Edward Fudge: An Alternative View on Hell

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Several years back, I had the opportunity to meet and listen to Edward Fudge, an unusually bright student of Scripture with an uncanny ability to sift through vast piles of information and process it efficiently and accurately.

He was recently featured in a Christian Post interview, discussing his lifelong studies on the Scriptural background into the theology of hell.  With Rob Bell’s recent book having stimulated no shortage of fresh conversation along these lines, Fudge will no doubt add strong quality to the discussion.

A Day Off: A Boss’s Perspective

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So, you want the day off?

Let’s take a look at what you are asking for. There are 365 days per year available for work. There are 52 weeks a year in which you already get 2 days off per week, leaving 261 days available for work. Since you spend 16 hours each day away from work, you have used up 170 days, leaving 1 days available. You spend 30 minutes a day on a coffee break. That accounts for 23 days each year, leaving only 68 days available. With one Hour for lunch period each day you use up another 46 days, leaving only 22 days available to work. You normally spend 2 days a year for sick leave. This leaves you only 20 days available for work. We are off for 5 holidays per year, so your available working time is down to 15 days. We generously give you 2 weeks off for vacation per year. This only leaves 1 day available for work.

And I’ll be darned if you’re going to take that day off!!

Riders VS Alouettes (July 24, 2011)

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Who’d have thunk it?

After looking plain ole “bad” the previous three weeks, we come out and steal a gutsy win in Montreal.

Offense: Finally, they awakened.  That long bomb to Dressler was literally our first “big play” of the season.  Cates ran well, and the boys finally showed up.  When Durant runs, good things happen.  Take note of this.  Also take note that handing off to your backup RB with under 45 seconds left, deep in your own end, is a sure-fire way to enrage the masses of the Rider nation.

Defense: Of course, people will wonder what would have happened if AC hadn’t been hurt.  However, I liked seeing us two-and-out him a few times BEFORE we knocked him out.  The D came to play today.

Special Teams: Eddie Money… that’s what they’re calling the surprisingly accurate place-kicker we’ve found ourselves.  Well done, Eddie.

Opponent: Stealing a win against Montreal, IN Montreal… that’s just huge.  Dare I dream that we can NOW get this season rolling.

Overall: Big showdown with the Stamps next week for… wait for it… 2nd place in the West.  Hopefully, momentum can carry, and we finally get a win at home now.

How Reform Happens

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In my July 5 post, I linked to an article discussing another article.  At the head of the train was a discussion on “the religion of atheism”.  Zac Alstin, who wrote the original piece, ended it with this bit:

In the end we can either reform religion or replace it; there is no third option. The anti-religious atheist is – unwittingly – the inspired prophet of a new religious movement. Whatever ideas he plants in the fertile soil of the human mind, we can rest assured that something religious will eventually grow. The answer to all the religious evils on the tip of an atheist’s tongue is perseverance in religious goods.

Bad religion, like bad science, bad ethics, bad politics and bad arguments must be challenged for being bad, not for being at all.

My friend Jeremy, especially appreciating the bolded portion, left this comment:

i like the last sentence, but how do you go about challenging or getting rid of “the bads”?

Great question, Jer!

So my friends, I pose it to you.  With so many “bads” in our world in need of critique, how does one go about challenging them?  What is fair?  What is effective?  What is possible?

Riders VS Ti-Cats (July 16, 2011)

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This game was on TV as my daughter’s first birthday party was happening–did I mention how happy I was that there was SOMETHING else to pay attention to?!

Another quiet blessing was that a fantastic and focused time at church certainly tasted no drag from “football chat”–there was simply nothing to say!  (At least nothing that should be spoken in a church, I suppose.)

Offense: Is there anything to even talk about here?!  Three points in a game, trailing 23-0 before we earned a first down,… wow.  One thought might be that we are missing Fantuz and Bagg more than I thought we would.  I know everyone deals with player movements, but it’s more than apparent that the chemistry our offense enjoyed the past couple seasons is nowhere near present today.  Time to get into the lab, boys!

Defense: More film to dissect, as a previously inept Hamilton offense looked like that of a contender against us.  We get so little push from our front four that I can’t help but wonder if opposing O-lines are circling us on their calendars as “casual day” at work.

Special Teams: Nothing noteworthy about Tristan Jackson yet this season.  I hope that changes soon.  On the positive side, special teams accounted for all our points.

Opponent: Getting stomped by a team you should beat, when you should be desperate… that was hard to take.  “You’re welcome, Hamilton, for being your stepping stool upward.”

Overall: 0-3; definitely discouraging, but certainly not the end.  A road trip to Montreal this week though seems hardly the prescription for healing.  Prove the masses wrong, boys!