Faith
Comments on a Life of Chaos
Did you ever know anyone who just seemed to live their life in constant chaos? Most likely. Chaos can become a part of our cultural understanding of the world around us. People raised in chaos often live chaotic lives. Some attempt a life of moderation – but under duress often resort to extreme chaos or […]
28Aug2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Comments on a Life of Chaos | Continued
12 Steps – A Program of Recovery
To continue this dialogue on 12 step programs – it seems only natural to describe the 12 steps. Distortions abound. Some clarity about this process might be useful to students of health care, people in the Ministry, medical professionals, and especially to those suffering from a hopeless state of mind and body. From page 59 […]
27Aug2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | 5 comments | Continued
The Zodiac Predicts Modern Holidays
Astrology – the predictor of the Christ. The three wise men followed their star charts to find the young King of men in his manger. Who, we ask, can argue with the validity of astrology. Even today, some 2,000 years later – the Zodiac accounts for, and often predicts, the activities of American holidays. I […]
9Jun2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Zodiac Predicts Modern Holidays | Continued
Of Fear, Faith, and Foreign Affairs
Fear and faith do not live in the same home. The word ‘faith’ conjures images of peace of mind, hope for the future, for the fellowship of man. Faith speaks to the lion lying with the lamb – and the lamb can sleep with both eyes closed. Fear exists in a troubled mind, a troubled […]
5Jun2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Christian Sponsored Terrorism
The Associated Press has composed a list of recent abortion-related violence. As an aside, we find their headline rather ironic – because it suggests the violence is a result of abortion. But more important than the headline are the facts of fundamentalist Christian violence (we prefer to call this behavior Christian Terrorism). We have written […]
1Jun2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | 3 comments | Continued
Mormon Scientologists for Jehovah on the 7th Day
Help me out here. In literature we distinguish fantasy from Science Fiction. The distinguishing variable – is it plausible. Do the premises set forth in the story violate basic principles of physics? Like a two ton dragon flying with a ten foot wing span – probably fantasy. A space ship flying across the galaxies in […]
29May2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | 21 comments | Continued
Top Ten Positive Emotions
Dr. Barbara Fredrickson has done some extraordinary work on positive emotions. Having a positive attitude has so may anecdotal arguments that we are frankly sad when we hear another. If I hear one more person tell me to ‘have an attitude of gratitude’ I think I will just spit. Thank God for Dr. Fredrickson – […]
19May2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Top Ten Positive Emotions | Continued
American Soldiers as Christian Evangelicals – Hunt for Jesus
No one would deny a soldier the right to faith – even if we wanted to. Is there anything wrong with having military chaplains? Not at all. I have a copy of a Navy Hymnal from 1941 – and it seems to me that each solider is better off, is even a better soldier, if […]
4May2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
The Stormy Marriage of Jesus
Arranged marriages are common in some cultures. And why not? We adults know what is best for our children. We tell ourselves we are only being responsible when arranging their life. The practice is highlighted in books and movies. Perhaps the best known, or perhaps most entertaining, is “Fiddler on the Roof.” After all, traditions […]
18Apr2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | 4 comments | Continued
Picking on Catholicism
During my quest of becoming a better disciple of Christ, I thought it only fair to try and understand some other beliefs. I understand that the bible can be left open to interpretation to whom ever reads it. And to some degree must be evaluated to different times. But evaluation should not lead to amendments. […]
28Mar2009 | Cole James | 7 comments | Continued
Pondering Faith
I have always considered myself a Christian. Once I even thought I had a vocation. So I attempted to start online classes through a Christian University. I made it through one class which was the study of the Old Testament. What I found out, was it requires a lot of work. Anyone who has read […]
14Mar2009 | Cole James | Comments Off on Pondering Faith | Continued
A United Methodist Perspective
I am a United Methodist. My wife and I joined a United Methodist church in Sugar Land, Texas before moving to Nashville, TN, and when we moved to Iowa, we transferred our membership to a church that was just down the street from our house. We went through the ceremony for becoming a member of […]
16Feb2009 | bryan | 2 comments | Continued
Homeless Community
This writer has worked and volunteered at the same social service agencies dedicated to cleaning up the river banks, to rescuing the downtrodden, to saving the helpless, threading the eye of the needle as a gateway to Heaven. We will walk through the Pearly Gates and God will thump us on the forehead with his middle finger, look at us in disgust, and then invite us in to the ultimate shelter from damnation. We will be seated in the middle row, the homeless will have front row seats.
