Christmas and Easter can be subjects for poetry, but Good Friday, like Auschwitz, cannot. The reality is so horrible it is not surprising that people should have found it a stumbling block to faith. ― W.H. Auden It is Good Friday, the day on which Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Today would be a good day to watch Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ in order to be reminded of what the Christ endured, in case you've never seen it. However, be forewarned that watching this particular film is something of an emotional ordeal. Don't be fooled by Andy Rooney's absurd statement that he wouldn't pay to see the movie "just for a few good laughs", because I've seen the film and I can tell you there's nothing remotely funny about it. I find it almost impossible to believe that even an atheist like Andy Rooney would find something amusing and laugh out loud at a serious, realistic depiction of a scourging and crucifixion, when we know it is a historical fact that Romans used to do that sort of thing rather routinely. Only a true sadist would find such an accurate reenactment amusing. The movie vividly depicts what happened to people the Romans had decided to punish or execute, and it wasn't even remotely funny. Scourging and crucifixions were quite brutal and merciless, no matter how guilty the accused were -- certainly no laughing matter. … [Read more...]
The Pearl: 1 April 2015
Any fool can write a novel but it takes real genius to sell it. -- J. G. Ballard Today is April Fool's Day, when it becomes customary to pull childish pranks on friends and family before shouting "April Fool!" Some may find this hard to believe, but I've actually outgrown this annual ritual, reducing the number of ways by which I may be caught behaving childishly by one. No, this isn't a silly prank or a gag. Until this morning, I had never heard of the name "J. G. Ballard" before. But I did know of his work -- he wrote the novels Empire of the Sun and Crash, both of which were made into movies. I try to heed good advice in order to learn from the success of others. I've figured out the "fool" part -- I know how to write a book. Six have now been published, and a seventh will come out later this year. The "genius" of knowing how to sell them in mass quantities has thus far eluded me, however. Much work remains to be done, if I hope to one day become a genius. … [Read more...]
Unforgivable sin
Once upon a time, Jack Henry Abbott was serving time for forgery and manslaughter. However, Abbott managed to become pen pals with author Norman Mailer from his prison cell and then turned their correspondence into his bestselling book titled In the Belly of the Beast, which received a rave review from the New York Times. Despite the fact prison officials vehemently opposed his release and considered him unstable, Abbott was paroled after numerous liberal "Hollywood" elitists had championed his cause. Actress Susan Sarandon even went so far that she honored Abbott by naming her son with actor Tim Robbins "Jack Henry." Yet six weeks after his release from prison and with a nice five-figure advance on royalties in his pocket, Jack Henry Abbott senselessly murdered his waiter in a New York restaurant only the day before his book received that untimely rave New York Times review. It wasn't merely because he wrote well that Abbott was so readily forgiven his many horrible sins by people like Norman Mailer and Susan Sarandon. Jack Henry Abbott became successful in part because he wrote what liberal elitists wanted to read -- about how the criminal justice system was unfair to criminals, regardless of whether or not the criminal actually deserved punishment as decreed by our judicial system. What the elitists forgot, of course, was that forgiveness requires repentance. If you aren't sorry for your sins (all crimes are sins, but not all sins are crimes) then you don't deserve forgiveness. Jack Henry Abbott should not have been released from prison. Even so, … [Read more...]
The Pearl: 31 March 2015
You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. – Khalil Gibran You're familiar with the expression, "Great minds think alike?" Proving the truth of that old proverb, the Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw have both said basically the same thing about prayer: that we pray for the wrong reasons. We don't give thanks to God for what we have. Instead, we mostly beg our Creator to give us what we don't have, as if God exists to serve us. … [Read more...]
