Juliane Koepcke could have called her book SkyFall had James Bond not already taken the title. I think falling two miles without the airplane and surviving warrants it. I do recommend this book because of the story she has to tell - and also because it is the story of her amazing parents, and all they have done to preserve our threatened and vanishing rainforest. Her mother died in the plane crash. And though her father is a man of very few words, you feel his heartbreak at the loss of his beloved wife.
I already have one friend in the queue to borrow the book.
Juliane was a teenager when this happened - and wounded and severely concussed as she was she managed to get herself out of the jungle, though it took many days. Had she not done so, I guess nothing would ever have been found, the Amazon having swallowed the plane up so completely. But it did make me think some more about being old. about not being able to get myself out of trouble. Not that I could have done what Juliane did! And also, because of her childhood, she knew and understood the forest in ways most of us do not. But these days I would be hard put to it to escape from a pride of hungry tortoises who had mistaken me for a lettuce leaf. I guess I could make my escape but it would be a close call. (Maybe - junt in case - I should stop wearing my favourite colour, green?)
Other than that I don't quite know what to put in my blog - the Captain is still at his detecting, I am keeping up with my studies - except perhaps this, our Scriptural thought for Thursday. Bear in mind we are to hate what is bad, not WHO is bad. That is so important. And we also need to avoid the fatal mistake our first parents made. They wanted to decide for themselves what is good and what is bad, rather than accept Jehovah's standards. And in doing so, they set in train the tragedy we, their damaged children, are living in. So we need to learn what our Creator's standards of good and bad are, and come to love what he loves and hate what he hates. And this not only involves not hating each other, but loving our neighbour as we love ourselves.
So, as this extract says, we need to make our minds over, by learning and applying the wisdom set out in God's inspired word. And our meetings are constantly helping us to do this. And all are welcome at them, although via Zoom at the moment of course. We also offer free home Bible studies on our excellent website JW.org.
Hate what is bad.—Amos 5:15.
We may well stay far away from practices that God hates. Yet, there are other activities or aspects of life about which the Scriptures provide no specific command. In such areas, how can we determine what is acceptable and pleasing to God? That is where our Bible-trained conscience comes into play. Jehovah has lovingly given us principles that work in conjunction with our Bible-trained conscience. He himself says: “I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One guiding you in the way you should walk.” (Isa. 48:17, 18) By using our mind and heart to reason on Bible principles, we correct, direct, and mold our conscience. That, in turn, helps us to make wise decisions. A principle is a fundamental truth or doctrine that is used as a basis of reasoning or action. To understand a principle includes understanding the thinking of the Lawgiver and the reasons why he gave certain laws. w18.06 17 ¶5; 18 ¶8-10
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