If you’re a Christian driven to evangelize, beware of the devilishly smooth transition between glorifying God and glorifying yourself. It’s a seamless slide from “God is good! Let him save you!” to “God and I are good! Let us save you!” The moment you begin to proselytize to a person, you will likely catch a very heady buzz. And though it might feel like it, that buzz will not be coming from the joy of sharing God’s love. Its source... Read more
This morning I am feeling humble. Outside of a religious context this is a rare emotion for me, insofar as I generally enjoy feeling arrogant and egocentric. I am also right now feeling like a meth-munching meerkat, since I just downed two cups of coffee from a mug so large you could use it to drown a regular cat. Not that I would ever drown a cat. I love cats. And, weirdly, cats love me. They follow me around. It’s bizarre.... Read more
On September 15 Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt. For the next 10 days people rushing to secure their money withdraw $16.8 billion from Washington Mutual, precipitating by far the largest bank failure in American history. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG. American mainstays of the world economy. FAIL. The president of America goes on world-wide television and says things such as, “Our entire economy is in danger,” “We’re in the... Read more
Here are your John Notes for some of the major honchos in Western philosophy: Socrates: Liked to call himself a “gadfly.” No one argued it. Turned unceasingly asking annoying questions into the basis for Western civilization. Plato: Believed knowledge was more about remembering than learning. Yet founded the first college in the Western World. Been confusing people ever since. Famous for the Socratic dialogues, which were later refashioned into scripts for the hit TV show, My Two Dads. Wrote Republic,... Read more
The Odyssey: A hairy guy who yells a lot floats around in a boat. Oedipus the King: A guy marries a girl a little too much like the girl who married dear old dad. (When this play opened at the Viennese National Theatre in 1901, Freud, in attendance, died of an asthma attack.) The Apology of Socrates: Socrates feels bad. He didn’t mean to do it. Plato made him do it. Ovid’s Metamorphoses: More people than you can shake a... Read more
I get lots of questions asking about atheists marrying Christians. I have an atheist friend who is married to a Christian, so I asked him to address this issue. Here’s what he wrote: I’m a bona fide marriage expert. Not because I have some fancy Ivy League degree hanging on my wall, nor because I’m a published marriage counselor—no, I’m a marriage expert because I’ve been married twice. I’m a big believer in the school of you-don’t-know-it-until-you’ve-done-it. Having done it... Read more
In response to my recent post, Overcoming The Harsh Realities of Book Publishing, a reader (hello, “Jim from far away Berlin”!) wrote to ask, “Do you think it is worthwhile to self-publish or write e-books for a new writer who doesn’t have a platform and wants to build a base? And do you have any tips about how to build a blog following?” Jim, those are questions about three pretty distinct realms of endeavor. But the answer to all three of your... Read more
I love laptop computers. Because I love my lap. But that’s really a whole other dysfunction. Speaking of dysfunctions, in Feb. 2007 I bought a Dell laptop, the Inspiron We Hate You. Its operating system is Vista Home Basic. If you’ve ever used Vista Home Basic, you’re not reading this. Because you’re dead. Because you killed yourself. After I used Vista Home Basic, I wanted help killing myself. So I Googled “escape Vista!”. The moment I had finished typing the word... Read more
On Saturday, September 26, I’ll be conducting a workshop at the annual San Diego Christian Writers Guild conference entitled “Overcoming The Harsh Realities of Publishing.” Since most of the conference attendees will be curious about getting published in the Christian book market, I’m sure its the “harsh realities” of that realm of publishing I’ll be expected to address. So I should probably start thinking of what some of those harsh realities are. Hmmm. You need a platform. That’s pretty much it. If... Read more
“God is Love.” Great! It’s the richest philosophical/religious proposition possible. What it means to us Christians, though, is that (what with our being made in God’s image, and all) we, too, are supposed to be All Love All the Time. Not so great. Instant fail. Because who can be about love all the time? Life is hard—and when it’s hard, it’s either frightening or angering, either of which tends to cancel out love like a famished shark cancels out Charlie the Thermometer Tuna. People behave... Read more
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