In search of balance
The year 2022 was perhaps richer than previous years in events that affected the whole world.
COVID-19: How can we transform the crisis?
Tens of thousands of articles about the new coronavirus crisis are filling news outlets around the world these days. What is the crisis, how we go through it, what to do, how to do, when to do it etc. Only one thing seems certain these days: our uncertainty about the future. We would prefer an authority to go out in public and tell...
This product is a supplement for the mind
In the movie A Beautiful Mind, there is a scene in which the brilliant mathematician John Nash reveals how he manages to function, despite the schizophrenia that has tormented him for years. “I still see things that are not there,” said Nash, “I just choose not to acknowledge them. Like a diet of the mind, I just choose not to indulge certain appetites.”
What is depression, and why should it be treated?
Imagine yourself entering a shopping mall with your sunglasses on. Even though the lights are shining brightly, you cannot see them. Everything around you is dark and cold. But as soon as you remove your glasses, the world comes alive: the windows of the shops shine attractively, you see the brightly-coloured clothes, and the dazzling screen of the phone blinks with an incoming...
Disciplining children creates distance. True or false?
He is 22 years old and has deep black eyes. He is tall and very confident. Why wouldn’t he be? He is doing satisfactorily in college, works to support himself and makes the most of his free time with his friends.
The false dilemma: Are there really only two choices?
The false dilemma fallacy presents an issue as if there are only two ways to solve it—often, two opposite ways—when, in fact, there are more ways than that. The conflict between the two ways presented is also false.
COVID-19 after vaccination: How much does vaccination protect us?
Why can vaccinated people still get COVID-19 or even die from the disease?
The end of the world according to Christianity
The idea of the end of the world refers to the end of the social order and humanity; the end of the planet as we know it. But according to the Bible, these will not all come at once.
The appeal to novelty: How can it be faulty when it’s so bright and shiny?
To make an argument by appealing to the novelty of an idea— to the innovation it brings to a certain area—is not necessarily wrong. The visionary thinker Alvin Toffler coined the wonderful phrase nostalgia for the future, referring to his appreciation of the adventure the future promises through the desire many of us have to merge with 'the new' that is still developing...
To whom, how much, and how do we lend money? | Biblical coordinates
In order to obtain money, along with the facilities offered by specialised institutions (banks, credit unions, mutual assistance services), many people resort to a series of ad-hoc financial relations, known as “personal loans”.
I am not a sinner
I grew up in a small town called Utsunomiya, three hours away from Tokyo. When I was a child, I was certain that there was a God and that He loved me. Then I grew up and began to wonder, “If there is a good God, why is there so much suffering in the world? Why do innocent children die? Why is the...
“In the ferocious world beneath the heavens”
Looking back, I realize how the ferocious world beneath the heavens is tamed, at crucial moments, through communication on that biblical Ladder of Jacob.
Snail racing: The strange social dynamics dictated by social networks
Social interactions and the tools that facilitate them are changing the world in ways that even now, after all this time, we cannot anticipate.
“Having a child solves all a couple’s problems.” True or false?
"Once upon a time, there was a princess as beautiful and kind as a fairy. She was an only child and her parents loved her dearly and did everything for her. When she grew up, they gave her a magnificent wedding to the brave man she had chosen, a handsome and virtuous fellow. After a while, misfortune struck: not a day would pass...