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The Crystal Ball

Peg Luksik

Once upon a time there was a young man and a young woman.

The young man's life was controlled by a step-father who made decisions for him based on a fear of a predicted future evil. Each decision about the young man's growth and education and development was made through the lens of "limiting evil" that tomorrow might bring. The father made choices for his son that he knew were wrong, accepting and even selecting a "lesser evil" to avoid what he was afraid would be greater one later on.

As it turned out, his judgments about weighing greater and lesser evils were less than accurate, and he got the greater evil that he had most feared. We know his son. His name is Oedipus Rex.

The young woman was raised by a father who made decisions for her based on a trust in the providence of a loving God. Each decision about the young woman's growth and education and development was made through the lens of selecting righteousness.

This story has a different ending. Freed from the burden of judging between evils, this father opened himself and his daughter up to the blessings that flow from the righteousness he chose. We know his daughter, too. Her name is Saint Therese of Lisieux.

TV or Not TV: That Is the Question

E. Michael Jones, PhD

I play the mandolin weekly at an Irish pub in South Bend, Indiana. Or at least I try to play the mandolin. The one thing I find that keeps me from playing, even more than my innate lack of musical talent, is TV.

No, I don't stay home and watch TV, because I don't have one. In 37 years of marriage, we had a TV just once, for the three years we lived in Germany, because it came with our rented, furnished apartment. No, it is the TV in the bar that keeps me from playing. From where I usually sit, a TV screen stares me in the face. There is no sound, so there is no content to occupy my mind. Just images, for the most part either baseball or football games. My eyes are drawn to the ever-changing images and eventually they glaze over and my playing slows down and then stops.

The Road to Hell Is Paved with... Exceptions!

Patrick Delaney, M.A., M.Div

Before it was defeated in the South Dakota State Senate recently, some groups and individuals were providing an argument for supporting HR 1293 which seeks to "ban" abortion while explicitly permitting abortion by way of exception.

This approach cannot achieve its stated end and makes a strategic mistake that ends up being counterproductive.