One day in Oklahoma in 1999, Clayton Lockett and a couple friends decided to rob a house. Unfortunately for 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman, she and a friend came “home” to that house, interrupting the intruders. I don’t know what happened to her friend, but Stephanie was beaten and bound with duct tape. Lockett shot her twice […]
No, no, I’m not the new U.S. ambassador to New Zealand. (Darn it!) This is something else. Remember a few weeks ago, when I announced that I would be starting to post about sci-fi/fantasy and action/adventure stuff on this blog? (If not, just trust me. I said it.) I know several of my friends and […]
Announcement! Announcement! Announcement! OK, the news isn’t really all that fantastic, nor is it super or amazing. It certainly isn’t incredible or even uncanny. Some of you may think it’s just ho-hum. But, I have decided to occasionally post about something totally unrelated to the major subjects of this blog — namely, sci-fi/fantasy and action/adventure. […]
Part 10: Scarecrows, Decoys, and Invisible Elephants We get three lessons today, boys and girls, as we head into the home stretch for this series (sort of)! Straw Man Everyone has heard of this one. You don’t have to be involved in debates and discussions on controversial topics for long before someone accuses someone else […]
OK, something rather less weighty or theologically-oriented this year. This Christmas post has little to do with the biblical Nativity and more to do with Christmas traditions in general. (Maybe I should do another one someday with just Christian-oriented things?) But, I think you may find it fun and informative, anyway. It’s a sort of […]
“Solid female characters, not just superheroes, are essential for the Arab world at this time of unprecedented violence against women.” — Joumana Merhej, creator of female Muslim superhero “Malaak” (quoted by Salon editor/writer Prachi Gupta) A Facebook friend of mine posted an article announcing Marvel Comics’ new “Muslim Girl Superhero”, which will debut in January […]
“But examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” — I Thessalonians 5:21 (NASB) I’m not really into Halloween. Haven’t been for years. Sure, in my early years, I did the whole trick-or-treating thing. I remember, when I was around 5 or 6, I went out dressed […]
It’s controversial holiday time, again. Yaaayyy!!! Columbus Day is celebrated as a U.S. federal holiday (since 1936) in honor of the intrepid explorer Christopher Columbus’ initial landing in the Bahamas and, therefore, the Americas. The facts that Columbus was a) not the first non-native to “find” the New World (ask Leif Erickson) and that b) […]
“Use soft words and hard arguments.” — English proverb “Soft words are hard arguments.” — Thomas Fuller (emphasis mine) Among the various books I have in progress, lately I’ve been reading Arguing with Friends: Keeping your friends and your convictions by Paul Buller. It’s a relatively thin book, but I only read 2 or 3 […]
“Those who are unwilling or incapable of discerning or judging between good and evil are in this manner revealing either their disobedience or their immaturity.” — Pastor E.L. Bynum In our last “episode”, we began to address the issue of what it means to “judge” others. Specifically, we took a practical, nonsectarian look at why […]