9Feb2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | 3 comments | Continued
Detainee Hypocrisy of Politicians
Sam Brownback (an appropriate name for this man) is busy covering his tracks. He is a Republican Senator from the great state of Kansas. Senator Brownback ran for President and brought the morque of the Republican candidates down about 20 points. (Morque is the scale of combined morals and IQ). Senator Brownback is in a big toot about potentially having the detainees at GITMO being moved to the Federal Prison at Leavenworth, Kansas.
23Jan2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Detainee Hypocrisy of Politicians | Continued
Amazing Grace – Dr. Wintley Phipps
Dr. Wintley Phipps can make an atheist believe. There is no way to listen to this man sing without feeling something divine. We are truly living in a blessed time – a time when this talent can be readily shared across the globe.
23Jan2009 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Amazing Grace – Dr. Wintley Phipps | Continued
Do What You Do On Purpose
‘I have talked and written at length in articles for this magazine about the lifestyle choices that my wife and I have made for our family, but I feel it would be appropriate to spend some time on why we make those choices. Having a purpose in your decision is as important as the decision […]
10Dec2008 | bryan | 1 comment | Continued
The Worst Church Marquees and Why They Are So Wrong
This has been a burr in my saddle for years. Longer than that, I guess. Before I made the switch to regular church attendance, the oh-so-clever church marquees were a beacon of tacky religion that always made me wonder why people would gather in a place like that. Now, they are just embarrassing and they […]
7Dec2008 | bryan | 4 comments | Continued
The Christian Message and Economic Prosperity…
We have mentioned Dave Ramsey and Joel Osteen on this magazine, and I thought it might be a good idea to spend some time on the difference between a minister and a motivational speaker. I think that the line can get pretty blurry. In order to do the subject justice, we have to mention the […]
6Dec2008 | bryan | 3 comments | Continued
A Gay Jesus and Catholic Art
“Corpus Christi” is a play written by an Irish Catholic named Terrence McNally, first performed on Broadway in 1998 and revived for two weeks in October. It is a controversial interpretation of the life and work of Jesus Christ, so it can be considered a part of the crazy-quilt reality of living as a Catholic […]
4Dec2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on A Gay Jesus and Catholic Art | Continued
The Meaning of Jihad in Islam
By Ali Gomaa Within Islam the term jihad refers to a large category of meanings. Today, however, there are attempts to isolate this term to only one form of jihad to the exclusion of all others. This includes a conception of jihad that at best refers only to armed struggle, and at worst to a […]
24Nov2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Meaning of Jihad in Islam | Continued
Obama’s Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani
Tuesday November 11, 2008 The most detailed and fascinating explication of Barack Obama’s faith came in a 2004 interview he gave Chicago Sun Times columnist Cathleen Falsani when he was running for U.S. Senate in Illinois. The column she wrote about the interview has been quoted and misquoted many times over, but she’d never before […]
12Nov2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Obama’s Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani | Continued
What Benedict Hasn’t Said About the Holocaust
James Carroll Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to a synagogue in New York this week will evoke his visit to the oldest synagogue in Germany nearly three years ago. On that occasion, addressing leaders of Cologne’s Jewish community, Pope Benedict properly addressed the question of the Shoah. He deplored Hitler’s campaign to eliminate the Jewish people, […]
11Nov2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on What Benedict Hasn’t Said About the Holocaust | Continued
Catholic Socialism
I was driving home when I heard on my car radio a minister say that “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” was a Looney-tune idea. I don’t make a habit of speaking back to the radio, but I couldn’t help but scream, “It’s in the Bible!” Acts 2: 44-45 […]
8Nov2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Catholic Socialism | Continued
How Obama Did It: The Ground Game
The God Vote Jacques Berlinerblau Jacques Berlinerblau is associate Professor and Director of the Program for Jewish Civilization at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He’s also editor of faith2008.org. Many years ago he received a doctorate in ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literature from New York University. Soon after, […]
5Nov2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on How Obama Did It: The Ground Game | Continued
Which Came First? Religion or Depression
There’s a cartoon with a chicken and an egg in bed together. The chicken is smoking a cigarette with a very satisfied expression on his face, and the egg is restless and disgruntled. The caption above the egg says, “Well, I guess that answers the question.” That’s how I think of the relationship between depression […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Which Came First? Religion or Depression | Continued
