Christ, The Word, The Church, The Republic
The Regularizing Influence: I was a nerdy grind in my late 1970s public high school, but the television was on quite a bit at home, with the usual cycle: afternoon re-runs of the Rifleman and Ozzie & Harriet, followed by evening news, a break for family dinner, a few mom-approved sitcoms and then, sometimes, nightly..
What my critics have in common.. The times in which we live: In the event we return to public health sanity across the globe someday, and my current outrage appears incomprehensible, I note at the outset that Australia has, at this writing, descended into public health totalitarianism, complete with mandatory apps designed to keep you..
Let this one sink in… “They adapted the mice using human fetal tissue by the way.” Not only is the Commie virus (Covid 19), a pathogen designed by human beings, its very engineering was made possible by human fetal cell tissue used to “humanize” mice.. It’s mentioned as an aside by Chris Waldburger here, but..
“Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones..” With the possible exception of cafeteria pizza on Fridays, nothing feels, to me, more “late 20th century public school” than reading and discussing Shirley Jackson’s 1948 short story, “The Lottery” I think, in my own case, we may have been assigned it twice, and it..
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” “..and all liars..” Something more of us should ponder: “..the fear of the Lord is the beginning..
I woke up this morning with a kind of agitated melancholy, trying to summon up the plot of a dream that involved the landscapes of the San Gabriel Valley in my youth. It was some sort of Alta Dena/Sierra Madre back street, hilly, lined with tire shops and liquor stores. A guy in a jean..
Is it just me or is it even more crazy than usual? Most of us sense the big streak of pure crazy at the heart of the world’s order — that vast pool of “plain wrong” billowing up like dangerous waters below us. Christianity makes it no less than a central dictate: “Do not love..
When I was a young teenager, I had the keen sense that you couldn’t make “Commie” jokes or register any alarm about the threat of Communism. In 1973, it wasn’t so much about McCarthyism as it was about your own reputation. The left had successfully characterized anyone justifiably worried about Communist totalitarianism as a goat-roping..
When people struggle to get close to God, to find a God they don’t feel is near, wise old men usually give counsel in this order: alms, scripture, and obedience. Alms: Try it one of these days. Do something wonderful for someone who can never pay you back. Do it in secret. Don’t tell a..
Am I reading this wrong? So I read and re-read the Bible, slowly, usually over about 18 months at a time. I like to consider the Word, post the Word on social media, discuss the Word, argue about the Word, read commentaries about the Word– and see if I understood the great Father God Creator..
