Recently there was a story about a 17-year-old who was sent to jail for truancy. As a result of public outcry, the judge has decided allow her to expunge her record, but she has already spent the time in jail. What made the story so poignant was that the reason she was truant so often […]
Archives for May 2012
Common law marriage
What is a common law marriage? Well, this may surprise you: Common law marriage, sometimes (incorrectly) spelled with a hyphen and also known as sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute; is an irregular form of marriage that can be legally contracted in an extremely limited number of jurisdictions and is […]
What is a stereotype?
Yesterday I talked about the subject of generalizations. And, I also mentioned the fallacy of a faulty generalization, also called a hasty generalization. Let me remind you of what I quoted yesterday: Hasty generalization is a logical fallacy of faulty generalization by reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence — essentially making a hasty […]
Generalizations, blogs, and accuracy
Recently someone commented that he felt that I was making a generalization. I assume that he meant a hasty generalization. But, it does bring up the subject of what is a generalization? You see, we must first ask whether making generalizations is itself bad. So, what is a generalization? Well, there are two meanings, one […]
I do not think this is what they meant by the Church Militant
I must admit that I could not resist this photo. And when I saw it, I promptly thought of the blogger Pithless Thoughts. May he see this picture, and use it and derive great merriment from it. Nevertheless, this doctored photograph does remind me of what Saint Paul said, “And take . . . the […]
The Roman Catholic bishops on the 2013 budget
On 8 May 2012, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sent out a letter to the representatives of the United States House of Representatives making certain comments on the proposed reconciliation package for the fiscal year 2013. The letter is well worth reading, let me quote it for you: Dear Representative, As you vote […]
Hesychasm and Pentecostalism
As Orthodox, we need to be cautious. If we are not careful, we might miss something that God is trying to tell us. One case of that are some similarities between hesychasm and the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. Look at the video above and ask yourself, what is hesychasm or hesychastic theology? The Wikipedia says: […]
Patriarch of Constantinople, culture, and tolerance
We are in the midst of some heated debate in this country on issues of culture, religion, morality, etc. It might be good to look back at some of what previous Ecumenical Patriarchs have said on some of these issues. Back in 1568 there was mistreatment of the Jews on the island of Crete. Patriarch […]
Many ancient prayers are very true to life
And grant rest, O Master, to our souls and bodies as we sleep; preserve us from the gloomy slumber of sin and from the dark passions of the night. Calm the impulses of carnal desires, quench the fiery darts of the evil one which are craftily directed against us. Still the rebellions of the flesh, […]
Lemons and lemonade
God can take the lemons that life gives us and make lemonade out of them.
