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Tag: The Gospel

FYI…From God

FYI…From God

One of the most ubiquitous abbreviations of the modern era is FYI (‘For your information’ or with sarcastic intent, ‘For your ignoring’).  Use of the latter meaning is especially prevalent among cheeky but timid subordinates who think the boss isn’t paying due heed.  Sometimes they’re right.  [And sometimes they’re just passive aggressive worriers, obsessing over nothing.] Self-appointed prophets of doom may be prone to histrionics and are often proved wrong when the deadlines on their dire predictions expire without incident.  Yet every once in…

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Memoir From Hell

Memoir From Hell

How did I end up in hell?  Can’t see what difference it makes, but I’ll tell you, if you really want to know… One day, I received a summons out of the blue, with a Notice To Appear on a certain date and time.  I was not expecting that.  The timing wasn’t convenient for me, so I set it aside, figuring I’d deal with it later.  It may have ended up in the garbage. I’m not sure.  When I didn’t show on the appointed day,…

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What Are You Waiting For?

What Are You Waiting For?

There is a palpable mood of anticipation across the world today and it is not a hopeful one.  It is one part shapeless anxiety, one part nameless dread of something as yet invisible but just around the corner, and three parts certainty that disaster will soon be arriving on platform 7…or maybe 8.  Please meet your party. Needless to say, it is not a positive energy.  It is less about embracing change than it is bracing for impact.   There is a sense that tectonic…

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Before All Else Fails

Before All Else Fails

In the software development world, conventional wisdom holds that when something new is not working as expected, the trouble can usually be traced to inadequate requirements gathering, faulty design or user error.  In the infamous “some assembly required” scenario, the customer actually gets involved in final “construction” and user acceptance testing. While this approach may have some advantages, overeagerness to begin using the product at once may lead to rushing and avoidable mistakes.  Such mistakes are compounded when in a quest to…

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Silly Saga Of A Strange Soiree

Silly Saga Of A Strange Soiree

The Smiths were entertaining friends one evening when the front doorbell rang about 10 PM.  Mrs. Smith, an attentive hostess, showed no sign of having heard.  Her husband wondered briefly if perhaps he’d imagined the sound.  He shrugged and went back to shuffling the cards for the next round of play. The bell resumed its ringing—louder, longer, and more insistent than before.  The button was pushed and released again and again, at shorter and shorter intervals.  Whoever this nocturnal visitor was, he or she was clearly…

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The First Skeptics

The First Skeptics

We live, we are told, in a “post truth” world, in which eternal verities are said to be irrelevant and reason, superfluous.  It is a place where critical thinking is neither valued nor practiced, and the good faith exchange of logical arguments in debate is a thing of the past. How did we get here?  By rejecting “absolute truth,” by which facts are distinguishable from falsehoods, fantasies, and errors based on objective, empirical data.  The fixed and finite nature of absolute truth is…

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Requiem For Innocence

Requiem For Innocence

There was Adam and then there was Eve.  Created in the moral image of God.  Righteous. Pure.  Consciences clean and clear.  So totally innocent they did not even notice their physical and spiritual nakedness.  In this pristine state, they were possessed of the ultimate humility: utter unselfconsciousness. They could not be described as blameless, as no wrong had been done to which blame might attach.  To call them sinless would be inaccurate, as sin had not entered their minds.  Their character was uncorrupted, but it had never been put…

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Of Passive Pilgrimage And Passion

Of Passive Pilgrimage And Passion

A dozen years ago, I made a pilgrimage of sorts, to Israel.  It was not a primarily religious odyssey.  Having studied and believed the Bible all of my life, there was nothing that I needed to prove, reinforce or see for myself.  I viewed such opportunities as incidental, though as it turned out, they were profoundly consequential, in terms of their impact on me. But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I should probably share that I very nearly had to cancel my travel as,…

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Too Good To Be True?

Too Good To Be True?

An aphorism is a saying expressing the collective wisdom gained from the common experience of lots of people over long periods of time.  These homespun insights are not always true or universally true.  But they enshrine general principles reliable enough to have predictive value.  And because they transcend differences in age, sex, class, social status, and language (among others), aphorisms play an important role in shaping and homogenizing culture.  They also serve as safeguards for the young, sheltered, or naïve, against the danger of…

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Are You An Opportunist?

Are You An Opportunist?

Your answer to the question of whether you are an opportunist likely depends on your life experience and the context in which the word is used.  As for the first part (personal experience), most everyone has heard the word bandied about.  Most of us have seen the term used to describe the nature or behavior of another person, as in “she is an opportunist” (noun).  A person who acts that way, is said to be opportunistic (adjective).  Chances are, you yourself have applied this word…

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