Healing Before Empowering
Christianity is good for both men and women, even when it does not empower us. Americans often carry the illusion that empowering a person is always a good thing, but a moment of reflection clears up that optimistic fantasy. Bad people should not be empowered and good people already are. Jesus Christ provides a way […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Healing Before Empowering | Continued
Thoughts On Original Sin
Some Jungian analysts suggest that original sin relates to family of origin.The idea is in order to be ‘saved’ from the original sin one must escape the dysfunction of one’s family of origin. Original ‘sin,’ as defined by theologians, takes many different forms. We are born with the sin of Adam, for instance. Or we […]
25Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Spiritual Hope
Barack Obama has reignited the word hope. He even wrote a book about hope. His book is pretty convincing on the concept of hope, but sometimes hope is used so freely it looses it’s luster. I am not endorsing Obama, as most of our readers may know, but believe he has a good grasp of […]
21Oct2008 | Cole James | 3 comments | Continued
Fear and Faith, Vote Obama – Go To Hell
Polar opposites. Fear and Faith. These concepts do not live together, they are never under the same roof. When the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons and the Catholics and the Baptists come knocking at my door I am not afraid. But they are. Fear is always obvious in their message. The tactics employed by the […]
20Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Divine Intervention and Painful Faith
We once did an internship as a hospital chaplain. We were assigned to an acute rehab unit. Most of the patients were recovering from a stroke or hip surgery or a like condition – they were medically stable but unable to return home. A twelve year old boy was hit by a car and injured […]
19Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Divine Intervention and Painful Faith | Continued
Stealing Jesus – The 2008 Elections
Quoting from the book Stealing Jesus” by Bruce Bawer: “The simple word religion lends dignity to prejudice, muffles opposition and obliges the media to tread carefully. Not only politicians but journalists, too, are less likely to criticize frankly the attitudes of individuals or groups when they identify themselves as Christian and attribute their attitudes to […]
16Oct2008 | bryan | Comments Off on Stealing Jesus – The 2008 Elections | Continued
Desmond Tutu on Homosexuality
I received an email today – as I do many times during the course of the week – from a family member who must be convinced the we see the world in the same way. I am sure that many of you have someone that prowls your email this way. Based on some skewed version […]
13Oct2008 | bryan | 3 comments | Continued
Obama and the Christian Right
The conservative media and christian right refers to “The Liberal Blogosphere” and the “Liberal Media” and the “Liberal Internet.” We looked around the internet and found these clips attacking Obama. According to these folks Obama is anti-christian, the anti-Christ, a Muslim, and anything else they can think of. This writer believes the Bible is not […]
7Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Voting on Faith, or Faith in Voting
This is a tough one. We allow freedom of religion, of spirituality, freedom to worship as one chooses. But what about when it is time to vote. We want a person in office who is reasonable, intelligent, some education about government or economics or business or work or something is useful. We look to past […]
5Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Voting on Faith, or Faith in Voting | Continued
MLK, I Have A Dream” video
In 1964 Martin Luther King Jr. gave the speech of his life time. Some contemporary politicians seem to believe that words do not matter – that giving an inspirational speech is not important. Listen to Martin Luther King and see if you agree. [wp_youtube]PbUtL_0vAJk[/wp_youtube]
5Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on MLK, I Have A Dream” video | Continued
Conspiracy theroies – from simple to complex
Holy Cow! Our system of education must surely be failing. I suppose that mentally ill people with sound knowledge could make irrational judgments. But all Conspiracy Theorists are not mentally ill. So what is this phenomenon of conspiracy that seams to permeate our modern society? Crazy Sprinkler Lady: [wp_youtube]_c6HsiixFS8[/wp_youtube] Irony abounds in the following video […]
29Sep2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Brigham Young, Jim Jones, Rush Limbaugh
There is evidence throughout history that desperate people will follow just about anybody. Generally the numbers do not reflect the majority. Generally the numbers are quite small in proportion to the whole. That was the case with the Mormon cult, it was the case with the Jim Jones cult, and it is the truth with […]
24Sep2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
911 – The Shadow of Death
What does the 23rd Psalm mean to you? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the […]
11Sep2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Gustav – A Message From God?
