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SomeFineDay -> Thinking of consequences before sinning. (7/23/2008 7:43:12 AM)
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I read this article at this site;
http://www.aish.com/tishaBavOverview/tishaBavOverviewDefault/When_God_Moved_Out.asp
I found it very thought provoking, and wise.
Is it possible to be both smart and foolish?
God created an orderly universe, one of whose principles is that actions produce consequences. Yet the human capacity to ignore consequences is astounding. Witness the person who pays his hard-earned money to buy a packet of cigarettes emblazoned with the warning, in inch-high, bold letters: SMOKING KILLS.
Most smokers are not masochists nurturing a death wish. If you ask them, "Aren't you afraid of getting lung cancer?" they will answer: "Smoking won't kill me. Why, I know a guy who smoked a pack a day and lived to be ninety."
The same denial of consequences pertains when we:
Eat a second helping of ice cream, not believing that we won't be able to button our clothes tomorrow.
Flirt with a member of the opposite sex, not believing that it will negatively impact our marriage.
Cheat in business, not believing we'll ever get caught.
Hit or yell at our children, not believing that it will undermine the relationship a decade later.
Devote the best years of our lives to our careers, not believing that we may be forfeiting our chance to have a family.
How can intelligent people live in such a fantasy world, where no object casts a shadow?
FALSE PROPHETS
God sent a steady succession of Prophets to ancient Israel to warn them that the consequences of their sins would be defeat, destruction, and exile. Why didn't they listen?
For every true Prophet, there were many false prophets. The Bible repeatedly exhorts the people not to listen to "false prophets." Thus, while Jeremiah was warning the people that if they did not change their ways, Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed, the false prophets were reassuring the people that everything would be okay.
The voice of the inner false prophet proclaims: "You can do whatever you want, and it'll be okay." The voice of the inner true prophet proclaims: "Beware of the consequences of your actions!"
Ethics of the Fathers teaches that a wise person always asks the question: "If I do this, what will happen next?"
If I criticize my neighbor, what will happen next?
If I invite my pretty secretary out for a drink after work, what will happen next?
If I cheat on just this one exam, what will happen next?
If I yell at my mother, what will happen next?
Asking this question can save one from much folly and disastrous results.
Failure to contemplate consequences can lead to outcomes as insignificant as gaining a pound, or as significant as a divorce, or as cosmically catastrophic as the destruction of the Holy Temple and the departure of the Divine Presence from our midst.
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