Tag: Death

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Why does God allow evil in his world?

This topic suggestion, Why is there evil in the world?, is from The Daily Post as part of the Post-a-day writing challenge.

Student: Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality. You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.

That quote is part of a longer story about an atheist Philosophy lecturer and a student having an argument in class, where the student ends up declaring to his classmates that the lecturer has no brain, because no one in the class has seen, felt, tasted, smelt or heard it. You can read it in full here.

You see, there is evil in this world when people are far away from God. God allows it because he has given us free will. We can choose which way we go. I have this image of God, and all his angels, looking on from above, cheering each of us on to choose the right way, and consoling us when we make a mistake.

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Death

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (Image via Wikipedia)

“Every now and then”, he told the congregation, “I think about my death.” His words brought a low murmur of surprise from the parishioners.

“I don’t think of it in a morbid sense,” he qualified, smiling faintly. “I ask myself what I would want said. If any of you are around when I have to meet my day… I don’t want a long funeral. And tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. None of that is important. I’d like somebody to mention that day that …Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life to serving others… I’d like for somebody to mention that day that … Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody…

I want you to say that day that … I tried to be right on the war question… I want you to be able to say that day that … I did try to feed the hungry… I want you to be able to say that day that … I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked …

I want you to say on that day that … I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison …

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice! Say that I was a drum major for peace! And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.

That’s all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along … if I can cheer somebody with a word or song … if I can show somebody that he’s travelling wrong … then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought … if I can spread the message as the Master taught … then my living will not be in vain.”

Continue reading Death

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In Memoriam: Who I miss and who I’ll miss

Image of Alan Alda taken at the World Science ...
I think I will miss this actor the most. (Image via Wikipedia)

I’m dispensing with today’s two Daily Post Prompts because the first one is similar to one I’ve already written on in this Challenge, and I’m not particularly interested in the second. So I popped into Plinky to take a look at some of their prompts, and one caught my eye: Which pop culture icon’s unexpected death affected you the most? Now, not many stars deaths have affected me badly, however, I expect to have some more affect me in the next few years.

See, up until now, most star deaths have been people who I didn’t know. I hadn’t seen their movies, or haven’t listened to their music. However, stars such as Alan Alda, whom I love from Hawkeye in M*A*S*H, is getting older. Now I know that I cried when I watched episodes in M*A*S*H when Radar left, or when Henry left. How will I be when they leave for good?

Stars from Star Trek I’m sure will bring similar reactions. And more. So while in this past year we have lost many great actors, such as Leslie Nielsen, and pop culture icon Gary Coleman, I know that one day, we will lose the actors that mean so much to my generation, and on that day we shall remember them.

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Comfort, ye my people

Biblical Truth

Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40:1-2

Musical Offering

Ben’s offering

Today I attended the funeral of my friend’s nanna. Toni Lenthall, as I knew her (she had many other names) was a wonderful woman, who lived to the ripe age of 94 (though she would argue in her last few months that she was 100), and despite showing the signs of age, still kept a quick wit around her up until the end. She loved sport, but also in the later life would attend WASO concerts with Tricia, her daughter. To this end, I chose this reading and musical offering. Toni left a mark on my life, and I still know her better as "nanna" than Toni, and it was a great privilege to play the music at her funeral today, including Comfort, Comfort by Robin Mann which quotes this text. I couldn’t find a video of that, so Handel will have to do (a most acceptable substitute). So this post is for Toni – who taught us that you support your team through thick and thin (shame the Eagle’s couldn’t get up over the Dockers on Saturday, maybe next time Toni!), you love your family, and that no matter what, if you want to do something, you can do it and not let any social norms stop you in your tracks.