Covering Temujin's Lazy Ass

If you've been visiting West Coast Chaos lately, you've probably been wondering what the hell happened to Temujin. It's all very simple . . . Temujin went away "on business", expecting yours truly to cover his ass with Pei-style blog-work. I warned Temujin that I would end up doing a half-assed job of this, but he didn't seem too concerned.

So I post today just for the sake of posting, and to fulfill a promise I made to Temujin out of one side of my mouth. I suppose when one has a complete lack of things to say, the most reasonable thing to do is to link to somebody else who doesn't have this lack.

So I decided to link to a theological journal that posts everything online, First Things. This article is particularly interesting, since it deals with the question of hell, and whether or not the Bible actually teaches its existence. Towards the end, the author (Avery Cardinal Dulles), gives an interesting explanation for why the Bible is so silent on the question of who is saved and who is "going to hell":

All told, it is good that God has left us without exact information. If we knew that virtually everybody would be damned, we would be tempted to despair. If we knew that all, or nearly all, are saved, we might become presumptuous. If we knew that some fixed percent, say fifty, would be saved, we would be caught in an unholy rivalry. We would rejoice in every sign that others were among the lost, since our own chances of election would thereby be increased. Such a competitive spirit would hardly be compatible with the gospel.

Anyhoo . . . go read the whole article, it's great. And for other interesting articles on the intersection of theology and politics, etc., for to the www.firstthings.com main page.