Category Archives: Faith

Scrooge: Individualism Run Amok

Pursue individual rights, or care for our community? Which is best for individuals?

I contemplate a few answers in my article for Christ and Pop Culture (CAPC) Magazine, Scrooge: Individualism Run AmokIt is now available free of charge.  Continue reading Scrooge: Individualism Run Amok

“Scrooge: Individualism Run Amok” published today!

My latest article for Christ and Pop Culture (CAPC) Magazine, “Scrooge: Individualism Run Amok,” has been published today!

CAPC Magazine issue 4 of 2020: Traditions

It’s currently behind the CAPC members’ paywall. For a mere $5/month you can pay excellent writers and also have access to the full magazine and back issues, the members-only community group, and the current rotation of free e-books and music in the member zone.

I cannot say enough good things about the people and conversations in the members-only community group. JOIN US!

 

Won’t Watch the Ball Drop

[This post originally appeared two years ago on Tim Fall’s Blog.]

By Nikola Tesla [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
By Nikola Tesla [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Sometimes what we are teaching our children by example seems innocent enough, but might actually be leading them into episodes of disaster. Such was the case with me and New Year’s Eve. This year, as with many years past, I plan to be fast asleep long before midnight.  Continue reading Won’t Watch the Ball Drop

Longing for Pilgrimage; #Review: A World Transformed, by Lisa Deam

AWorldTransformedWith Jerusalem and Jesus’ crucifixion at its center, the Hereford Map orients East at the top, England in the lower left, and monsters at the edges. Created around the year 1300, it depicts the history, geography, and destiny of the world according to medieval Christianity. A single sheet of vellum measuring 5’ 2” high by 4’ 4” wide displays its artistry. The original viewers were pilgrims to England’s Hereford Cathedral, some of whom made the pilgrimage annually. Hereford Cathedral still displays the map year round.

Lisa Deam holds a Ph.D. in medieval art from Chicago University. Attempting to maintain a scholarly eye while writing her dissertation on the Hereford Map, Deam discovered “that there was really no way to separate medieval art from medieval faith and spirituality — and from my own faith.” (1) The crossroads of Deam’s scholarly work and her Christian faith has resulted in, A World Transformed: Exploring the World of Medieval SpiritualityContinue reading Longing for Pilgrimage; #Review: A World Transformed, by Lisa Deam

Male and Female He Created Them

Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb grew up running for the sheer love of it. Training for the Boston Marathon without running shoes or a coach, Gibb ran up to 30 and 40 miles a day. What Gibb didn’t know: The event was closed to women due to the widely believed myth that women pursuing vigorous athletics would damage their reproductive organs. My mother was pregnant with me in early 1966 when Gibb received a letter stating “women were not physiologically capable of running 26 miles and furthermore, under the rules that governed international sports, they were not allowed to run.” (source) The myth has since been debunked, though it still makes notable appearances.  Continue reading Male and Female He Created Them

When the Heart is Laid Bare #Review

Back in July, I edited my review of Skylar Hamilton Burris’ excellent book, When the Heart is Laid Bare, for Christ and Pop Culture. I should have posted it then, but here it is now.

When the Heart is Laid Bare

One doesn’t expect to laugh while reading of tragedy, grief, and healing. And yet, that’s exactly what happened when I read Skylar Hamilton Burris’ When the Heart Is Laid Bare, which Double Edge Press has graciously made freely available to Christ and Pop Culture members. While grappling with death and suffering, Burris successfully weaves wit and humor into her story lines.

Read the rest.

Murder for Money

“The discovery in 1828 that two drunken Irishmen had, within the space of a few months, committed sixteen murders in [Edinburgh], and had sold the bodies of all their victims to a leading anatomist for dissection, shocked the people of Scotland as no other series of crimes has ever done. . . . The city was in a state of constant terror. Children were told to keep off the streets, and families stayed indoors from long before sunset. At no time in living memory had Edinburgh’s locksmiths done such a roaring trade. Even tough laboring men took to coming home from work in groups rather than on their own. . . .” So writes Donald A. Low in The Regency Underworld.

In the early 1800’s, British surgical science was still in its infancy and, by law, only bodies of executed criminals could be used for dissection. The demand for research cadavers far outstripped the supply. To meet this need, “resurrectionists” illegally dug up freshly buried bodies out of cemeteries and sold them to anatomical schools, a practice known and condoned by surgeons.

In 1827, the unscrupulously enterprising William Burke and William Hare sold for dissection the corpse of a fellow lodger who had died of natural causes. Encouraged by the profit they made and the assurance by the anatomy school of more money for more corpses, they lured 16 more people to their deaths before they were discovered.

Does this MO sound familiar? It should.

Abortion proponents constantly assert that abortion is offered as a necessary service to women. However, the CMP video “Human Capital: Episode 3” shows abortionists making their procedure decisions according to orders for fetal organs.

Read the rest at BreakPoint Blog.

Facing Risk

Avalanche Danger Decision Point enroute to Mary's Nipple at Grand Targhee Ski Resort
Avalanche Danger Decision Point en route to Mary’s Nipple at Grand Targhee Ski Resort

Five years ago, I had an epiphany and a book idea was born. The impetus appeared in the August 13th, 2010 edition of my local paper, the Idaho Mountain Express.

New York skier’s heirs sue rescuers for $5M

“By ASSOCIATED PRESS

“DRIGGS, Idaho — The family of a New York man who skied outside the boundaries of a western Wyoming ski area and was rescued the following morning but later died of hypothermia has filed a wrongful death claim.

Continue reading Facing Risk

Genesis of the Dead #Review for BreakPoint

Having little interest in zombies, I know nothing of the popular apocalyptic genre. However, C. T. Casberg, author of Genesis of the Dead, makes the case that zombies are of interest to God.GenesisOfTheDeadCover

Think about it. Who are the living dead? Sin entered in, the fruit was eaten, and humanity died. But we’re still walking around. We are the living dead!

That’s why Casberg decided to turn the Old Testament into a Young Adult zombie-apocalypse comedy—the first in a trilogy—and decidedly pulls it off.

Read the whole review at BreakPoint.

“Sailing to Paradise: Sin, Disease, and Natural Disaster” on CaPC

Fifteen years ago, my husband, Todd, and I sailed across the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to New Zealand.

Arrival in New Zealand, Breem Head
Arrival in New Zealand, Breem Head

About a month ago, Christ and Pop Culture (CaPC), in their online members’ magazine, published my article detailing some of our Pacific adventures. What we began as a sight-seeing trip, God turned into a spiritual journey.

“Ellen, come look at this,” my husband, Todd, requested.

We were five days sailing into our first ocean passage from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia in 2000. We expected the 2,800-mile journey to take close to four weeks and possibly a full month of blue water sailing. I sleepily uncurled from the off-watch bunk of our Cal 34 sailboat, Mandolin. Todd presented me with a weather fax he had downloaded via our HAM radio to our laptop. It showed that a Tropical Depression had developed to the southeast in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, the birthplace of Pacific Ocean hurricanes. This weather system had the potential to kill us. It was heading our way.

I had wanted to write an overview of our experiences for some time and I thank CaPC for being the catalyst for me to finally write it down. Today, CaPC published the article on their website.

I think I might start a #RomanceOnTheHighSeas Twitter campaign. Some choice quotes:  Continue reading “Sailing to Paradise: Sin, Disease, and Natural Disaster” on CaPC