To follow Jesus is to become fully human by accepting yourself and other people around you. Jesus listened to people so can you. Jesus felt the pain of others so can you. Jesus saw the potential for good in every person and so can you. Jesus set an example for you when he took care of himself by pacing himself with exercise, rest, food, sleep and a fully balanced life. Following Jesus does not mean becoming a religious nuisance to others. It means taking yourself and others seriously as children of God and taking time to be available and show compassion in practical help.
The Outcasts of Poker Flat Summary | GradeSaver
Staying in the closet is to accept yourself as a victim. Resist the temptation to let other people decide who you are and control your life. Freedom to accept yourself and to affirm yourself is freedom from being a victim. A dialogue and study group can help you to escape from victim mentality and break the self-imposed chains of codependency and low self-esteem.
The Cask of Amontillado--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Religion draws a line and forbids you to cross it. Jesus teaches you to think for yourself, respect yourself and draw your own lines that fit you.
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To transform the call of Jesus into vast empires of millions of people or churches or just one local church is to miss the point and miss the plan and to miss God and the presence of God where it counts most: in yourself and in the person next to you now.
All of us are surrounded by needy people. This is especially true great cities like San Francisco and Oakland. The city is a magnet for needy people from all over the world. It is an accepting and tolerant city. All communities, including yours, have homeless people and needy people who challenge you to follow Jesus in ministry, love and outreach. I have never fully learned the lessons of two old proverbs: If you give a needy person enough rope, they will hang themselves-- and you. If you give a needy person an inch, they will take a mile!
Showing how ignorant and prejudiced the radical homophobic fundamentalists are about family values is not enough. We agree that "hate is not a family value." Jesus invites us to define everything in the light of God's inclusive and accepting love demonstrated for all people in the life and work of Jesus. The first step in your successful challenge to the Traditional Family Values Coalition is to connect with Jesus in whatever way best fits you and to follow Jesus.
Oakhurst, a gambler to the end, had "settled himself coolly to the losing game before him." The final image is of him. He has pinned the deuce of clubs with his epitaph written on it to a tree with his bowie knife. Harte's narrator concludes of John Oakhurst that he was "at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat."
Jesus did not just tolerate the abused rejected people in his world. He identified with them and had compassion for them as he felt their pain and entered into their sorrows. To follow Jesus always goes far beyond tolerance. To follow Jesus is to identify with the people who most need help and who are most despised and rejected by contemporary society.
One of the clearest features of the life and teachings of Jesus is the way that Jesus included people that everybody else left out. Jesus included criminals (the thief on the cross), the people that were unclean (did not keep all of the cleanliness laws and rituals), and people who were outcast (Samaritans, Gentiles, the poor, the sick, lepers, women, and the list goes on).
Even though Oakhearst is a gambler, he is an honorable man. He shows his noble side when he returns money to Tom "the innocent" after he wins from him in what the gamble considers and unfair. View More Questions
"Outcasts of poker flat short story" in pictures. More images "Outcasts of poker flat short story".
