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May 2014

May 27, 2014

Authentic Adulthood: It Gets Joyful!

If high school or college is the best time in your life, then either your...

May 23, 2014

Authentic Adulthood: Be Good for Goodness Sake

Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up...

May 20, 2014

E Pluribus Unum

"Out of many, one." Our national motto should remind Americans that unity is hard, disunity...

May 16, 2014

Knowledge needs Jesus

"Wisdom comes from God, knowledge from school. Seek wisdom and knowledge." That is a jolly Christian...

May 15, 2014

Aspirations and the Problem of Purity

Aspiring to excellence, or at least goal setting, is a good thing but like every...

May 08, 2014

Five Things I Should Just Stop Doing

If there is no fool like an old fool, then as an older American I...

May 06, 2014

Handicapping 2016

My track record at picking Presidential winners is mixed: Obama 2008 was correct, Romney 2012...

May 01, 2014

Do you love me?

Only once, at summer camp, did I pluck a flower saying: "She loves me, she...

April 2014

April 22, 2014

Where is God when it is fine?

Israel's sacred history struck me as odd when I was a young man: the better...

April 21, 2014

The Easter Bunny and the Blood Moon: Two Worries

We live in perilous times: Putin moves on Ukraine and Iran is getting the bomb,...

April 01, 2014

Letters to William: On God (Part 1)

Dear William, You have kindly let me share our correspondence with other people (at least...

March 2014

March 21, 2014

On Loving and Honoring My Parents

How do you honor your parents or childhood church if you fundamentally disagree with important...

March 10, 2014

And yet we must dream . . .

Not all dreams are valid and some dreams must die for our good, but yet...

March 04, 2014

The Ratatouille Trap

Ratatouille: a beautifully made movie based on a jaw-dropping premise: rats in the kitchen. It works,...

March 03, 2014

Dreams aren’t always “valid”

Lupita Nyong’o won an Oscar for an outstanding job as an actor in an important...

February 2014

February 26, 2014

Oh Amy.

She says the expected, twists it, and then a sly smile, eyes half closing, appears...

February 20, 2014

Hope at 50

Marriage is glorious when married to a woman proud of turning fifty: Hope Elizabeth turns...

February 17, 2014

Things to Learn from Rotten Presidents

Today is the day Americans celebrate our chief executive. This is a bizarre thing to...

February 12, 2014

On Meaningless Dialogue: Praying to Avoid Alcibiades in Me

An academic is willing to discuss anything. A human, perhaps, should not be willing to...

February 07, 2014

The Jelly Has Departed From You: A Logical Fallacy

Once, so long ago today's young earth creationists were all young, I was at a...

January 2014

January 20, 2014

Peace! Peace!

Today the United States celebrates the work of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., particularly his...

January 11, 2014

“Because of the Music”

Our most excellent friends sing for one of Southern California's best churches, but are often...

January 09, 2014

I have a dream!

Unless you are Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., you should avoid using "I have a...

January 07, 2014

In which I oppose animal cruelty. . .

A Facebook friend asked me to "oppose all animal cruelty" and I agreed to do...

January 05, 2014

Thoughts on Twelfth Night: Cursed Winter without Christmas

The end of the football season is upon us. If your team is still in...

January 03, 2014

Where have you gone Tom Brown?

If you love Harry Potter, then you owe a debt to Tom Brown. Tom Brown...

January 02, 2014

O Christ!

Jesus' last name is not Christ. I heard this in Sunday School, as a joke,...

December 2013

December 31, 2013

Five Dumb Ideas: A Recollection

A secular New Year (and the last half of the Christmas season) brings back memories....

December 19, 2013

In Which I Live Blog Sarah Palin’s New Book: “Good Tidings of Great Joy”

The Rules: In a live reading, I live my life while reading a book and...

December 04, 2013

Poor Shaming

We should help the poor and not shame them. Put succinctly: sinners should be ashamed,...