Tag: faith

God is dead

“God is dead”. Any objections?

The tendency toward the total privatization of religious life is particularly strong today, especially in the new generation.
genes and behaviour

It wasn’t me! It was Eve, the snake or the genes!

The stakes are high when it comes to homosexuality, promiscuity, alcoholism, violence, and the like. Previously seen as a result of environmental influence and moral choice, they have now become a genetical given.
sabbath

Rest and leisure: no one excuses distraction anymore

Nearly four millennia after the stone ratification of the law on weekly rest, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) reiterates the right of every person to rest and leisure.[1]
awakenings

The role of hope in healing from “survivor’s guilt”

I don’t think I did anything significant the afternoon I saw the movie “Awakenings”. The feeling that I had reached the heart of the human condition strongly impressed me with the idea that we are born captive in a limited nature, and that gave me a heavy feeling of loss.
big choices

Doubt and the big choices

Some people regret the big choices they’ve made in life; others regret that life has not given them a choice.
martin luther

The saint who hated God

Martin Luther believed that he knew exactly what God expected of him, and in the tireless endeavour to please God, he came to the point of hating Him.
workism

The golden handcuffs and the new religion of work

An old Romanian proverb states that craft is like a golden bracelet. But the way we relate to this type of jewellery seems to suggest that these golden bracelets are more like some socially acceptable handcuffs, which we fooled ourselves into wearing with pride.
faith

Is faith reasonable?

Science and faith, as important tools in the knowledge process, are often perceived to be in a tense relationship with each other, because of the fundamentally different worldviews that characterize them. The implications for life’s big questions are obvious—and sufficient to rob someone of the comfort of indifference towards such high-stakes conclusions.
reformation

How (not) to clip the wings of reformation

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Europe was hit hard by several disasters, the proportions of which are difficult to imagine today.
meritocracy

The slumber of the proud

One of the best-known stories told by ambitious entrepreneurs today is that if you work hard, you will have a lot.
trust

The migration of trust in the digital age

Trust is the main currency of the age in which we live, and people seem to be changing the directions they invest in faster than in the past. How is our life of faith influenced by how we relate generally to trust?
cynicism

Cynicism as helplessness

The events of July 2016 deepen the social gaps that have become a mark of the 21st century. In an increasingly absurd dialogue of violence, the fighters are radicalizing. Some become religious fanatics, others nationalists. Some become terrorists, others xenophobes. What is constant is the spiral of resentments. On the other hand, the disarming spectacle of political imposture continues. Trump and, more recently Erdogan, are in the forefront.
maid

Maid review: Netflix series tackles big issues to big success

Maid continues the tradition of a made-for-television series that explores a story with depth and detail that a feature film cannot. Rather than being action packed from start to finish, each episode in Maid has a story arc that keeps you on the edge of your seat while simultaneously building the greater narrative. Unlike shows that go on forever or movies squeezed into two hours, these limited mini-series are like extended movies. There is no filler action, every scene is carefully crafted to continue the storyline and the characters are developed to a depth not possible in other styles of storytelling.
bible

The break between the Old and New Testament and the dilemma of the unchanging God

My first Bible was given to me by Pastor Damian Zamfir in the winter of 1972. Pastor Zamfir, the man who led my first steps on the path to Christ, invited me to visit him in the parish house of the Adventist church on Rodnei Street in Targoviste.
Does religion cause war

Does religion cause war?

Does religion cause war? It’s a firm yes from British zoologist and vocal atheist Richard Dawkins, who sees a direct correlation between the two.