Month: August 2017

Something Extra: Today’s Solar Eclipse

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I won’t do this often, but today’s special.  This afternoon (peaking at 2:41 PM where I’ll be watching) a narrow slice of the country (with way more than its normal population crammed in there together to see it) will have the rare pleasure of getting to witness a total solar eclipse.  This is a unique treat that in the whole of our galaxy happens only here on earth where the only creatures who inhabit our galaxy happen to live can see it.  Yet more than being something really cool, albiet totally random in a godless, chance-powered universe, an event like this one is a powerful pointer to the notion that maybe the whole thing isn’t a miracle of chance at all.  Perhaps there is an intelligent mind behind it.  Science stops there, but it doesn’t take a theologian very much effort to make some hops, skips, or jumps to a thesis or twelve as to what kind of a mind this might be.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ecclesiastes 10:20

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“Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Ever wonder where the phrase “a little bird told me” came from?

All day long we see people and have thoughts about them.  We can’t help it.  They come to us almost before we even realize what is happening.  These snap judgments may be kind and charitable, but they also may not be.  In fact, for most of us, they’re not more often than they are.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Ecclesiastes 9:11

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“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Thanks to the influence of Eastern religious movements in this country, we have a fairly common phrase for when something unfortunate has happened to someone.  It comes in many forms, but the simplest (and cleanest) statement is this: “That’s Karma.”   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ecclesiastes 7:10

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“Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’  For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever longed for the “good old days”?  Why?  What about them did you desire?  Simpler times?  Different social interactions?  Fewer burdens?  No social media?

I have come to the conclusion that one of the major false gods of our culture is called Nostalgia.  The thing about Nostalgia, though, is that he is subtle.  No one realizes they are worshiping him at first, and even if you were to point it out to them, they’d just respond, “No, I’m not.  I’m just reminiscing about the way things were.”

And yet, this is what the worship of Nostalgia looks like.  We come to his altar and offer sacrifices of time and memory.  We offer cynicism about the current state of the world.  We offer judgments of people who are younger than we are.  In return, he gives us warm feelings about the past that are a comforting salve for the pressures of the present.   Read the rest…