The blog Whovian Theology takes the Doctor Who episode “Kill the Moon” as a jumping off point for critiquing the widely-held view of God as one who doesn’t intervene to right the wrongs in our world, even though God could, in order to make room for our free will. One could easily substitute “Jesus” for “Doctor” in Clara’s speech, and find how clearly the point comes across. And for a related theme in a comic book which is now becoming a focus of... Read more
Plato’s Republic discusses how democracies devolve into tyrannies. When freedom is made an end in itself, the desire for unlimited freedom eventually sets a course towards anarchy, with people living in fear as nothing and no one is restrained, until eventually someone offers to bring things under control and restore order and security. When a democracy which is thirsting for freedom has evil cupbearers presiding over the feast, and has drunk too deeply of the strong wine of freedom, then, unless her... Read more
The episode set the pattern of focusing on one character and telling their earlier story in flashbacks. The irony is that the title means “clean slate,” and yet the flashbacks show things that shape who characters are, even on the island. Jack says that it doesn’t matter who we were before, and says, “Three days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over.” This was intended to get people wondering whether these are survivors, or people... Read more
Fred Clark has come up with a response to the phenomenon of conservative Christian “hell houses” for Halloween. His post literally made me laugh out loud. Here’s how it starts: Hell Houses are an irredeemably bad idea — a combination of the very worst forms of evangelism with the very worst forms of community theater. The only thing worse than their warped soteriology and eschatology is their stunted, politicized, culturally shaped notion of what constitutes human sin. Or maybe the writing... Read more
Twenty-Two Words shared a group of 29 unintentionally funny signs. I thought I'd share the one above. Presumably you can get both what its original intent was, and why it is funny. My pastor spoke today in a talk for children about “Why go to church?” Every answer people gave, he said, “but can't you do that at home or in other places?” He seemed to be making a pretty good case for us not needing to go to church!... Read more
Jesus never said, “You must be right,” or much less, “You must be sure you are good and right.” Instead he said, “You must love one another.” His agenda is about growing in faith, hope, and love while always knowing that “God alone is good.” Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality HT Nelu Balaj Read more
I have finally started rewatching LOST. There are lots of scenes which I have had in mind throughout the series, such as the iconic one with John Locke talking about backgammon, the strange thing that moves in the forest, the hearing of the message in French that had been repeating for more than 16 years, and of course the polar bear. But there are many which I had forgotten, as characters were introduced. Some were subtle but particularly poignant –... Read more
“Mummy on the Orient Express”brings together all the things that Doctor Who has done well for a long time – myth, science, and terror. The episode takes place almost entirely on board a faithful replica of the Orient Express train – in space. The plan is for this to be the last journey for the Doctor and Clara. But as we soon learn, people are dying on the train. And we soon learn that what is unfolding matches a myth about... Read more
I’m grateful to Marguerite Stanciu of the Center for Faith and Vocation at Butler University for drawing attention to the above video. I was there to hear Allan Boesak speak, and it is part lecture, part sermon, and wholly inspirational. I encourage you to give it a listen. Read more
Some predicted that the overall harmful effects of debates such as Bill Nye’s with Ken Ham would outweigh the benefits. What do you think? Hemant Mehta shared a talk Nye gave recently in which he talked about the debate (among other things): IO9 shared a famous example of the danger of engaging a fanatic in debate. The article’s conclusion? “While, much of the time, a person who jumps into the fray and debates a subject honestly is a hero — there is plenty... Read more
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