A Galaxy Not So Far Away

I have little patience for pseudo-reasoning. I object to hearing it from secularists just as strenuously as I object to hearing it from Christians.

All the Time in the World

Time, for the individual, is a one-way trap door. Every moment is a decision that irreversibly affects everything which comes after—for infinity, so far as we can tell.

The Shortest Story Ever Told

Allow me to present what, as far as I know, is the shortest story of all time.

God and Evil

I’ve been wrestling with the problem of God and evil for a while. It’s not a typo. The problem, to me, goes beyond good and evil and forces us to confront the problem of God and evil. Christians claim that their religion is the only true authentic religion—the only religion that includes divine incarnation, bodily …

The System Doesn’t Want to Be Fixed

Consider the absurdity of endeavoring to change a system whose most fundamental premise is that the system shall not be changed.

The Factory

In the factory, the workers either sit quietly in the training room with their backs to each other or stand at their place in the assembly line doing rote tasks. The manager is generally the only one who speaks. Sometimes, he calls on someone to voice his opinion, but the context of the question leaves little room for free expression. The leading question usually invites an answer that corroborates the manager’s opinion.

The Perfect System, Part 2

In 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote a clever poem: “The Deacon’s Masterpiece, or, the Wonderful One-Hoss Shay: a Logical Story.” You can read about the poem’s background here, if you’re so inclined. It’s a humorous and enjoyable poem. I recommend reading it now, because I’m about to spoil the ending for you. While the poem …

The Perfect System, Part 1

From the earliest days of recorded history, people have concluded that humans can engineer an exquisitely designed social structure that will shape society in  a manner that allows them to triumph over the human condition. Yet rather than acknowledging that human nature has remained fundamentally unaltered throughout its history, each succeeding generation has endeavored to re-create its own more perfect version of the Tower of Babel using various religious and political systems. Each has failed or is in the process of failing.

The Problem With Certainty

When an ideology does not permit opposing viewpoints, the resulting behavior often turns bitter, resentful—even violent.

Sometimes the Wood Does What it Wants

One of the things I dabble in—mostly for therapeutic reasons—is woodworking.  I’m far from being a master craftsman, and calling me an artist would be beyond generous.  But I’ve made enough things out of chunks of trees to have detected some patterns--and anti-patterns--in the character of wood.  Because of the Interrelatedness of Things, these patterns …