Culture Archives — Page 3 of 4

Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday?

To most Christians, Christmas is a sacred religious holiday. But in modern times it’s become more of a cultural and commercial phenomenon. The Christmas we celebrate in the West today—opening gifts, decorating trees, singing carols, putting up stockings, roasting chestnuts, Santa, and all the rest—has often been criticized by the Christian community for becoming too […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago

Creativity Culture Philosophy

Sailing to Byzantium

I only recently read this poem for the first time, and something about it really resonated with me. Such a noble sentiment, infused with agony and yearning. Yeats, an Irishman, wrote this poem in 1926 at the age of 61. Of it, he said: “I am trying to write about the state of my soul, […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years agoNovember 21, 2020

Apologetics Culture Faith Philosophy Theology

A Piece of Life

The following exchange happened between an unidentified questioner, and an Indian yogi and mystic called Jaggi Vasudev, who is more commonly known as Sadhguru. The questioner asks, “We have light and dark, we have hot and cold, do we have also good and bad?” Sadhguru answers, “Good and bad is not in terms of your […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago

Apologetics Culture Philosophy

On Human Decency

Author Christopher Hitchens was brilliant with a turn of phrase. In that sense, I often think of him as the C. S. Lewis of antitheism; charming, clever, intelligent, well-read, British. He had a way of phrasing his arguments so that his point seemed like the only logical position one could possibly hold on the matter. […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years agoOctober 10, 2020

Apologetics Culture Faith Philosophy Theology

Is Evil a Problem to Be Solved?

Another day, another mass shooting. At least this one ended relatively well for the innocent parties involved. My soul is weary of all the violence and unrest going on in my country. And the truth is that this problem is much bigger than the current cultural landscape of the USA. Any sane person knows there […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago

Apologetics Culture Philosophy Politics

What’s Wrong With The World?

If you’re like me, some days you just need a break from the news. I often feel my blood pressure rising as I scan the headlines. Just this morning a perusal of several popular news sites including CNN, BBC, Fox, and others revealed dozens of articles on issues like terrorism, racism, Trumpism, violence, bigotry, starvation, […]

R. L. Solberg 8 years ago

Apologetics Culture Faith Philosophy

On Falling Apples & Geography

There is certainly some truth to the old saying, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. Like it’s close cousin, “a chip off the old block”, it refers to a parent and child having very similar beliefs, personalities or behaviors. Out in the Greater Twitterverse it’s also the basis for a very common argument […]

R. L. Solberg 8 years agoNovember 21, 2020

Apologetics Culture Faith

Is Christmas Real?

In the modern Western world most everyone is familiar with the basic story of Christmas, even if they aren’t Christian. Linus Van Pelt did a pretty good job of explaining it back in 1965: The passage Linus reads in the video above is from the book of Luke and it’s amazing to see how the author […]

R. L. Solberg 9 years ago

Apologetics Culture Faith Philosophy

Three Reasons Grandma Might Hate Me

Grandma called me a simple-minded, boring, little cretin who can’t live without a night light. She told me I take orders from an imaginary sky fairy that tells me not to question, think or seek knowledge. She also says I spout endless psychobabble, that I have an atavistic brain which is insufficiently developed to deal […]

R. L. Solberg 9 years ago

Culture Faith Recovery

A Moral Inventory

I’ll be honest, things are going to get a little uncomfortable. This is the step in the recovery process where things start to get very real. It’s a good time to recall the line in the serenity prayer that says “hardship is a pathway to peace”. A series of articles on recovery. I’m on a team of […]

R. L. Solberg 9 years ago