Skeptical Faith

Google Image There’s an ad appearing regularly on streaming video, and I assume on regular TV, showing an attractive young woman with beautiful, long black hair who has just used a hair product that has made her hair gleaming and shiny. Walking down a city street, she passes a store front with a big window and can’t resist stopping to look at her reflection, running her hand down her hair as if appreciating a luxurious garment. Her face conveys a self-satisfaction, even smugness that says, “My hair and I are beautiful. Aren’t I wonderful?” This is a message conveyed by an endless barrage of TV advertising that wants you to believe that their products – from hair and beauty products to toilet-bowl cleaners - will make you feel good about yourself. And feeling good about yourself is a cultural priority. Pop Psychology Obviously, it’s not good to feel bad about yourself, and contemporary psychology has helped us appreciate this fact. But there’s psychology as a science – which is on...

Google Image Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know about the recent murder of Charlie Kirk, a religious conservative, co-founder of Turning Point USA and an influential voice in the Trump administration. He was reported to have been shot in Utah by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson who was apparently opposed to Kirk’s teachings. It comes several months after the fatal shooting of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, 55, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark. They were murdered in their home by a person described as “a far-right extremist.” An article on the website, A Mighty Girl, posted by a friend on Facebook, quotes the Center for Strategic and International Studies that between 2016 and 2025, there were 25 attacks and threats targeting elected officials, political candidates, judges and governmental employees that were motivated by partisan beliefs. It metastasizes Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, had this to say about the Kirk killing, according to t...

Google Image A phrase in the “Our Father,” also called the Lord’s Prayer, has always been a problem for me. To me, this phrase expresses the aspiration that we, and everybody else, follow God’s will. And in context, the implication seems to be that God’s will will be done on the arrival of God’s kingdom (“Thy Kingdom Come”). But following God’s will is easier said than done, as expressed in the Book of Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the   mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth and what is within our grasp we find   with difficulty. But when things are in heaven, who can search them out? Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? Does It Answer the Question? Ok, this is a hin...

Google Image Interesting, isn’t it, how things can be going smoothly in your life, then all of a sudden, they’re not? Those things may be relatively insignificant, like getting cut off in traffic, misplacing a credit card, or spilling a quart of milk. Or they may be big things, like the illness of a spouse, the death of a family member, the loss of a job. So, there’s this trait called endurance, which Dictionary.com defines as “ the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions .” Some people just don’t have it. Others do. Some have it in spades. Harder As You Age? Endurance gets harder as you age – deserting you when you need it most. I’d like to think that I have an above average amount of endurance, that I can maintain that “bring it on” attitude in the face of the vagaries of old age. But I may be kidding myself. As I’ve mentioned before, when things go my way, I’m a saint. When they’re not, well….” I can’t resist a...