epicproblem: Archive

“A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but...”

– Mark Twain

Feb 3rd

Feb 2nd

“Theology is the study of God and his ways. For all we know, dung beetles may...”

– Frederick Buechner

Jan 27th

“…in Jesus Christ I see the very God I want. I want a father like...”

– George MacDonald - Donal Grant

Jan 26th

Watch

Elizabeth Warren continuing to make sense…

Jan 25th

Jan 17th

fCb4: The Morality of Killing & Urinating..? →

fcb4: You can put a sniper round through a man’s head, obliterate a village with smart bombs or bayonet someone’s intestines out and that’s ‘morally justified’…but peeing on your enemy is a moral outrage? I’m confused by this morality. I’m also interested in understanding how soldiers are expected…

Jan 13th

1 note

“Destructive to marriage is the self-fulfillment ethic that assumes marriage and...”

– Stanley Hauerwas

Jan 10th

Jan 5th

“The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was...”

– Abraham Lincoln in a letter arguing against then-President Polk’s Mexican War (1848)

Dec 28th

1 note

Titles by Leonard Cohen

I had the title Poet and maybe I was one for a while Also the title Singer was kindly accorded me even though I could barely carry a tune For many years I was known as a Monk I shaved my head and wore robes And got up very early I hated everyone but I acted generously and no one found me out My reputation as a Ladies’ Man was a joke It caused me to laugh bitterly through the ten...

Dec 21st

Forbes on Advent Conspiracy →

This writer is dreaming BIG… I like it!

Dec 20th

Your Personal Lord and Savior

NT Wright in response to this question at a round table at Moody Bible Institute: How would you speak to an unbeliever that senses a personal guilt and alienation from God? Actually, I have to say, within western post-modernity, most human beings I meet are not walking around saying, “I feel terribly guilty. How can I get rid of this?” That’s simply not the way they’re asking the question. And I...

Dec 19th

Most insightful article about Tim Tebow yet. →

Dec 8th

Alabama's collateral damage rears its ugly head... →

Dec 7th

“God was not too pure to enter the world. The purity of love, therefore, will not...”

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dec 5th

Christian tipping a server →

You aren’t persecuted because you are a Christian, you are persecuted because you are a jerk.

Nov 28th

Watch

Perfect.

Nov 15th

Nov 11th

Steve Jobs, the Editor →

Jobs’s sensibility was more editorial than inventive. “I’ll know it when I see it,” he said.

Nov 7th

Nov 5th

Nov 1st

Whatever biblical means it doesn’t mean biblical

Recently I was invited to be a part of a conversation regarding how a community I’m associated with should approach a controversial topic. The stated goal of the conversation is to think about what a “biblical” approach would be regarding this issue. So I’ve been thinking a lot about the word biblical and about what it might mean. Here’s my basic observation:...

Oct 28th

Oct 18th

“A public union employee, a Tea Party guy, and a bank CEO are sitting at a table...”

– Just a little joke passed on by Steve Benen

Oct 17th

I'm pretty sure I'm a neo-hipster. →

I’ve reached a new level of meta-irony that will take you awhile to understand.

Oct 15th

Taxes aren't as progressive as we've been told... →

I often hear the soundbite that 47% of American’s don’t pay any income tax at all. This very misleading and I thought I’d remind us all again that income taxes aren’t the only type of tax levied against Americans. This is a good overview of total taxes paid by each income group… and the total percentages might surprise you.

Oct 12th

The Stories We Tell - pt2

The Christian Story By the mere fact that we exist is to know that we have been mentioned by God. We play a part in his song and story of creation and redemption. Often, this is a difficult story for me to accept, I’m a natural skeptic and I often don’t know what I believe until I do. But I know myself well enough that it is because my natural mind hides from this intimate connection with my...

Oct 11th

The Stories We Tell - pt1

This is an adaptation of the first part of my talk from Make Art or Die - Story. I’ll post part two tomorrow. My wife, Joy, is a storyteller. Her medium is the scrapbook. She weaves pictures, words, patterns, cutouts and various other items into bound stories. We have a ton of them lying all around our house; it’s the (sometimes embarrassing) visual history of our family and friends....

Oct 10th

The Price - A parable

This is a parable that I wrote a few months back. I’m reposting it because I read it last night at Make Art or Die - Story during my presentation. I’m going to be posting parts of that talk in the coming days. Thanks for reading. A beautiful and gracious young woman happened upon a disabled young man begging for alms in the gutter of the town square. She looked on him with compassion...

Oct 7th

“Christians do not believe we get to choose our story, but rather we discover...”

– Stanley Hauerwas

Oct 3rd

Sep 30th

“It is the privilege of Christians, as well as their responsibility, to tell...”

– Stanley Hauerwas - The Peaceable Kingdom

Sep 28th

Watch

Living Water Intl is closely tied to my church community and on 10/10/11 they are launching a project to promote trading non-water drinking for water drinking for 10 days. After the 10 days, you give the money you would have spent ($30-$50) to help bring clean water to others in need. http://www.10days.cc/ If you want more details or where to send the money, msg me on facebook.

Sep 27th

Sep 21st

Showing and Telling - A Parable

A pastor was sitting in her home studying in preparation for the weekend’s sermon. A loud rapping came from the front door of her home. She opened the door and saw one of her parishioners in an obvious state of dismay because of his red-rimmed eyes and stunted breathing. He said, “There is a family living just down the road that will be kicked out onto the street if they aren’t...

Sep 19th

Sep 15th

Apocalypse and Allegiance →

Worth a read-through… especially for my pre-millenial friends.

Sep 13th

Reconciliation

Now that the tenth anniversary of 9/11 has passed perhaps we can get on with the business to which, as Christians, we’ve been called. Reconciliation WORD over all, beautiful as the sky! Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost; That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil’d world: …...

Sep 12th

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment...”

– President Eisenhower in a letter to his brother - 1954

Sep 9th

A Marriage Ceremony Homily

I would like to begin this afternoon by reading a familiar passage from the Holy Scriptures which describes a beautiful image of all that love accomplishes. 1 Corinthians 13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to...

Sep 7th

“We must emphasize and give prominence to the primacy of humanity in the...”

– John Paul II - Laborem exercens (Happy Labor Day!)

Sep 5th