death – Page 2 – St. Eutychus

On death do us part

Two death post in one night. This isn’t some morbid fixation (though I am watching Bones as I write)…

I have appreciated elements of the Pyromaniacs writing. They call a spade a spade. And I appreciate that. I’ve never really engaged in commenting on their posts – even though there have been some I disagreed with.

Until this post – where one of the “Team Pyro” guys wrote a long post about the death penalty on his personal blog. I hope the comments around this site never reach the sycophantic levels of rabid agreement that go on over there…

Now, I’m not against the death penalty. I’ve argued for it on previous occasions. But I think we should be encouraging a government that is careful, considerate and merciful. I agree that the law needs to pursue justice – and that that looks like retribution, rather than rehabilitation. But this post doesn’t hit that balance.

It also falls into the trap, in my opinion, of equating America with God’s kingdom.

Ben, from bathgates.net, led the way into the fray and I followed to see what had happened in his wake. It’s not really pretty. But feel free to join the fun.

After this experience, and having read through thoughtful analysis of the “ministry” of the Pyromaniacs on Ben’s blog, I’m much less interested in what the Pyros have to say about anything.

August 2, 2009

Death becomes you

I probably don’t write enough about death. Mostly because it’s one of those topics you don’t talk about in polite company.

But I can’t let these advances in post mortem technology go by without comment.

Finding the right, dignified, treatment for your loved ones is an important choice…

Firstly, you could turn your loved one’s ashes into a rather smart casual diamond… from LifeGem. Here’s a testimonial…

“Dear Mr. VandenBiesen,
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. The Archie Life Gem is so beautiful. I received it on Wednesday last week, had it mounted into a ring the same day, and have been wearing it ever since. The color is so amazing.(so is the size-Thank you) I am thrilled. What a wonderful service your company performs. Thank you for making my heart smile again.
Angie McKinnon”

If that’s not your thing, you could always choose to keep your loved one’s ashes in a purpose built urn – reproduced in the image of the recently departed. From PersonalUrns.

August 2, 2009

No atheists at the gallows

This is an interesting follow up to the last post on death and the decline of religion. There’s a saying that infuriates atheists – well, at least the ones I read on the Internet – “there are no atheists in the fox holes” – it’s the idea that when confronted with our mortality we turn to God.

A quick flick through this oddly compelling gallery of the last words of executed criminals suggests there aren’t many atheists at the gallows…

July 9, 2009

The death of death

An ABC blogger reckons religion is in decline because nobody is as scared of death any more… his post attracted a bunch of rabid atheists – like any such post on the interwebs does. There aren’t enough rational Christians commenting on these kinds of posts with gospel intent…

“The appeal of the big three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – has always been that they offer us a mechanism to deal with death, an accommodation with our inevitable personal extinction.”

The study of religious structures is pretty fascinating. But the idea that religions came about to control people rather than in a search for truth and meaning is pretty insulting to any believer.

Christianity, is not, as the author of this piece suggests, about “moral living’ that’s an outcome of Christianity not the process of Christianity. And it’s not the end goal of Christian life.

“In exchange for living according to a moral code, life can be infinitely prolonged after the death of the body. But for Westerners, death is now further away than ever before. Western science has not yet conquered death, but it has now banished death to a comfortable distance.”

One of the angry atheists in the comments suggested that the God of the Bible is immoral – kind of defeats the purpose of being God if you’re not the arbiter of morality doesn’t it? That statement is not logical.

“This article made no mention of the wealth of evidence and arguments against religion. The immorality of the god of the bible, mohammed, and just the illogical nature of the whole thing.”

July 9, 2009

Dead celebrities society

The dead celebrity news cycle is so predictable it has been provided in cartoon form.

June 28, 2009

Reviewing History

I’m a little behind on my unread items queue in Google Reader. So I was shocked at first when I read this story – but then I realised it was written on the 24th.

“I am sure fans of Michael Jackson would know that he wore a dress or jacket or gloves worth much more than the one million pounds he is going to spend. I would say, wherever you are in this world, don’t miss to go and attend his final mind blowing concert!”

This is no doubt of real comfort to the millions of people grieving his passing. Knowing that he was going to wear a million dollar coat.

Odd, as I was writing this I was watching a recording of “Talkin’ about Your Generation” from last Tuesday that opened with a Michael Jackson joke.

Is it still funny to make jokes about the previously living Michael Jackson?

June 28, 2009

Life as a mathematical expression

Sister number two thought she was really clever when she first discovered vectors. “Everything is vectors” she said. And she would find ways to express everything in vector terminology. At least that’s how I remember that annoying phase of her life.

Here is a website that goes one better. Envisaging life and philosophical concepts in the form of mathematical equations.

So in this case the equation would be:

morenewmaths = sister number 2 + vectors + 1.

Like these.