Richard Dawkins overturned millennia of religious superstition by proving that man was formed from dust. He is also famous for speculating that God most probably doesn’t exist. To Dawkins, the dust just happened to form into man, with no involvement from God. It’s as if the dust gave us birth! When Israel and Judah turned …
Like all good poems, the Pogues “Tuesday Morning” is derived from a Biblical theme. In this case, from my favorite Psalm. Psalm 13 says: How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have …
Every now and then, you meet a “former Christian” who explains how painful it was to lose his cushy job at the seminary, his financial security, all of his friends, and his social standing by abandoning the faith. This is a tragedy on two levels. First, it’s a tragedy for the guy who is going …
Years ago, I read a couple of Muslim theologians who argued strenuously that God’s “hand” in the Bible was truly a physical hand. At the time, I found the debate to be ridiculous and absurdly literalist. But I’m reconsidering that opinion. Christianity believes in a God incarnate, and Judaism initially believed in a physical God. …
A well-documented cause of underachievement in black students is the “acting white” phenomenon. Black students who excel at academics are considered to be traitors who are trying to “act white”. I’ve witnessed this first-hand multiple times, and it’s a real tragedy. Interestingly, the evidence shows that this phenomenon started right when black separatism began to …
Before this year, I never gave much thought to the mounting battle between evangelicals who want to “Keep the Christ in Christmas!”, and the zealous secularists who imagine themselves gallant slayers of superstition for promoting “X-mas”. Prompted by this thoughtful post from unk, I’ve taken the time to analyze this issue. And upon further …
Flipping through “Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis” last night reminded me that I am long overdue for a promised book review. In his letter to Mary Willis Shelburne dated June 6, 1955, Lewis says: “About prides, superiorities, and affronts there is no book better than Law’s Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life where …
We’ve recently wrapped up family visits in Toronto, Port Huron, and Princeton, and now relaxing near the beach in Pawcatuck, Connecticut. In honor of John Calvin’s 500th birthday, my wife took this picture of a former Presbyterian church we drove past in London, Ontario. The cement plaque in the side of the wall says that …
We have an idol of Avolokiteshvara, hand made in Nepal of bronze, sitting on our mantle. I have taught my daughter to pray near the idol, reciting the prayer of Psalm 115:4-8: But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but …
Whoa! Cardinal Ratzinger says (in “The God of Jesus Christ”): Jesus’ working on the Sabbath is not directed against the Sabbath. Rather, he is fighting to preserve its original meaning, preserving it as the day of God’s freedom, so that the hands of the casuists may not pervert it into the opposite, that is, a …