Monthly Archives: November 2013

Shopping Madness

Posted on November 29, 2013 by mthayes42

I confess it is utterly beyond my comprehension why anyone would go Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday. It simply makes no sense at all. The “savings” are mostly illusions and could be had on lots of other … Continue reading →

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The Commercialization of Life

Posted on November 27, 2013 by mthayes42

Like most Westerners, I am both engaged in and horrified by the commercialization of life. I keep asking, Why are marketers and advertisers so very, very much like a pack of hungry wolves, always on the prowl for the weak? … Continue reading →

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Forgiveness and Graciousness

Posted on November 21, 2013 by mthayes42

It is a commonplace that we call Jesus a great teacher. While true, it is an empty phrase because it falls so short of describing him. Teachers, even the great ones, can be ignored without great peril. Instead, we need … Continue reading →

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Yesterday Today

Posted on November 20, 2013 by mthayes42

How odd it is to see so much media attention this week to what was happening in our country half a century ago. I’m so old that what others are treating as history I still think of as current events. … Continue reading →

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Proving God?

Posted on November 19, 2013 by mthayes42

One of my favorite websites is that of Arts and Letters Daily   < aldaily.com  >with its daily selection of articles and book reviews on a wide variety of topics from a very wide range of sources. It is run … Continue reading →

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Unintended Forces for Evil

Posted on November 18, 2013 by mthayes42

Every society grapples with — or surrenders to — pressures and trends which lead in evil directions. Sometimes the forces for evil are evil in themselves, such as the Nazism of Hitler. More commonly, there is a certain innocence about … Continue reading →

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Deuteronomy 7:1-6 (Part Two)

Posted on November 18, 2013 by mthayes42

In the last blog we thought for a bit about the harsh command to Israel: When you enter the Promised Land, destroy all the people before you. There are two interwoven reasons given for such a drastic command. First (verse … Continue reading →

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A favorite Photograph

Posted on November 14, 2013 by mthayes42

One of my favorite photographs of Bonhoeffer comes from Christmas of 1940. It is in the excellent biography by Schlingensiepen, p. 255.Dietrich is at the piano, Eberhard Bethge is playing the flute, and three of the Dohnanyi children are singing. … Continue reading →

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The Dark Side

Posted on November 12, 2013 by mthayes42

I have recently read a book called “The Dark Side of Islam” by R. C. Sproul. Although helpful in some ways as we in the West seek to know what Muslims believe, the book is an unfortunate example of how … Continue reading →

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Thinking It Through

Posted on November 8, 2013 by mthayes42

A recent newspaper column by Bill O’Reilly (Rochester MN Post Bulletin, 6 Nov 2013) complains that “our descent into a ‘welfare nation’ is un-American.” The piece is a collection of well worn cliches about how welfare recipients are often “layabouts … Continue reading →

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