Matthew R. Green's Blog, page 104

Zero Shades of Gray

I read an article recently arguing that Christians should stop watching Mad Men. The justification was that the characters, despite being despicable people, were getting good things and enjoying themselves. The show seemed to turn bad into good. My wife and I were rather frustrated with this perspective. The biggest problem was that the author [...]

Futility and Blogging

I was planning on writing a blog post on something different, and I might still do so at some point soon, but as I was considering it, I got caught in a little vortex of futility. You see, I feel like, for the most part, I’m blogging to the choir. (That creates some particularly interesting [...]

Light and Darkness

I was reading an article the other day about common metaphors that we get totally and completely wrong. My personal favorite was “Blood is thicker than water.” It always means that in the end, family is always more important or reliable or lasting than friends. Friends may come and go, but family is forever. Except, [...]

Book Review: Christian Spirituality by Pannenberg

Since I’m technically studying theology, I had in the back of my mind the idea that I really should read something by Wolfhart Pannenberg, a major, global 20th century theological voice. When I stumbled onto his Christian Spirituality in the library, I thought what could be better? It’s a short book, maybe 110 pages, and it ends up [...]

Lessons from God

I was talking with a friend the other day, and he related an obviously frustrating experience. I commiserated for a bit, then mused aloud, “I wonder what God might be teaching you in the midst of this…” His response was almost immediate: “I know that He’s teaching me patience…” he said, with a tone of [...]

Happiness, Thermometers, and Lies, Lies, Lies

There is a regulation in Toronto that apartment buildings must be kept at 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit for the metric impaired). It is honestly quite amazing just how successful they are at maintaining this temperature in our building. Check the thermometer in the morning: 68 degrees. Check the thermometer before bed: 68 degrees. [...]

Happiness and Thermometers

The chief end of man, the average Joe on the street might say these days, is to enjoy himself fully. Happiness has sort of become the principal goal. Or as Jim Davis once said, “You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can get.” As Christians, I think, we can [...]

Broken Windows

Someone I’m loosely connected to posted a link to a blog on leadership, specifically a post on self-control. The pared-down version is simply that we need less willpower to maintain self-control when we arrange our lives to need less decision-making exertion – we are more on top of our game when our environments don’t demand [...]

Book Review: Anatomy of the Soul

The value in Curt Thompson’s Anatomy of the Soul is completely dependent upon what you’re looking for. As a introductory text in a practical application and integration of psychological ideals with the Christian life, this is a fairly decent book. Thompson is readable and obviously well-practiced in helping to guide others along the way toward [...]

Not What I Signed Up For

While I was back in California over the holidays, I got stood up. I was supposed to meet a friend, but it just felt like things weren’t working out. Emails took a while getting returned. Schedules didn’t seem to be meshing. Finally, we nailed down a time, and when I got there, he didn’t show. [...]