
I happen to see a noble monk emerge;
On his meditation bench,
he sits in utter silence.

- Weng Chuan (d. 1214)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

utter silence allows me to hear what i've not yet heard
now,
all i must do is achieve utter silence

Each drifting snowflake
falls nowhere
but here and now
Under the settling flowers of ice
the water is flowing
bright and clear
The cold stream
splashes out
the Buddha's words
startling the stone tortoise
from its sleep.

- Muso Soseki (1275-1351)

To cook or fix some food, is not preparation; it is practice....
Whatever we do, it should be an expression of the same deep activity.
We should appreciate what we are doing.
There is no preparation for something else.

- Dogen (1200-1252)

Sages don't reveal the Way
they keep it secret,
because it can't be revealed.
Thus their words are like
footsteps that leave no tracks.

- Ch'eng Chu (1078-1144)

Rookie54, do you feel that I have mocked or belittled your contributions to this Forum?

If I have ever mocked or belittled your posts, would you forgive me?
I don't think I have.

Maybe twice I recall making a whimsical post here that was not meant to hurt anyone. One time I pretended a robot made a comment. I recall nothing belittling and mocking Hinduism, Buddhism or Taoism here. Am I wrong?