Weblog » Archives » September 2008
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Meaning to life
In the end, there is no meaning to life deeper than the sparrow bobbing off the tree and onto the sidewalk, eating the crumbs carelessly dropped from a bagel. Everyone knows that. -Nicholas Stanton Roark -
of quiet
The abbot Anthony said, "Who sits in solitude and is quiet has escaped from three wars: hearing, speaking, seeing: yet against one thing shall he continually battle: that is, his own heart." … -
I don't trust psychology
"It has been argued by philosophers like Foucault* that characterizations of 'mental illness' are indertiminate and reflect the hierarchical structures of the societies from which they emerge rather than any precisely-d… -
Be careful
"What killed Jesus was not irreligion, but religion itself; not lawlessness, but precisely the law; not anarchy, but the upholders of order." So be careful. --- When you were dead in your separation and in your o… -
Does religion make us worse?
"I have watched a good many atheists who were harmless, inoffensive people. They committed a few adulteries or a little quiet pederasty and they were not to be trusted with unattended typewriters or valuable books, b… -
Got the new R.E.M. album
Despite a rather lackluster initial impression, the more I listen to it the more it sounds to me like a mashup of Murmur, Fables of the Reconstruction, Green, Monster, New Adventures in Hi-Fi and Reveal - in short, a … -
Why I am not a pacifist
The quote I posted yesterday helps to illustrate a few of the reasons I cannot comfortably take the label of pacifist in genuine conversation. I do sometimes take it as a convenient shorthand term for 'one who is commit… -
On the agenda
Today, Lydia and I are going to watch Eragon and write long-overdue thank-you notes. It's okay to write thank-you notes during Eragon, because it's probably not a very good movie. -NDSR -
A story
I make about five cups of tea per day. This is a process that involves putting the kettle on the stove, waiting for it to whistle, then pouring the boiling water into a cup with a teabag, setting the microwave time for … -
A revelife question
How do you pronounce 'revelife'? I really have no clue. -
A nonviolence reading list
Gregory Boyd Myth of a Christian Nation God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict Craig A. Carter Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective Richard B. Hays The Moral Vision of the New Testam… -
How long, O Lord?
I just fail to understand how anyone can support a candidate who will tax the poor and let the rich off the hook. It's not a matter of 'voting your wallet.' It's a moral issue. Scripture says that God abhors a dishone… -
The largest consensus the world has ever known
No wonder so many people, gentle and kind people, quiet and unaggressive people, find themselves saying at long last: "There's only one way to deal with the [bin Ladens] and [McVeighs]. There's only one way to de… -
A question.
Why is it so frustrating to so many people to hear a foreign language spoken? Where I work we play a nationally syndicated radio station (some restaurant-friendly XFM thing), and maybe three songs per day are tejano. … -
Forgiveness
It's as easy as a carwreck. -
Now I got
to Thelonius Monk’s ‘Straight, No Chaser’ I got this friend in New York - Rachel - Yeah, she says I need a certain kind uh girl, and she’s right I do need a certain kinda girl. Now Rachel - my friend in Ne… -
untitled
Sometimes upon waking, the mere act of deciding whether or not I have a headache is impossible. My body simply cannot make up its mind. I know it sounds unlikely, but that is the truth. So I don’t wait to find out. I… -
Everyone has vices... here is mine:
I graduated from Mid-America Christian University with a B.A. in Christian ministry, with a minor in Bible/theology, and with a B.A. in English. My senior year, I received an academic award from Mid-America's school of … -
By the Riverbank
Every day on the way home from My office I pawn another set Of my spring clothes. Every day I come home from the river bank Drunk. Everywhere I go, I owe Money for wine. History Records few men who have lived to be Seven… -
Wisdom and reading
Whenever I want to think when I read, instead of merely learning, I turn to a book by Eugene Peterson. Part of it is that a lot of his books are written specifically for pastors, but even those that aren't are just full… -
Does the reality of hell dehumanize those we love?
Dark thoughts have clouded our minds. For centuries, thanks largely to the Augustinian tradition that has so influenced evangelicals, we have been taught that God chooses a few who will be saved and has decided not to… -
The practicality of non-violence
It's all very well to understand that Jesus and Paul taught nonviolent engagement against evil, but so long as we continue to believe that violence always succeeds where nonviolence always fails, we will never learn… -
Here is how it works
First, you read the Bible and figure that it means pretty much what it says. Then, you learn that there is something called "exegetical strategies," which means that smart people have all gotten together and decided tha… -
Little thoughts
"That's where Coyote's got it wrong," Zia said. "You don't change the world by stirring up something in Raven's pot." "Then how do you change it?" "By being strong and true." … -
No one is with excuse...
...not to read these books. The Bible. Clearly, this goes without saying. Actually, most of the books I list here are with an eye specifically to make reading the Bible less frustrating and more rewarding. A survey c… -
credo
Faith, hope and love may not appear very exciting to the casual observer, but they're all I'm living for now. -Nicholas Stanton Roark -
Right belief, right practice?
I've been hearing a lot of talk about the importance of orthopraxy, or right practice, alongside orthodoxy. I hear that orthodoxy without orthopraxy is dead (James 2.17), and at the same time that orthopraxy without o… -
Christian soldiers?
You ask whether we should participate in the American system, in order to bring it closer to the way of Christ? My answer is yes, but only to a point. The church should participate in the culture to the point that h… -
Beauty in commuting
One of the beauties of commuting by bicycle rather than by car is that it keeps the person commuting in touch with the natural world. Temperature, humidity, wind actually mean something to the cyclist. Life is no lo… -
Dropping the bomb
Father George Zabelka was the Catholic chaplain to the Catholic pilot who dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. Ater many years and much work with ecumenical councils, Father Zabelka reflected on his part in the war. For the fi… -
Letters of Paul
Who do you think wrote the letters of Paul? Paul? Do you think there's simply an early/late Paul divide, like early/late Bob Dylan? Or is there a tradition in the early church of letters imitating Paul and signed i… -
Romans 13
I am curious about people's use of Romans 13 to say, basically, that Christians ought to be patriotic, or "good Americans," or support their leaders. I completely agree with Romans 13 that Christians ought not to ove…
sirnickdon
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- Name: Nick-Don
- Gender: Male
- Member Since: 8/2/2008
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My revelife account
I am beginning the process of shutting down my rev... -
The faith of the centurion
When [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a centurion came t... -
A fitting threesome
We are not so mad as to think that we shall create...