When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States the reaction of the populace varied from the scientific to the religious. The scientists said the magnitude of the hurricane could be attributed to Global Warming. Some fundamentalist theologians argued Katrina was sent by God to punish New Orleans for sinful ways. We use […]
31Aug2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Where have all the flowers gone (Video)
We in America find ourselves engaged in another war – a war contrived by a self serving White House. Illegitimate intelligence on an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam provided the impetus for the President to justify expanding our military presence in Southeast Asia. The same song is being sung by our current […]
8Aug2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Where have all the flowers gone (Video) | Continued
Learning by example – the example of Jesus
Son, Your entry into the Christian Ministry has been a source of great pride and joy for me. Even given that you choose a wacky upstart like the United Methodist, or whatever you call it. There is a mild attempt at humor in the last sentence – but as with other effective editorial humor we […]
4Jun2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Learning by example – the example of Jesus | Continued
Church of Love, or Church of Law?
We have been reading a lot about fundamentalism of late. There is rhetoric abound about love vs. law. We tend to embrace the church of love and despise the church of law. Its just who we are. So, we are continually trying to reconcile our belief in the forces of love and our suspicion […]
18Sep2007 | bryan | 1 comment | Continued
Fundamentalism: The Right To Be Wrong
Dad, I suppose that you are right, that mine is a family that would only be described as “non-traditional” by Focus on the Family. I don’t pretend to believe that they have a solid grasp on the traditions of family systems. I think that the danger of allowing the fundamentalist to paint the larger American […]
6Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Fundamentalism: The Right To Be Wrong | Continued
Imposing Our Culture On Others
Son, Sometimes we are a little hard on contemporary Christian fundamentalists. We don’t like their aggressive evangelism – their attempts to force their culture on us. That is a statement of perspective – their perspective might be that they are trying to save us from going to hell. Christianity has as rich history of abusing […]
6Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Imposing Our Culture On Others | Continued
Are There Sprits In The Material World?
Dad Paul Tillich was a philosopher and theologian in the early to mid twentieth century who defined two planes of understanding, horizontal and vertical. The horizontal plane is the stuff of the physical world, the finite, and the vertical plane represents the spiritual experience, the infinite. I believe that fundamentalism and doctrinal orthodoxy deal in […]
31Aug2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Are There Sprits In The Material World? | Continued
Fear and Faith
Son, I hear people say things like, “Faith is the opposite of fear.” If one has faith, one will have no fear. To this I say, “Fear Faith!’ Question your faith! Challenge your faith! If your faith is true and just it will withstand any challenge – if it does not withstand challenge then it […]
30Aug2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Fear and Faith | Continued
Faith and Grief and Jesus
Son, What is the inspiration that compels the contemporary ‘followers of Jesus?’ My simple mind can only assume that if a person acts on love, forgiveness, and kindness – then I can assume that person is a follower of the Jesus that I understand is described in that one Book. (Note here – I do […]
30Aug2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Faith and Grief and Jesus | Continued
Finding Faith in Mystery
I was producing and publishing my first podcast this week, so I’ve been a little behind. On the topic of Marcus Aurelius, I noticed that you stated ” A quick look at news headlines today might suggest that divine intervention has actually corrupted the morality of civilization.” I think that the idea of divine intervention, […]
30Aug2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Finding Faith in Mystery | Continued