Feb 27, 2012
From Promised Land to Promised Earth
Jesus doesn’t make up the Beatitudes on the spot. Each one has several Old Testament referents, and have long been part of the Word of God. What he does do, however, is inject more weight into them from a New Covenant/Kingdom of God context, which means greater glory and greater promises. This follows with the general direction of the history of the people of God (and consequently the history of the... read more Feb 16, 2012
Rolling Up the Slopes of Everest in a Wheelchair
Neal Stephenson on recovering the majesty of science, and the possible role of science fiction in generating big ideas: For those who don’t want to watch the video, Stephenson, as an example, calls for building a tower at least 20 kilometers tall, which is apparently possible to do with steel, even with today’s construction technology. There are a couple of things this would accomplish. One,... read more Feb 13, 2012
The Weight of a Kingdom
My daughter owns a tea set, made of molded plastic. Included is a small, pink plate. One night, after digging under the couch for a few seconds she pulled this pink plate from under the darkness and held it out in triumph. One of our dogs promptly relived her of the plate, and trotted away with it hanging from his mouth. She was confused, but not upset. She waddled over to the dog, wearing a curious... read more Dec 9, 2011
Why I Hate (Love) Christmas Music
I used to not like Christmas music. For me, the season brought on headaches from my eyes being in a constant state of rolling to show my disdain and convince myself I had superior aesthetic taste. My favorite radio stations would be taken over by the holiday spirit. Me, complaining that top 40 radio stations played such abysmal, tasteless music between Thanksgiving and December 25th, as if this was a... read more Nov 29, 2011
A Socialist Jubilee and Our Real Equality
The Jubilee Laws of Leviticus 25 are prized poster boys for Christian socialists everywhere. Every seven weeks of years, the 50th year would be consecrated with the sounds of a trumpet, the slaves would be freed, land sold would be returned to its rightful owner and have its Sabbath rest, and debt would be forgiven. This is where God finally becomes an egalitarian. He’s just as economically ignorant... read more
