parables of a prodigal world

Words shape the world. Words are powerful things, especially when they come from the Commander in Chief of the most powerful nation on the planet. And the words emanating from that position are changing... ...as opposed to... Words shape the world... ...please, God. Grace and Peace, Raffi

As N.T. Wright and the gang have, by and large, succeeded in reminding Christians, our hope is not for a disembodied/spiritual locus of immortal existence in a place called "heaven." As the good bishop likes to say, "Heaven is important, but it's not the end of the world." Our hope is resurrection. Bodily resurrection, of which Jesus' was the prototype, the "firstfruits." Our hope, in other words, is for an embodied immortality. But for many people, this is a concept they can't get their heads around. What does it even mean to be physically alive and yet immortal? I'd suspect that that failure to conceptualize the notion of an "embodied immortality" led to the gradual shift in emphasis from "resurrection" to "heaven," until eventually, most Christians simply assumed that going off to heaven in a spiritual form was the name of the game. Well, maybe this'll help. Turritopsis Nutricula may be the world’s...

A big, fat HT to Telegraph.co.uk for this one. In the tradition of The Greatest Book Review of All Time , I now bring to your attention what is by far, hands-down, the best customer complaint of all time. It was an email sent to Sir Richard Branson , owner of Virgin Atlantic Airways, by an unnamed comedy genius. I was in tears. Hope you enjoy it as much. Dear Mr Branson: REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008 I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit. Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation. Look at this Richard. Just look at it: [ link to image 1 ]. I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been ...

Jonathan alerted me to the " 25 Things You Might Not Know About Me " meme. I'm not big on memes, but this one seemed like a great way to open up a bit. But I thought I'd spruce things up a bit. Here's what I came up with. 24 of the following personal facts are true. One is completely fabricated. The first one of you guys that can guess which one wins the book of her/his choice (under $20, please) from Amazon . One guess per person. Deadline is Friday, January 30th. I'll keep the comments hidden until then to keep things fair. Simple enough? OK, here we go. 1. I'm not very social in the brick-and-mortar world. 2. On five separate occasions, I should have died. 3. Serj Tankian , lead singer of System of a Down , was my childhood friend and played keyboard in my band in the early 90's. 4. I'm an attorney. 5. My favorite food as a kid was boiled cow tongue. 6. I've never been to Europe. 7. I caught a foul ball from Reggie Jackson in the 1977 World...