Words of Faith
From Jim:
Dear Charles,
For many years I've enjoyed LEM. Your Ramblings regarding
Steve's commencement speech was particularly touching. I agree with
you entirely: Death is the elephant in the room that no one wants
to acknowledge. Thank you for your courage in in sharing your faith
with your readers - that, too, is a cultural taboo which you
fecklessly and happily violate. And I applaud you for that.
Me? I'm a Buddhist in the tradition of the Dalai Lama. Being
raised an agnostic, it's somewhat ironic that my Buddhist practice
is finally what taught me to love Lord Jesus with all my heart. On
one level, there is no conflict among faiths - there are only those
who truly practice their faiths and those who give it lip-service.
You seem to me to be of the former - your faith comes through your
words like the scent of roses in the next room. Thanks for all you
do.
Peace be with you, Sir.
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thank you for your kind comments. I'm happy that you were
touched by my essay. I expect that if we sat down each other over a
cup of tea, we could have a stimulating and mutually beneficial
discussion. I'm reminded of something that Mother Teresa of
Calcutta once said: "I love all religions, but I am in love with my
own." Words to live by.
Scent of roses? I'm truly humbled. I'm just a poor sinner who
tries to live as Christ and his Church teach, with mixed
success.
Peace be with you as well,
Charles
Not All Will Die
From James Johnson:
"Steve Jobs was (forgive me) dead right about one thing:
Everyone still has to die."
Not so. Not all will die. Some will be changed in the twinkling
of an eye. Even Enoch may not have tasted death.
Speculate all you want, but there is no scriptural basis for
saying that he must die.
I enjoyed your writing.
James Johnson
Hi James,
The Bible doesn't say that Enoch didn't die, but that "Enoch
walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Gen. 5:24)
It also states: "all the days of Enoch were three hundred
sixty-five years" (Gen. 5:23) which more than implies that Enoch's
days came to an end, which in turn implies death. Presumably the
same would apply to persons taken up in the Rapture.
There's an interesting discussion of this topic here:
<http://www.cornerstone1.org/b-enoch-elijah.htm>
Jesus also said: "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that
came down from heaven, even the Son of man" (John 3:13)
And in Hebrews 9:27: "It is appointed unto man once to die, but
after this the judgment."
Thanks for your comment, which sent me digging, and thanks for
reading.
Charles
Well Said
From Kent Barnes:
Well written piece on "Steve Jobs on Living and Dying".
You have obviously used your Divinely given talents well. May
our God bless you in all things.
Kent Barnes
Thanks for the thumbs-up Kent, and back at you.
Charles
Steve Jobs' Lutheran Roots
From Kristian Bjornstad:
Charles,
Thank you for your comments on death and dying.
I have heard that Steve Jobs was baptized and/or confirmed in
the Lutheran Church. Being a Lutheran pastor, I don't know whether
to be glad or sad about that fact! It would seem from his comments
that there isn't much vestige of the Gospel in his thinking, but
one could hope that something good from Sunday School, any worship
experience, and his Confirmation classes might be starting to well
up from the depths of his memories - more so with some
encouragement from a current Christian witness.
We can pray!
Kristian Bjornstad
Hi Pastor Bjornstad,
Yes, prayer is always the most we can do.
At least Steve is thinking seriously about mortality.
Plato held that life properly lived is a preparation for
eternity:
- "Confined in the body as in a prison . . . the soul
seeks its pristine sphere of pure rationality by pursuing the
philosophic life, by thinking the universal, by loving and living
according to reason. The bodily life is but an episode in the
eternal career of the soul, which precedes birth and proceeds after
death. Life in the flesh is a trial and a probation; death, the
release and the return to the soul's destiny; to another term of
probation, or to the realm of pure reason."
St. Athanasius, who made such great contributions to Christian
doctrine, was a student of Plato. Plato's ideas, like those of
Aristotle (viz. St. Thomas Aquinas), have had considerable
Influence on the development of Christian philosophy. There is also
strong Platonic influence in C.S. Lewis's novel about hell and the
afterlife, The Great Divorce.
Perhaps if Steve can somehow synergize his philosophical
ruminations about death with the seeds sown in his Christian
experiences as a youth, who knows?
Charles
Really Enjoyed It
From Michelle Mentzer:
Great article - really enjoyed it. I am a Mac addict living in
Italy, and a friend emailed me the link. I will return to the site
often. Good to see the openness about Christianity and the
frankness with which it was presented. I am a Christian as well,
and am finding the walk to be ever challenging and wonderful.
