notes on christianity, belief, and art
I like to think of the Bible as a large puzzle. In some ways, a Star Wars puzzle featuring all the monumental scenes from the franchise. There’s Obi-Wan confronting Vader, Han shooting first in the Mos Eisley Cantina. I could go on and on, but you get the point. Continue Reading…
I have a joke.
Actually, I’ve got more than just one, but this one is incredibly embarrassing and painful to tell in its original version. The revised joke goes like this. My wife doesn’t like when I buy her flowers. She responds to the gift of flowers with, “Why spend all that money on something that’s just going to die?” I then point out that we have three dogs. Continue Reading…
Have you found the key to becoming wealthy? I heard it from a preacher not too long ago. He quoted Proverbs 11:24:
One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want (ESV).
If you genuinely desire to be rich, you have to give. Oversized houses, tricked-out cars, a pool filled with pudding. Those can all be yours for one easy donation of $19.99.
And a few swipes of your MasterCard. Click here to read more…
God so loved the world that he made up his mind to damn a large majority of the human race. – Robert G. Ingersoll
If God is as loving as Christians make him out to be, why does he send people to Hell? Isn’t eternal punishment inconsistent with his moral character? Continue Reading…
Near the end of his life, Johnny Cash released a track titled, “When the Man Comes Around.” It was one of the last songs he wrote before his death. The opening lyrics go like this: Continue Reading…
There are some pastors who enjoy talking about Hell. They preach about it with an almost frightening ferocity. They scream it. They growl it. They foam at the mouth when they say it. That last part might just be my imagination.
I personally don’t like talking about Hell very much. Continue Reading…
I ran across a word in the Old Testament that I had no idea even existed. In all honesty, it’s got to be a pretty lonely word. I mean, if words are ever lonely. Do you think they get all sad when other words don’t pick them to be on their team in a sentence? “Okay ‘forte,’ we need another word for ‘niche’ because we already used him in this paragraph already.” Continue Reading…
Have you ever read the four gospels side by side and thought you found some inconsistencies? Maybe the events in Jesus’ life seemed out of order from one book to the next. Or, Jesus’ words seemed slightly different in each of the accounts. Do these discrepancies mean the gospels are fabricated? Should we trust Continue Reading…
Last year, I raced through Walter Isaacson’s incredibly popular (and creatively titled) biography on Steve Jobs. I loved it. From Jobs’ early life to the creation of the iPod and iPad, Isaacson meticulously follows the eccentric innovator from obscurity to immeasurable fame. It wasn’t long after I finished the book that I started thinking about just how different Steve Jobs is Continue Reading…
Over the years, my wife has tried really hard to make me cool. Clothes. Hair styles. Gift cards to the Gap. It’s not that she doesn’t think I’m cool now, it’s just that I can be lazy when it comes to the latest fashion trends. After all is said and done though, I am and always will be a nerd. I don’t even care anymore. I’m married and have a child on the way, all that’s left to do now is build a replica of the Millennium Falcon in my garage.
Nerd heaven descended on the Bearden household recently with the release of Star Trek Into Darkness. Continue Reading…
