Freedoms on the verge of extinction
"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force." (Ayn Rand)
The new coronavirus: what is a balanced reaction?
Who do we listen to? Who is right? Who is balanced? How should we react to the risk of the new coronavirus?
How well do you know your heroes?
In 2016, I noticed advertising for a new quiz show called Hard Quiz coming to ABC TV in Australia.
Help is on the way. Hope is the way
1. I remember that day, 9/11. It was chaos. Violence, shortage of food. For several days, it was uncertain if there would be more...
How much do the origins of our errors in judgement matter?
An article in the New Yorker[1] explains why we tend to not change our convictions, not even when faced with contrary evidence.
Happiness is under the shadow of closeness
The first few seconds are confusing, voices and blurred figures buzzing nearby, and it seems to me that some clumsy hands are trying to pull me out of this zigzag between sleep and wakefulness. I clearly hear a woman's voice announcing that I'm waking up and, before I'm completely out of this state of drowsiness, I realise I'm in intensive care.
Future technology and current concerns
"[B]ut test them all; hold on to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Insomnia and God’s bird
Carolynn Yakush inherited her taste for the good life from her Czech grandparents, and her interest in faith from her mother and the Christian schools she went to. For many years, the desire for money and a life of luxury overshadowed her spiritual and religious concerns. One day, almost without thinking about it, she entered a church again, and was amazed at the...
The God of love and the dilemmas of violence
God's decision to reveal His intentions regarding Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham is one of the most memorable moments in biblical history.
How can we prepare for a potential infection with COVID-19?
Although a small minority deny the existence of COVID-19 (claiming that it is a malicious conspiracy), most people are interested in what they can do to be as prepared as possible for a potential encounter with the dreaded virus.
From me to us | Friendship and reciprocity
The wisdom of friendship consists in finding those who do not require a price, or ask you to change.
The most common mistakes parents make with their own parents
I just got back from the funeral of a fifty-four-year-old mother who left behind a grieving teenager. His father told how the boy wanted to ask his mother for forgiveness, on her deathbed, for all the stubbornness typical of a seventeen-year-old. He was already forgiven.
Relics: The miracle of faith or its illusion?
October 13, 1247. In the Westminster Cathedral in London, the crowd was eagerly awaiting the revelation of a great mystery.
Is Jesus Christ the only Saviour of the world?
How can salvation be real and certain only through Jesus Christ when countless people have never even heard His name? If billions of people have no knowledge of Him, isn’t the role of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world exaggerated? And are there no other ways of salvation besides Him?
Trust in God and the great small step
Trust in God gives clarity to our thinking, so God asks us not to be obsessed with justice, but to be concerned with and delighted by grace.