Text – Amos 5:10-13: People hate this kind of talk. Raw truth is never popular. But here it is, bluntly spoken: Because you run roughshod over the poor and take …
What is Nihilism?
Nihilism (/ˈnaɪ(h)ɪlɪzəm, ˈniː-/; from Latin nihil ‘nothing’) is a philosophy that holds that human values are baseless, that life is meaningless, that knowledge is impossible, or that some set of …
210124 Decline of the Religious Right
Op-Ed: The ferocious last gasps of the religion of Christian America by RICHARD T. HUGHES, Ph.D. JAN. 19, 20213 AM Donald Trump’s presidency has baffled the majority of Americans for …
Illogic in 2020
Very soon the election which our nation completes on Tuesday, November 3, will be history. Votes will have been cast and counted, and eventually, a winner will be declared. I …
Wright & Collins sing Genesis
The guy on the left, in this picture, is N. T. Wright, internationally known New Testament scholar and expert on the Apostle Paul. The guy on the right is Dr. …
The Social Dilemma
In the past month I’ve had 2-3 friends recommend the Netflix Docu-drama, The Social Dilemma, to me, and I decided I should pay attention to them. The movie is about …
Notorious RGB
Pretty soon after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death was announced, crowds started gathering in front of the Supreme Court Building. An Associated Press article about the crowd, (hundreds of people large) …
Nostalgia
I’ve been thinking about the role of Nostalgia in our lives. When we think of nostalgia, most of the time what comes to mind are things like a ’64 Mustang, …
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
I had a conversation recently about the normalcy of seeing falsehoods deliberately posted on social media for the purpose of confusing the public about political and social matters. Generally speaking, …
The Benefits of Owning a Goat
Geeta’s days used to begin at 4 A.M doing household chores like grinding seeds and grains and cleaning animal sheds. Then she would work for 12 backbreaking hours in construction …
200701 Corrie Ten Boom
Due to a clerical error during WW2, Corrie Ten Boom was released from Ravensbruck one week before all the women her age were killed. She began traveling and …
Introspection
Introspection is an incredible, absolutely necessary tool for growth and healing. Without introspection one cannot gain insight into one’s own behaviors. Without insight into one’s behaviors it is difficult if …
An Old Commandment
Most scholars agree that the letter of 1 John was written in the late 90’s AD. This was during the reign of Domitian, an emperor famous for his enforcement of …
200412 Astronauts’ Tips
An Astronaut’s Tips For Living in Space – Or Anywhere Adapted from a Twitter Thread by astronaut Anne McClain One thing astronauts have to be good at: living in confined …
Thou art Peter
Texts give visual clues about their meanings. Comma’s, for example, help prevent confusion like in this sentence. “Let’s eat Grandpa.” Sounds like a group of cannibals. But a comma clears …
Translating the Bible
There is a theory of interpretation which says that the reader brings the meaning to the text, not the reverse. There have been poetry and prose writers who subscribed to …
Emptying the Cross
There is so much more I’d like to say on the subject of “emptying the cross of its power” from Sunday’s sermon, but I’ll leave it at this little bit. …
Poem for a New Year
A Prayer for LifeSpringers New Years, 2020 All. Courageous and hopeful Never showing defeat when Numbers are down on Sunday Or financial challenges come. Guests warmly welcomed Not en masse. …