Friday, August 31, 2007 at 1:01am
The end is near
Column: Interesting Times
How do I know the end is near? Hobby Lobby has all its Christmas decorations, trees with lights, wreath and candles up on display — its Halloween things are gone and it is not Labor Day. It is a sure sign the end is near. I went for fall candles and was hit by a wave of nausea when I was greeted in the lobby by faux green trees strung with lights end to end.
How do I know the end is near? Thousands of vultures (or investors, depending on perspective) are snapping up foreclosed houses at auctions, while others will move in with family, perhaps be able to rent or be homeless.
The end is near when Greece is burning. The Afghan poppy/opium crop is bigger than ever. The news this week will be a rehash of Princess Diana's death in Paris. Clips or replays of the 10th year memorial service for the beleaguered Lady Di will appear, and that might be a relief to the star athlete Michael Vick and his dog fighting/killing issue.
In Israel Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas political movement, said Israeli soldiers died in battle because they were not ritually observant Jews. On the other side of the world, in Albuquerque, N.M., leaving a private $1,000-a-plate lunch fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici on Monday, a motorcycle policeman in President Bush's motorcade was killed. The president — or someone on his staff — sent the policeman's widow and two children a note of sympathy, duly reported by the local TV stations.
Shades of decadent Rome: According to The New York Times, a member of the U.S. Senate, Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge earlier this month after his arrest in June by an undercover police officer in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Mr. Craig, whose seat is up for election next year, is the second Republican senator in recent weeks to find his personal behavior under scrutiny. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana was implicated in a separate case in the Washington area when his phone number turned up in the records of an escort service.
Sigh. The end is near.
Pollution has made cancer China's leading cause of death, as ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million Chinese alone lack access to safe drinking water. And then there are Africa and India, whose people still long for water, drinking or otherwise. In the world over 1 billion people thirst.
A news fast is in order: a study of the Wisdom of the Ages, the Word of the Bible. Of course, there are some who think that Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 12 report Jesus foretelling the end of times. And they take those words to a gory, gory, unhappy end, except, of course, for an elect few. Like them. It's a club, those who want others destroyed, those who read some words of the Bible but not all of them, and not the words in context. Tackling the end of Matthew 24:32-51 is more of a challenge than most want. And to consider what Jesus said: This is an evil generation: They seek a sign; and there shall be no sign given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet — well, that is no fun. There is no revenge.
Even children know how Jonah was safely in the belly of the whale for three days, the same amount of time that Jesus was in the tomb. Not enough adults know that after Jonah reluctantly delivered God's message to the people of Nineveh, they repented and everyone was saved, and lived happily ever after. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
And in an enigmatic end to the account, God said to him: Should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? (Jonah 4:11).
Even, one supposes, whoever at Hobby Lobby decided to put up Christmas trees for sale in August.
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Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.
How do I know the end is near? Thousands of vultures (or investors, depending on perspective) are snapping up foreclosed houses at auctions, while others will move in with family, perhaps be able to rent or be homeless.
The end is near when Greece is burning. The Afghan poppy/opium crop is bigger than ever. The news this week will be a rehash of Princess Diana's death in Paris. Clips or replays of the 10th year memorial service for the beleaguered Lady Di will appear, and that might be a relief to the star athlete Michael Vick and his dog fighting/killing issue.
In Israel Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas political movement, said Israeli soldiers died in battle because they were not ritually observant Jews. On the other side of the world, in Albuquerque, N.M., leaving a private $1,000-a-plate lunch fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici on Monday, a motorcycle policeman in President Bush's motorcade was killed. The president — or someone on his staff — sent the policeman's widow and two children a note of sympathy, duly reported by the local TV stations.
Shades of decadent Rome: According to The New York Times, a member of the U.S. Senate, Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge earlier this month after his arrest in June by an undercover police officer in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Mr. Craig, whose seat is up for election next year, is the second Republican senator in recent weeks to find his personal behavior under scrutiny. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana was implicated in a separate case in the Washington area when his phone number turned up in the records of an escort service.
Sigh. The end is near.
Pollution has made cancer China's leading cause of death, as ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million Chinese alone lack access to safe drinking water. And then there are Africa and India, whose people still long for water, drinking or otherwise. In the world over 1 billion people thirst.
A news fast is in order: a study of the Wisdom of the Ages, the Word of the Bible. Of course, there are some who think that Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 12 report Jesus foretelling the end of times. And they take those words to a gory, gory, unhappy end, except, of course, for an elect few. Like them. It's a club, those who want others destroyed, those who read some words of the Bible but not all of them, and not the words in context. Tackling the end of Matthew 24:32-51 is more of a challenge than most want. And to consider what Jesus said: This is an evil generation: They seek a sign; and there shall be no sign given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet — well, that is no fun. There is no revenge.
Even children know how Jonah was safely in the belly of the whale for three days, the same amount of time that Jesus was in the tomb. Not enough adults know that after Jonah reluctantly delivered God's message to the people of Nineveh, they repented and everyone was saved, and lived happily ever after. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
And in an enigmatic end to the account, God said to him: Should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? (Jonah 4:11).
Even, one supposes, whoever at Hobby Lobby decided to put up Christmas trees for sale in August.
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.