Seth Haines's Blog, page 32

I Once Was Lost and am Lost Again, Was Blind but now Can’t See

A pastor calls, tells me he’s hearing voices again. These aren’t the voices of the alternate personality, the new age spirit guide, or the self-harmer telling him to run down the hall double-fisting scissors. These days, he hears the very real voice of history, of sex, of regret.

“What if she comes to my church? What if she stands in the back of the congregation and outs me? What if she tells of all of those last-time-we’ll-ever-do-this nights we shared, the ones just after college? I was sup...

The News According to Fear, Anger, Sex and Hope

This is the news according to Facebook, according to Twitter, according to CNN, according to fair-and-balanced Fox: Hillary pulls ahead by a nose; Trump is a hairpiece away from the presidency; Bernie is being Bernie, and the people love Bernie (“hip-hip BERN-IE!”); the black box was found; the boy is alive though the gorilla is dead; the starlet has a new sex tape (click, click, click and watch her work); the temperature and the terror alert are on the rise; the hurricane is coming; stocks a...

Staying Sober-ish

You can sneak this drink, this peek, this pill. Onelittle thrill won’t hurt, especially if the spouse is away.

If you don’t hear these voices, move along, move along; this conversation might be beneath you. But if these voices come calling from time to time, I suppose I’d like to tell you this: welcome to the human experience.

Do you wrestle with the haunting addictions, with the voices of the human experience? If so, I’d love to hear your two cents. How do you kill the demons that don’t seem...

Recovery Room: I Hear The Voices

Shawn Smucker is a friend and author who self-published the incredible Young Adult novel,The Day the Angels Fell, in 2014. Over the past several months, we’ve discussedthe writing life, shared some of its ups and downs. What’s more, we’vediscussed the subtle addictions of career and “The Voices” that distract us from connection with God.I’ve asked Shawn if he’d agree to answer a few questions about career, self-doubt, and spirituality,and he graciously agreed.

Perhaps you’re not a writer. Per...

I Haven’t Been Raptured Yet

I was raised in a religious tradition that believed in the rapture, the notion that all Christians would be whisked away before the coming of the great Antichrist, the strongman of Satan. We learned the signs of the times–earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, religious persecution, the collapse of morality, the rise of the Demon-cratic party. There were plans to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, which meant something to someone better-versed in eschatological matters than I. The world was spinnin...

Are We Alone?

Geniusby StephenHawking was on the tube last night. It’s a PBS broadcast, a television show which poses a scientific problem and teaches average people to “think like geniuses” in order to solve it. Last night’s episode explored the universe, asked the question that niggles at the back of all our minds–are we alone.

Hawking and the participants began with an examination of the immensity of our galaxy, the 100 billion stars that comprise it. Comparing our sun to a grain of sand (can you imagi...

Christian Satire in Babylon

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The Babylon Bee–“Your Trusted Source For Christian News Satire”–publishes a piece on a famous pastor, an author, a Christian basketball player. It takes shots at the average mini-van driving mega-church family, at Mormon missionaries, at porn-addicted Redditors. There isa piece about Minnesota preacher John Piper punching himself, Jen Hatmaker’s supposed lack of clarity. There is a piece about TD Jakes–a heretic, the Bee insinuates.The sarcasm is thick, the writing a shade of clever, depre...

Whizz-Bang Woo (This One’s a Little Sexy)

Last week I pushed into an exploration of humanity with the pieces “I Am More Than a Computer,” and “Your Offering to the World.” Today’s piece is a continuation of those thoughts.

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What does it mean to be human, to be something more than a machine for production or consumption? What does it mean to have structure, bones, arteries, organs, nerves, skin? What does it mean to have synapses that fire, desires that animate you?

I do not have the definitive answer to these questions, but these...

Your Offering to the World

On Tuesday, I wrote “I Am More Than a Computer,” and I meant every word. I wondered whether it would resonate, whether I was the only one feeling so overwhelmed by the muchnessof the modern world. There is always something else to do–a piece of pop culture to learn, somenews to know, a client demand, a civic obligation. I wrote about this, and so many of you responded. This is the game, you said, and though we may not admit it, so many of us are keeping score. I know I am.

Seth, 1. The rest o...

I Am More Than A Computer

“[Tolstoy] could observe the mass of persons, the peasants, who in the most miserable of conditions found life deeply meaningful, and even sweet. They had not heard about particles and progress. But this is no longer possible. The peasants now watch TV and constantly consume media. There are no peasants now. ” Dallas Willard,The Divine Conspiracy

This is what the culture demands: work another hour; add another client; bill another dollar; buy another car, a bigger house, and extra pair of sho...