Parkerville

  I follow the podcast "Unbelievable" which is produced out of the UK. The show usually presents debates pairing a Christian believer with an unbeliever. They're held in a spirit of understanding rather than a desire to score points which makes them worth listening to. Recently an episode pitted Bart Ehrman, a world-famous Bible scholar and agnostic against Justin Bass a believer and author of a book on the resurrection of Jesus. The Christian fellow was new to me, but I was very familiar with Bart Ehrman. In addition to being a prolific author, Ehrman shows up in most public forums where the Bible is discussed, particularly where the program host would prefers that the expert is an unbeliever such as NPR's Fresh Air. I found him many years ago through one of his lecture series in the Great Courses series.  I currently follow his podcast "Misquoting Jesus" which is excellent. He knows his stuff and isn’t trying to shake the faith of his listeners (I doubt

Martin Heidegger is believed by many to be the most influential existentialist philosopher of the 20th century. During a lecture in 1961, in reply to the question of what one should do to live an authentic life (a life based on one's own values rather than following the herd), he said, " we should simply aim to spend more time in graveyards". Simon Critchley clarifies: " if we want to understand what it means to be an authentic human being, then it is essential that we constantly project our lives onto the horizon of our death. This is what Heidegger famously calls "being-towards-death "." Critchley  then backs this up with a quote from Cicero, "to philosophize is to learn how to die". If your  preference is silver throated country singers then there is this from Willie Nelson, " Live every day like it's your last one, one day you're gonna be right " ( from Live Every Day). All are saying that we will spend more time on what

 “Natural” happiness needs no explanation. It basically involves freedom from suffering and abundance in the good things of creation. In a world where God permits suffering for our good, natural happiness will at times fail us. The more important point though, is that we're made for a greater happiness. Our hearts want “more.” Faith makes possible a new kind of happiness: Christlike happiness. What does Christ delight in? There are many facets to Christlike happiness, and of course we speak of the ineffable. I would like to meditate here on His mercy. Christ is merciful and delights in rejuvenating our lives through His mercy. Mercy presupposes sin, failure, and disappointment. Mercy is the balm applied to the wound. Mercy sees the good on the other side of the trial. Mercy is willing to suffer and patiently wait things out. Mercy trust in the goodness of God's mysterious plans. Mercy has a bad memory for what is inconsequential and lives in the abundance of the moment. Mercy k

I delivered the remarks below on March 12 th 2023 during our Ward Conference. I was trying to make two points, first, regular (that is daily or almost) study of scripture combined with prayer is required to understand it's function, that is how scripture works. I make this point by sharing an exchange I had with a friend that had lost his faith where it became clear that as he had lost his faith, he had also forgot what the purpose of scripture is and what it does, reverting to the secular idea that scripture is essentially a collection of wisdom sayings considered sacred by a specific group. In short, he wouldn’t know scripture from the proverbial “hot rock”. The second point is the flip side of the first, that is, those who do study and pray regularly, find that their relationship with God deepens as they do so. In fact, the difference between being a cultural Christian and having personal faith in God is a direct function of this practice. This is true of any scripture (wri