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Quote by Shawn F. Parker

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The Crimson Spire

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Shawn F. Parker

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“I am older now and have learned many things. I have learned, for instance, that God allows us to hold on to our human defenses for only so long. At times, he himself calls them forth, permitting them to function for a season in order to guard us from harm. But a day will come when, in his eyes, they have served their purpose and must be removed. The hour your soul grows attached to that defense-- the moment your heart clings to it too much for safety-- is the moment God rises in his mercy to destroy it.”

“There is a sense in which all cognition can be said to be motivated. One is motivated to understand the world, to be in touch with reality, to remove doubt, etc. Alternately one might say that motivation is an aspect of cognition itself. Nevertheless, motives like wanting to find the truth, not wanting to be mistaken, etc., tend to align with epistemic goals in a way that many other commitments do not. As we have begun to see, all reasoning may be inextricable from emotion. But if a person's primary motivation in holding a belief is to hue to a positive state of mind, to mitigate feelings of anxiety, embarrassment, or guilt for instance. This is precisely what we mean by phrases like "wishful thinking", and "self-deception". Such a person will of necessity be less responsive to valid chains of evidence and argument that run counter to the beliefs he is seeking to maintain. To point out non-epistemic motives in an others view of the world, therefore, is always a criticism, as it serves to cast doubt on a persons connection to the world as it is.”

“All of those different strands, the hard and the sweet, were being used in the unfolding of this extraordinary moment: Amestris offering peace to her rival. Esther would remain queen a little longer. A simple Jewish woman used by God in ways they could not yet comprehend. This was another turn in God's faithfulness. The safety only He could offer. Not a perfect protection from every tribulation flung at them by the mighty forces of darkness. But a gathering of the broken pieces to His will. Turning evil into good.”

“How could I make my cousin understand that I had no influence, though I still wore a crown? Xerxes had removed the shield of his love from me when he had cut himself off from my presence. But Mordecai was not as convinced as I that the strength of my husband's abandonment could outmatch the power of God's intention. "Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" my dear cousin asked me. As far as he was concerned, with or without the king's affections, God could open the doors of favor to me.”