Blog@GraceJunction

In the general sense a word signifies an utterance of the mouth, or a speech; and as a speech is a thought of the mind uttered by means of words, therefore a word signifies the thing that is being thought; and from this, in the original tongue, everything that really exists, and is any thing, is called a word. But in an eminent sense the Word is Divine truth, for the reason that everything which really exists, and which is anything, is from Divine truth.

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Dear Troy,

We got your mail yesterday evening and it was such a relief to know that you are settling in to the new surroundings of your engineering college. We missed you so much as this is the first time you have gone away from home for such a long time. Nice to know that you have been allotted a room in the college hostel and that you have a new friend who is also your room mate.

Mom is glad to know that you have been reading the Bible daily and praying. But it seems you have been having difficulty explaining to your friend why the Bible is a reliable piece of literary work. In your mail you raised three concerns which were also bothering your friend. It reminded me when I was a college student and I would raise the same questions to my friends. But I have had the privilege of spending a lifetime as a historian committed to the task of researching the authenticity of many literary works, not just the Bible. So allow your dad to put on his historians cap for a while as I try to address your concerns on the Bible.

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‘Grey Divorce’, as it is increasingly being called, is on the rise. Couples who remain married for decades together are seeking divorce! This trend has been around for a while now but it has once again come under focus with Al Gore announcing a separation from his wife of forty years, Mary “Tipper” Gore!

The Gore divorce annoucement came as a shock to the Americans especially because just about two weeks earlier they had celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary and 40 years is a really long time! As a couple they have survived emotional upheavals, the likes of which few could imagine. During their stint for the White House, and earlier even as ‘Monicagate’ loomed large over Al Gore’s political future too, they created the public image of a couple deeply in love. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi Abhishek,

I got your response to my last mail but I was unable to respond on time as I was travelling for some seminars. But now I am back home and things are back to normal after some hectic weeks of travelling. However I am glad that my last letter helped you to dig deeper in to this issue of evil and the existence of God. You came up with some important points in your last mail. You asked me that, wouldn’t it have been good for God to curtail some of our freedom to make this world a better place.

Well let me tell you that all my students who were copied on your mail were really confused by your argument because it all sounded so reasonable. If God had proposed a curtailing of free will to keep the evil in check wouldn’t we all have gladly agreed to it? We would all give up some of our freedom in order to protect the spreading of AIDS, killing of innocent foetuses and the killing of innocent people in the name of wars and Holy wars. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s happening to our planes suddenly! What’s happening to the Indian flights! There have been at least four incidents in the last fortnight in which one of the incidents resulted in the loss of 158 lives, including the crew! Again another flight almost landed into an already parked aircraft on the runway! Be it an overstressed flight crew or the ground-staff (ATC) that maybe the reason for all these, but there surely is too much appearing to be at stake in the skies for now!

I never forget to say a small prayer of thanks to God whenever my flight is about to take off and immediately before and after it lands safely too. After reading about these close shaves, I should say that every take off and landing has been a favor granted! Some of you may shirk at the thought of thanking God for everything! Why to ascribe all favours to Him! If so, then let me tell you, I am sure there maybe times in your life when you really want to thank someone for something or for some situation in your life and then suddenly you realize that you don’t know whom to thank! Read the rest of this entry »

The prosperous state of Gujarat has an ambassador now. A brand ambassador who will become the face of the state henceforth. It is none other than “Big B”, Amitabh Bachchan, and ever since he came to the state a few days ago for photo and video shoots at different locales of this state, every move of his has been reported by the media, including what he blogs and tweets about his experience everyday!

Mr. Bachchan too has been creatively churning out impromptu slogans and jingles. Actually, some of his observations are quite insightful. Posted on one of his blogs: “What a magnificent country we own. And it is only when you visit these places yourself do you realise that it’s not just the greatness of the domain that makes this land so wonderful and blessed, it is the man on the street, the commoner that gives this nation its strength and its glory!” I say, “Awesome insight”! Read the rest of this entry »

Hi Abhishek,

I don’t know how to respond appropriately to your pain of loosing your eight year old son. I heard that he was suffering from Progeria due to which he was ageing much beyond his age. You told me that he had the body of an eighty year old when he died, a premature death, something that raises a lot of questions in our mind. I can understand your anger against God for allowing such evil but I cannot agree with your conclusion that therefore there is no God.

I still remember the days when I was the professor of philosophy at the University and you were one of the best students that I had. You were always a good thinker and used reason to good effect. In your last mail to me you told me to explain how an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omni benevolent God can allow evil. According to you both are not logically compatible. And since evil is the most proven fact in this world you deduced that there is no God. Read the rest of this entry »