Living on Secular Earth While believers acknowledge that Earth was created by God, it can sometimes be hard to maintain this belief when there is so much ungodliness in the world. Is it even possible to remain faithful in God when there is so much evil occurring on a global scale? It depends. Faithfulness requires a suspension of one’s secular perception and/or worldviews and the placing of trust in God. To that extent, one can indeed remain... Read more
In a prior article entitled “What is Your Version of Hell?“, I wrote about the treatments of Hell in the Sacred Texts. For Believers, it is common to cite scriptures on God’s created universe and all its natural properties and celestial bodies. Although tinged with a Biblical flavor, church goers and ministers sometimes dwell upon cosmological topics which include the stars, the planets and the infinite domains of time and space. Why? Perhaps it’s to better understand and/or explain... Read more
Today, we hear a lot of talk about “What is the truth?” We’re bombarded daily by “fact-finding” emissaries all over the news media outlets ranting, raving and debating over last night’s latest spin on what I like to now call “ reality” news. The mainstream news is now akin to a reality show. We often question whether there are any real “truths” being offered. For Christians as well as Jews and Muslims, the concept of “Truth” becomes one of... Read more
In a prior article in this series where I spotlighted Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”, I wrote about a man’s obsession with fate and challenging the ways of God. In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (RAM) we see a different yet Christian-inspired poem which depicts another thematic cycle. In RAM, we see a narrative poem/tale of a man seeking atonement for killing a defenseless bird (an Albatross). When we speak of atonement, we speak of the guilty, of... Read more
You’ve all seen the headlines haven’t you? It goes something like this. First, there is a mass shooting in some part of main street USA. People die. Children die. Always, always, children get caught in the shooter’s cross-hairs until the shooter is brought down or else, takes his own life. Then there is the aftermath. Mass shootings always bring the issue of gun control to the forefront. It’s like a nightmarish math formula really. First the child dies... Read more
In this fourth installment, I explore a chapter within Fydor Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” Chapter 4 of Book II entitled “The Grand Inquisitor” is an important “short story within a book” that all people, believers and non-believers should read. The Brothers Karamazov is Dostoevsky’s “tour-de-force” novel and it’s considered by many to be his best for its content. I mention this solely to differentiate the author’s style versus his content. Although Dostoevsky’s style can leave a bit to be... Read more
In this third installment within this series, I tackle one of the most important and engaging novels of the early 21st century. Yann Martel’s 2001 novel, “The Life of Pi” was an astounding, bestselling success. The book eventually seeded a 2012 major motion picture release which provided a surprisingly good adaptation of Martel’s wonderful novel. There are 3 key themes to this novel. The Story of God is not unique to a subset or category of people. The main... Read more
In the first article in this series, I wrote about “Moby Dick”, the story about a man’s arrogance and the challenge of the Whale “as God” that led to the entire crew’s downfall. With Paul Coelho’s “The Alchemist, we have a very different tale of a shepherd boy’s quest to find a treasure and yet finding life along the way. In Coelho’s enormously popular book, a repeating message about finding one’s “personal legend” or path drives the narrative forward. ... Read more
He’s there sometimes y’know. Whether you’re in a neighborhood library, in a bookstore or even online at your favorite eBook vendor. Apart from the Bible, the Quran and really any of the sacred texts, there are some amazing classic poems & novels that contain God-inspired themes. While this is no secret, we’re not always told about this when we are assigned to read some of these works by our schools. If you endeavor to read these on your own, you... Read more
The morning breaks. You awake or perhaps you don’t. Or maybe you move yourself, go through the motions as you’ve come to know them. A short coffee brings you only to a higher state of wakefulness. You dress in the mirror and look at what appears. Sometimes it’s not even you or is it? The drive engages you with it. The world that is… There’s no hiding from the freeway. And then you see it. It’s always there. The... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In