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The Wrath of God
My earliest memories of wrath are of my mom. She was a great mom, but she wouldn’t put up with nonsense or misbehavior. When I grew up, discipline meant spanking, so my mom would sometimes spank me if I had done something to seriously displease her. My earliest crime, maybe at the age of three,…
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Fear of Hell
Home is the place where, when you have to go there,They have to take you in. Robert Frost, “The Death of the Hired Man” To me this sounds more like hell than home, but that could be because I grew up in a loving home where I almost always found comfort and security. Still, for…
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You’re Still Not Special
If you remember middle school and even high school at all, you remember wanting to fit in. Being different from about 6th grade to 10th is a terrible curse fraught with repeated attempts to be yourself—whoever that is—while being like everyone else. Most kids don’t want to be special. Yet our culture constantly tells them…
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All Things New
Aging takes place at a pace that makes so many changes imperceptible. When you are a child, every experience is new. You don’t crave novelty because novelty is all you’ve ever known. Nameless feelings well up within prompted by intense sensations. Plain bread is exciting. Primary colors are a thrill. You hear upper harmonics in…
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Just Deserts
Among atheists, Christians have a reputation for consigning people to heaven or hell based on the orthodoxy of their beliefs. You can be a sexual predator who preys on children, but if you confess your sins and accept Jesus as your savior, you have a guaranteed spot in heaven. On the other hand you can…