Mark Twain on Prophecy

[John317]

Now I could be wrong on this, but despite the fact that I find writers such as Twain, Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker very witty and bright, their writing often carry much (as has been noted here) cynicism.

I hesitate to read more than I do of them because I am not sure of what the effect of their cynicism would be on my spiritual life.

The influence of writers on people, especially on young people, can be very great. While growing up, from age 13 onward, I fed myself (intellectually speaking) on Oscar Wilde, Neitzsche, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Andre Gide, Gorky, Turgenev, de Maupassaunt, Isaac Babel, Somerset Maugham, Chekhov, and many others like them. They are outstanding writers, among the world's greatest. But almost all of them are godless and fundamentally atheistic. Some of them were consciously opposed to Christ and Christianity. I know they influenced me immensely. I've often wondered how my life might have been different had I not read them. In some ways, my appreciation for life is richer because of them, but at the same time, my thinking was profounly altered by my study of their writings, and in ways that led me for years away from God and into a life dedicated to sin.

[Bravus]

Sorry I've been AWOL from this thread for a few days. I'm in Melbourne for my sister-in-law's 50th.

I could make the case that someone who believes in a God who is nothing like the Christian God is an atheist w.r.t. that God, but I'm happy to concede that I misspoke in calling Twain an atheist.

I'm also happy to accept the notion that he's sometimes misanthropic, though I do think that, like Robert Heinlein, people sometimes mistakenly assume his characters are simple loudspeakers for his own views.

[fccool]

And, so far, no-one has looked at the content of the actual quote. Of course, it couldn't possibly apply to *us*, but do we see people spraying fire from their 'prophecy guns'around at every topical incident in the hope of evenutally hitting something? I certainly do...

If you have a JW friend, then perhaps he'd have a bit more insight than Adventists. I mean, the only other organization that has been so consistently wrong about the future would be the Federal Reserve Board

I do think that a prophecy shotgun works better than a prophecy sniper rifle.

[olger]

Now I could be wrong on this, but despite the fact that I find writers such as Twain, Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker very witty and bright, their writing often carry much (as has been noted here) cynicism.

I hesitate to read more than I do of them because I am not sure of what the effect of their cynicism would be on my spiritual life. I am already cynical enough as it is and I don't like it! I don't think it glorifies the Lord.

That could be just me... As one person has more of a weakness for one thing another person might not. But that is one of mine.

X2