The geography of hell

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) has a long history of teasing Christians into dangerous territory. I suspect that many if not most Christians have more than a little curiosity about life after death. We want to know what happens. We want to know “how things work.” And this parable – at least on its surface – seems to give more indication of “how things work” than almost any other passage in Scripture.

Recognised Authorities

Pakistani man in Kabul shows a Ministry of Finance identity card that includes his father’s name, though given the average life expectancy of an Afghan male is 44 years it is not likely he is still around.

Silence preserves

When the door of the steambath is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in its desire to say many things, dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good. Thereafter, the intellect, though lacking appropriate ideas, pours out a welter of confused thoughts to anyone it meets.

Palamas on fear of poverty

The truth is that people are frightened of being poor because they have no faith in Him who promised to provide all things needful to those who seek the kingdom of God. It is this fear that spurs them, even when they are endowed with all things, and it prevents them from ever freeing themselves from this sickly and toxic desire. They go on amassing wealth, loading themselves with a worthless burden — or rather, enclosing themselves, while still living, in a most absurd kind of tomb.

Don’t go to church

Several weeks ago I sat in a room full of pastors from downtown churches in a forum called by the Raleigh Police Department. Ostensibly, it was to talk about how faith communities can properly secure their premises. The gist of the presentation was about church security – having your facilities well lit, etc. And then, they started talking about the homeless…

Why Dilbert is doomed

The most numerous and stable jobs of tomorrow will be those that cannot be offshored, because they must be performed on U.S. soil, and also cannot be automated, either because they require a high degree of creativity or because they rely on the human touch in face-to-face interactions. The latter are sometimes called “proximity services” and they include the fastest-growing occupations, healthcare and education.

Utilitarian relationships

We begin, sometimes without realizing it, to worship things, to relate to them as persons. And in the process, we inevitably relate to other persons as if they were things.

- Edward J. Farrell
from his book Gathering the Fragments

Cycles of history

In fact, I find illusory “cycles” far less rewarding than the notion of “attractor states” … or pitfalls that seem relentlessly to pull in cultures, because of repetitive traits in human nature.