Not the last lecture

The world has lost Randy Pausch. Temporarily.

The Carnegie Mellon prof who gained acclaim and then wrote a best-selling book about dying of cancer has passed away in the last few hours. He was 47.
His story is particularly touching to me because he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at precisely the time [...]

Happy Heretic, meet Happy God

I’m happy to rediscover Judith Hayes, the Happy Heretic. I’m a happy heretic myself, being convinced that most of Christianity is dead wrong about the end game God has planned. 
In her most recent post, Judith points her incisive wit at the 7 visions of Hell described in an article she reviews. All the views, though [...]

My McLaren Colloquy: 4. The Faithful Remnant

Conversing with his friend Samir Vesna on pp 129-130 of A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian McLaren writes,
Restorationists… often refer to themselves, Samir says, as a remnant…. “We’re not small because we’re ineffective, or lazy, or ingrown, or otherwise unattractive; we’re small because we’re a faithful remnant! Everone else has compromised…. We’re the few, the committed, [...]

My McLaren Colloquy: 3. New fields of opportunity

On page 140 of A Generous Orthodoxy Brian McLaren writes:
When I imagine what a generous orthodoxy can become, I realize I must seek to honor both conservative and liberal heroism. And when I do, I want to consider myself both liberal and conservative. I must learn from their mistakes, and when I do, I don’t [...]

Refreshing honesty

My apologies to anyone who may have missed me during thee last month.
But it’s a new year, and I’m kicking it off with a post spurred by a refreshing post I just found at Rondam Ramblings.
Ron Garrett points out that just the mathematics of the idea that unbelievers of this life will spend eternity [...]

Abraham Lincoln’s problem with orthodoxy

I’ve been a Civil War buff for years, and a Lincoln buff. I’ve never read anything that would indicate what my evangelical brothers would call “saving faith” in Lincoln’s life. A few who knew Lincoln claimed him to have such faith. Some of Lincoln’s own words are laced with religious language. His mission in life [...]

The Fairness of a Father

One of the toughest lessons I had to learn as a father was trying to find ways of making consequences “fit”. To feel corrected rather than abused, a child must sense proportionality.
Punishment is a loving thing for a father to concern himself with, because if a father does not correct a child early and often, [...]

Yet more wrath?

I love the premise of “Desiring God” — that our chief end is to delight in God, enjoying Him forever. It can and should be “all joy” to know, and be loved by, the great and good God of the Universe. But when John Piper gets to describing what God is doing, and how the [...]

Revised Genesis

I’m glad God didn’t have to revise his first chapter. But not knowing the end from the beginning, I’ve had to evolve in my blog creations. I’m an evolved person since I started blogging 6 years ago, and what I care about has shifted slightly as well.
So here’s what this blog is about. Why is [...]