Have a great week,
Blessings,
Michelle Mentzer Ed.D.
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for your kind comments, both about my article and
about Low End Mac.
Blessings on your journey,
Charles
Instant Access
From Thomas J. Zimmer:
Hello Charles,
Thank you for this commentary. As a Christian, it warms my heart
when fellow Christians stand up for what they believe.
I attend a very small church in Round Rock Texas, and we
have been learning for a couple of years now how to live as a
branch in the vine of Christ. I have previously emailed Dan Knight
about our Instant Access radio programs on this subject, and I
would like to also share them with you. We are learning how to
experience God's joy in our lives even in the midst of difficult
circumstances. We are learning how to be a bright light into the
world as Christ lives out his life through us.
There have been 14 episodes of the radio program so far, and
they are all downloadable from our website:
http://homepage.mac.com/win32forth/FaithChurch/Menu4.html
Each program is 24 minutes and around 3.5 MB. Please feel free
to distribute either the Web link or the individual files as far
and wide as you like. By the way, I am not the speaker on the
programs, although his name is Tom - Tom Schoeneck actually.
Thanks again for standing up and being counted,
Tom Zimmer
Hi Tom,
Thank you for your comments, and for the radio transcript
link.
Jesus said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But
whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 10:33-34)
Something every Christian would do well to ponder.
Charles
Of course, as Abe Lincoln observed, you can't please all of the
people all of the time.
Farewell to LEM
From Christy:
It is also unsurprising that our culture's
repressed fear and dread of death often resurfaces in destructive
and dysfunctional modalities, ironically a "culture of death" (as
Pope John Paul II called it). Many contemporary sociocultural
phenomena - abortion, euthanasia, teen suicide, and violent
entertainment - are essentially death-cults, attempts to facilitate
an illusion of control over human destiny. But the more we deny our
sinful and morally compromised human condition, the tighter a grip
sin, evil, and delusion exert on us.
I wonder if even you know what this is supposed to mean. This is
classic. You've put all of the elements of US-brand
Christian dogma into these few sentences: pomp and ambiguity with a
dash of the insulting. Nice mixture. You had managed to make the
article fairly neutral up until the above paragraph. But then, when
you get the bit in your teeth, there's no stopping you from
chomping, I suppose.
I've had issue in the past with your grasp of technical problems
as well as your understanding of the industry in general. I guess
it comes as no great surprise that your grasp in other areas is
also lacking. Before today, I only read your articles to glean new
information while having to disregard the misinterpretations and
technical inadequacies. Now I can mark LEM off of my reading list
entirely. Thanks!
Christy
Hi Christy,
Thank you for your eloquent, enlightened, and tolerant
commentary. Truly an inspiration.
I happen to be Canadian, but dogma is either Christian or it is
not - nationality has nothing to do with it. And if it really is
Christian, it's nothing to be ashamed of or apologize for. I thank
God for American Christians, who put most of the rest of the
developed world to shame in terms of fearlessly witnessing Christ,
but you can't blame me on them.
I don't believe it is possible to be "neutral" on these
particular issues, but even if it were for argument's sake,
wishy-washy neutrality is nothing I would aspire to. Rather,
fairness, honesty, and good will without compromising or fudging
principles. "I don't care" is hardly a noble or commendable stance
on serious moral issues, and "live and let live" falls by default
on the side of permissiveness rather than restraint, and therefore
is really capitulation to liberal license - not "neutrality."
But for liberal humanists, of which I'm taking a wild guess that
you are one, the phenomenon of well-educated and intelligent people
deliberately opposing policies, theories, and hobby-horses that the
left regards as promoting the unequivocal common good amounts to an
intellectual puzzle at best, and more likely a moral outrage.
And it's so much easier just to shoot the messenger than to
confront the challenge of the message.
Ergo, your broad brush ad hominem critique of my general
intelligence and insight, well beyond the topic at hand. So
typical. Surely no one gullible and unsophisticated enough to
actually believe the Christian Gospel could possibly have a lucid
and analytical grasp of much of anything.
Bon voyage,
Charles
Letters sent may be published at our discretion. Email addresses
will not be published unless requested. If you prefer that your
message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters
may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
Go to Charles Moore's Mailbag index.
