NEW ARTICLES 9/30: Efficiency, Prayer, Wearing Out and More

The Reach and Limits of Efficiency
By: Denis Haack
Topic: Discernment
I prefer to do business with efficient institutions peopled by efficient staff, and I don’t associate long lines, interminable waits, and inexplicable delays with efficiency. I tend to see efficiency as a good thing, as having a positive value.
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=462&B=Denis%20Haack&TID=8

Wearing Out on Purpose
By: Giles Slade
Topic: Books
Deliberate obsolescence in all its forms—technological, psychological, or planned-is a uniquely American invention. Not only did we invent disposable products, ranging from diapers to cameras to contact lenses, but we invented the very concept of disposability itself, as a necessary precursor to our rejection of tradition and our promotion of progress and change.
Deliberate
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=463&B=Giles%20Slade&TID=5

Impatience in Prayer
By: Denis Haack
Topic: Faith
God meets us unexpectedly, or so it seems to me. We were at Evensong, and I was looking forward to the homily, which was to be a reflection on a psalm of David. The order of service, however, interposed prayers of God’s people before that, and I found myself wishing God’s people had less to pray about.
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=464&B=Denis%20Haack&TID=7

When Nature is Not Enough: Review of Into the Wild
By: David John Seel, Jr.
Topic: Movies
Some movies are like cotton candy, others like granola. Some are sweet but vacuous; others more demanding but more nutritious.
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=460&B=David%20John%20Seel,%20Jr.&TID=2

Redefining an Old Problem: A review of Atonement
By: R. Greg Grooms
Topic: Movies
...doing away with the idea of evil doesn't make the problem of evil go away. It merely changes it from a philosophical problem to an existential one: if there is no God—no one to make atonement to—and no real evil—nothing to atone for—how do we cope with the reality of evil?
In The Death of
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=461&B=R.%20Greg%20Grooms&TID=2