Before and After
It strikes me that asking if I believe the world will come to an end is similar to asking me if I believe I will die. The answer, in both cases, is the same – yes, but the important question is where, when, and how.
Spirituality Archives
March 23, 2007 10:51 AM
Comments (14)May 28, 2007 10:46 AM
The Heavy Yoke of Religion
“The law of religion is the great attempt of humankind to overcome anxiety and restlessness and despair, to close the gap within themselves and to reach immortality, spirituality, and perfection.” --Paul Tillich.
After college and three years in the Marine Corps I went to seminary. I was married, with a young son.
June 1, 2007 9:31 AM
Life is Tough
With some frequency, my wife and I look at each other and say – “life is really tough.” In the last 24 hours we have spoken with friends and loved ones hearing of their life difficulties, including: a spouse entering treatment for drug addiction; a first person witness of an attempted murder involving a pistol whipping and dousing of the victim in gasoline; the uncertainty of a possible final treatment option to stem the advance of a deadly form of cancer; and the difficulties of our son attempting to prepare for deployment to Iraq.
The week’s question and all of these incidents raise the problem (as other panelists have noted) of theodicy – how to justify the ways of God to those of us who are attempting to cope with the anxieties, fears, pain, and horrors which are thrust upon everyone by the awful stuff that happens in life.
July 3, 2007 7:24 AM
Peering Into the World of the Dead
At 1:52 AM on October 31,1999, a Boeing 767, EgyptAir Flight 990, plunged at almost Mach One into the ocean 60 miles south of Nantucket. Among the 217 persons on board were two friends with whom we had dined only four nights before.
Our friendship with this couple had begun through mutual interest and significant involvement in providing financial and volunteer support to St. Martin’s Ministries on the Delmarva Peninsula. St. Martin’s is a social service agency that distributes food and clothing to persons in need and also provides transitional housing and support services to at-risk mothers and their children. Over 20 years ago, Roman Catholic Benedictine nuns, who remain active at the core of the enterprise, originally founded St. Martin’s.
A major topic of conversation at our dinner together was the excited sharing of our friend’s plans for their long awaited, up-coming trip to Egypt. On October 31, the clock radio news awakened us, as it does each morning. Halfway through the news broadcast we realized that the plane crash being described was the aircraft our friends were riding. They were dead.
