OldLincoln, you know I have always respected and appreciated what you've had to say. I still do. But I must disagree with you on this one. It's the messenger who did the shooting. He slammed us -- as a group -- in his own public forum. And now he's slamming us with the Bible.
Only last month, on 9/26/08, he posted these words (which bdp522 and StillAnotherGuest also quoted) in his now-empty strapparatus.blogspot.com:
Now that every CPAPTALK.COM yahoo wants to offer opinions on Respiratory Therapists, and degrade innovations that improve therapy to any degree here are some positive comments on Lincare.
In the same blog, he also said this:
I'm getting feedback from the eyes and hands of a person who also "assists" users in sizing their headgear! (Something that cpaptalk.com forum yahoos don't seem to understand). When you receive something for free, you get the liberty to express everything bad and don't look at the slightest good a product may offer. So, my point is, to the cpaptalk.com forum yahoos who are totally angered by having to use these devices is get a life! If your free sample headstrap didn't fit right, write your congressman.... I'm not in the business of making sure you don't have marks on your face, or trying to fit your headstrap over the internet to get positive feedback when your business is to put my business down as frequently and with as much passion as I've tried to build it with.
Does anyone believe this is appropriate behavior for a businessman? I have no problem with someone trying to make a living, sell a product, whatever. And yes, since Johnny allows PurSleep here, it appears that a precedent has been set. From what I've seen, though, a course showcasing both companies should be offered in business schools throughout the country. It could be entitled "Business Owners: Studies in the Best and the Worst."
Certainly I'm in favor of cutting people breaks when they don't act right and reminding myself that I've said and done things more times than I can count which were insulting, insensitive and otherwise hurtful. That doesn't mean I should keep doing it, and that certainly wouldn't excuse me for being sweet to someone's face, then insulting and deriding them the moment they can't hear me.
Professor Moriarty, you offend me. Only a month ago, you publicly said hateful things about the members of this forum behind our backs, and now you dare to piously reproach us with this:
Strapparatus wrote:The bible tells us to love our enemies as well as our friends. ...
Perhaps some of us require a spiritual change...
However, you are right on both statements. It seems that you're referring to the Sermon on the Mount. This is from that same sermon, as recorded in Luke 6:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye," when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
What in your blogspot was loving or gave evidence of any spiritual change in your own life? If you ever posted something like, "Wow, I really blew it. I was angry and said some nasty things, and I apologize for doing that," I didn't see it. You’ve missed the point of that whole sermon, which was this: individuals should examine their
own lives and change their
own behavior where it’s needed. God is more than capable of letting me know where I need to change. He doesn’t need your help, and He certainly didn’t intend the Bible to be a bludgeon for people to use against each other. Kindly allow God to tend to His business, and you can tend to yours. The two are not the same.
Marsha, aka Just Another Yahoo