Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I will comment directly on one of your points that I have ignored before. When you get into the notion of honoring your father and mother, you are bringing an "A causes B" concept into play but using it in reverse. Can't remember the fancy name for it. Honoring your father and mother means it will be well with you — according to the promise. But the fact that something goes well with you does not evidence the honoring of the father or mother. And even if you are honoring your father and/or mother, that does not convey any knowledge about what they taught you.
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Suppose I was a hitting coach on a MLB team. I might say there are a couple of key principles to follow in order to hit well. Now is the fact that some player on that team hits a home run evidence that he is following those principles? No. Likewise, if David killed Goliath with one lucky shot that also would not be evidence of following certain key principles.
But I am looking at David's entire life, not just Goliath. For example, consider Tiger Woods. At one point it was considered a lock that he would break Jack Nickelaus record. But when you look at Tiger Wood's whole life (at least to this point) it becomes clear that success in life is not merely a matter of talent but also of character. I would wager that his recent troubles actually began when he stopped honoring his father and mother's teaching. I think the same thing can be said of Mike Tyson if you consider that Gus D'amato was his "father" (I understand he was an orphan, but Gus was a father figure to him).
Going back to the baseball analogy, all the great hitters followed key principles, that is why they became key principles. In the Hall of Fame of faith David plays a very prominent role, and one of the key principles of faith is that you "honor your father and mother that it may be well with you". Therefore, I feel it does apply. The question is not "does everyone who hits a home run follow key principles of hitting?", no the question is "are all the immortal great hitters in the hall of fame those that followed the key principles of good hitting?" To me, the answer is yes. (Now I know you are going to want to wax lyrical about Derrick Jeter, and how all these Yankee hitters are doing so well under the Yankees hitting coach, but lets try to keep this on topic).