the voice of reason's blog

“It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.”

I just finished watching Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and as much as the story as a whole has never appealed to me, suddenly I understand why people like it—and know for certain why I don’t.

They may like it for the action, and the violence, and to see the girl in the skimpy dress scream in terror, or because they like dinosaurs and big things and consider the movie a classic, or maybe just because they like actors and/or directors, maybe even because they think Kong and Ann's friendship makes for a great story, and they like the plot. But to me, aside from their friendship, those are just the superficialities. The unimportant things. And they are covering up, like dressing over a wound, the darkness at the heart of the story.  Read More »

God has become the ultimate excuse, but the devil comes in at a close second.

Just stop and think about it for a minute. Some of the greatest tragedies in history have been done "in the name of God", and people who have done crazy things, or bad things, or out-of-control things who don't wish that responsibility on their shoulders have a habit of crying out, "The devil made me do it!"

Not only is this sad for the people who are so confused as to do such things, but what's worse is that other people lose faith in God, because He "lets" bad things happen, or think they might as well not even bother trying to do good if the devil is already everywhere and "making" people do evil.  Read More »

I heard some interesting things on the news this morning.  That's unusual for two reasons. First, I generally don't watch the news, not liking to be constantly urged to depression and outright fear because of all the hype and "be afraid, be very afraid" attitude with which all the horrors of the world are presented, and second because when I do watch it, I generally don't see anything that actually catches my attention.  Read More »

"But to you who hear I say, love your enemies..."

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you..."

"I give you a new commandment: Love one another, as I have loved you."

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I originally wrote this short paper for my American history class, but the book I wrote it on moved me so greatly that I wanted to share it with others—and it seems like posting here is a great place to start.

It's the story of how the American West was won--from the point of view of those who lost it.  Read More »

"We quest outward in hopes of discovering what is inside us."

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"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."  Read More »

G.K. Chesterton, one of the most brilliant writers in recent history, has this to say about tolerance:

"Creeds must disagree: it is the whole fun of the thing. If I think the universe is triangular, and you think it is square, there cannot be room for two universes. We may argue politely, we may argue humanely, we may argue with great mutual benefit; but, obviously, we must argue. Modern toleration is really a tyranny. It is a tyranny because it is a silence. To say that I must not deny my opponent's faith is to say I must not discuss it....It is absurd to have a discussion on Comparative Religions if you don't compare them."  Read More »

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." -- Rebecca West 

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