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It is a brave act of valour to contemn death; but where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live.~ Sir Thomas Browne, in Religio Medici, section xliv
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Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.Be not a slave of words.In books lies the soul of the whole past time; the articulate, audible voice of the past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream. That there should one Man die ignorant who had capacity for Knowledge, this I call tragedy. If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it.
add to discussionHmmm…. is there such a thing as pleasure which is not existential? There were two things about reading The Existential Pleasure of Engineering in which I took pleasure, existential or otherwise; (1) it was only 160 pages long, and (2) the author referenced great or interesting literature on nearly every page. The cover of the book has a blurb that reads, “Enchanting.” The New Yorker. I have decided that this must be a warning that the book has some kind of hex / enchantment on it that makes book reviewers lose perspective. (more…)
add to discussionFour years ago, on the tenth anniversary of wedding my dear wife, I had back surgery. The surgeon told me that within six months I would be back to normal and out on the golf course. The reality was that my recovery wasn’t so pleasant. Had it not been for the fact that we moved into a house with a Jacuzzi bath it would have been even worse. Four years later I have recovered from my back surgery and I find myself longing not for a relief from pain but for the Jacuzzi bath that I grew to love during rehabilitation. When we purchased our new house it was complete before we were able ... [read more]
add to discussionThe post consistently popular post on any of my blogs is my list of links to free online audio downloads of Lectures, Seminars, Sermons, & Debates. I have recently added to this list two new links that I would like to draw to your attention. Currently, there are more than 5,000 downloads a month from the sermon archives at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship. And, Barry Creamer has returned to the World of Blog and has up links to download his radio broadcasts on Jerry Johnson Live and some of his most recent sermons. Both are excellent resources. Check them out. Bent Tree Archive The MP3... [read more]
add to discussionThe following is a story I like to tell from time to time to illustrate the problem of communicating when the sender and receiver are not working from the same worldview or when the same vocabulary is used but a different lexicon. * * * There was a rather old fashioned lady, always quite delicate in her use of language. She and her husband were planning a weeks vacation to Florida, so she wrote to a particular campground asking for a reservation. She wanted to make sure the campground was fully equipped, but didn’t quite know how to ask about the toilet facilities. She just couldn&rsq... [read more]
add to discussionToday’s Scripture reading from Mark 6 reminded me of a story I once heard. I share both below: He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to... [read more]
add to discussionThere is a place in Eden and in Gehenna for every soul. The Zaddik receives his place and the place of a wicked man as well. By the same token, the wicked man receives his own place and the place of a Zaddik. ~ Hagigah, 15 No on partakes of the enjoyments of the World-to-Come because of his father’s merits. ~ Midrash Tehillim, 146, 2 (more…)
add to discussion“There is no such thing as cheap web hosting,” said my friend in a less than friendly way. We were talking about options for his organization’s website and he seemed determined to rule out any possible alternatives to what he is doing now despite his request that we talk about other possibilities. Do you know why he thought there was no such thing as cheap web hosting? He has been working with a private contractor/consultant who not only charges to create and maintain the website, but is making big bucks by charging for every little add-on and accessory. My friend was i... [read more]
add to discussionIn the video at the bottom of this post you will see Oprah Winfrey explaining that her rejection of the Christian God and the initiation of her search for something else began when she heard her Baptist preacher say that God is a jealous God. Something about that didn’t set well with her. Was her concern justified? Is God really self-centered? The below text is an excerpt from J.I. Packer’s book Hot Tub Religion in which he explains why God must be jealous or cease to be God; (more…)
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