Benjamin Button – more about death than life

I took my wife to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Christmas day. We both enjoyed it a great deal. It’s a love story, and an adventure story. Someone compared it to Forest Gump, but it’s never as emotional as that masterpiece, nor as funny. But it’s got some humor, I’d give it [...]

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 that my [...]

Somewhere between nowhere and goodbye

I just finished a couple of major deadlines in my secular work and I celebrated by watching a movie in my hotel room. I’ve seen Million Dollar Baby before, but this movie is told so cinematically, so emotionally, that even when I know the plot ahead of time I find myself going through the same [...]

Q: Why was Jesus sent to Earth?

Hi, Brian and Kimberly, My apologies for taking so long to answer you. Jesus told us that God’s motivation is love, and that his goal is to bring life to whoever believes in Jesus. John 3:16 Of course, the mainstream traditional teaching is that most people self-select themselves out of that opportunity, by choosing to [...]

An Unfinished Life

Einar Gilkyson: You think the dead really care about our lives?? Mitch Bradley: Yeah, I think they do. I think they forgive us our sins. I even think it’s easy for them. Einar Gilkyson: Griff said you had a dream about flying. Mitch Bradley: Yeah. I got so high, Einar. I could see where the [...]

No life is wasted

Like millions of others, I was deeply moved by Paul E. Schroeder’s op-ed about the death of his son, Augie. (Washington Post, Tuesday, January 3) I agree that from the perspective Paul is viewing it, a misguided foreign policy and foolish military tactics, Augie became yet another wasted life, an unnecessary casualty of war. My [...]

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 [...]

I love dialog!

Yep, I’m an insignificant microbe in the TTLB Ecosystem but I really appreciate hearing from MM and Tim Challies about the posts I made concerning their sites. The exchange with MM follows the “Problem of Pain post of a couple of days ago. I’ve got to work on my brevity. Too verbose. I’ll hope to [...]

Problem of Pain

MM writes in her “Theology of the Body” blog yesterday that as many philosophers have noted, there are two primary issues relative to evil that we must lay at God’s feet: the “acts of God” that involve human suffering in an incomplete or unfriendly planet, and the “moral failures” that flow form human free moral [...]

In his image

When a father begets a son, he sees his own image there. He sees the similarities, and yet the distinctive qualities. He sees the potential for unique and individual achievement, as well as the stamp of resemblance and inheritance. I think that is what makes God happy as he contemplates his human and divine family. [...]