Society

Queensland Happy Hour Palliative Care

Queensland Happy Hour Palliative Care

Colin Apelt is an amazing guy. He is 92 years old and serves drinks in a palliative care unit in a Brisbane hospital. But what is really amazing about this story is how it avoids the topic of death.

Photo by Whitney Wright on Unsplash

1883 and Taylor Sheridan's heaven

1883 and Taylor Sheridan's heaven

Taylor Sheridan of Yellowstone fame is carving up our screens. I recently devoured the blood soaked Western 1883. Here's my reflections on it. This reflection is 100% spoiler because of the story telling arc of 1883 and the message behind it: freedom.

The problem of karma and the universe repaying me

The problem of karma and the universe repaying me

We like the idea of karma. But that’s just because we don’t really understand it. A universe operating according to karma or the law of reciprocity would be an awful place, even if it was fair. It is why we need to know God’s grace.

Photo by Mareko Tamaleaa on Unsplash (edited)

What's wrong with judging others?

What's wrong with judging others?

We’ve all heard it said, “It’s wrong to judge others.” Not that this seems to stop the human race from judging. Given that repeated admonitions not to judge don’t seem to be working. Perhaps going deeper into the reality of judging might help us.

Photo by Unsplash Rishabh Butola

Joy to the World and its meaning

Joy to the World and its meaning

Joy to the World is a song of such, well, joy! But here’s the thing. We’ve been killing its meaning. Joy to the World only has 4 verses. But most versions skip verse 3. Which means they’ve rob the rest of the song of its meaning. And so there’s no point in singing it. None!

Photo by Toni Cuenca on Unsplash

Caring for the sorrowful

Caring for the sorrowful

Grief and sadness will come by how can we face them and how can we can for those in the midst of grief and loss. This blog post shares how we might care for those grieving and experiencing loss and hardship in its many forms. This reflection sprang from the book of Proverbs and from facing my son’s battle with cancer and his death.

Photo by Claudia Wolff on Unsplash

How were slaves treated in the ancient world?

How were slaves treated in the ancient world?

AC Grayling’s essential argument is that the various good things of Western civilisation that we consider quite wonderful didn’t proceed from Christianity. They were already there in classical culture (Greek and Roman culture) and preceded Christianity. They aren’t Christian ideas at all. But on the issue of slavery his evidence doesn’t support his position at all.

Where can I find freedom from oppressive morality?

Where can I find freedom from oppressive morality?

The story we keep hearing is that traditional morality crushes and destroys us. If we can just recognise this we can find the new way of freedom, especially our sexual freedom. The surprise in the Bible is that it agrees with the problem of traditional morality.

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

What could an atheist say to the Taliban? Anything goes.

What could an atheist say to the Taliban? Anything goes.

Apart from the horror of what’s been unfolding, the question that has been on my mind over the last two weeks is, ‘What could an atheist say to the Taliban?’

Photo by By VOA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAg7egiXClU, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109043891

Dear Disney could you please stop being so boring?

Dear Disney could you please stop being so boring?

Dear Disney, Marvel, sitcoms, romcoms and finding your true self dramas, could we please have another script? Because you’ve been using the same one for too many years and it is booooring. Even my youngest son is bored by it.

Photo by pan xiaozhen on Unsplash