Dr Paul Allen

According to a major  study  by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, “bisexual women die, on average, nearly 40 percent younger than heterosexual women, while lesbian women die 20 percent sooner.” These are tragic numbers that should concern all of us, regardless of our attitudes towards lesbianism and bisexuality. If you care about people, this is sad to hear. As reported in the  Daily Mail , “The researchers used data from the Nurses’ Health Study II, a cohort of over 100,000 female nurses born between 1945 and 1964 and surveyed since 1989.” So, while the study focuses on a particular segment of society, it relies on a tremendous amount of data and covers almost thirty years of death records. What was the cause of these alarmingly shortened life expectancies? According to lead author Dr. Sarah McKetta, a research fellow at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, “The difference in mortality is said to be due to the ‘toxic social forces’  LGBTQ  people...

What does the author of The Gulag Archipelago have in common with the actor who played Dwight Schrute on The Office? They both recognize spiritual exhaustion in Western culture and call for spiritual renewal to shake off the materialist malaise that plagues society. In Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, Rainn Wilson lays the groundwork for a soul movement he believes is much needed. Given that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn sounded this note in his controversial 1978 commencement address at Harvard, some might say the proposed renewal is long overdue. Wilson is an actor, the author or co-author of three books, and hosts a streaming show on Peacock exploring places that tend to make people happy: Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss. Wilson also cohosts a podcast with Reza Aslan called Metaphysical Milkshake. Together with a range of public thinkers, they explore life's big questions. Soul Boom is an attempt to address the pervasive anxiety of the age. It’s easy to agree with...

  "God has made us what we are, and in our union, with Christ Jesus, he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do” (Eph 2:10). The age of youth, especially the teenage years, is like setting sail out of a safe, small harbor (your home and family). Once the ship is at sea, it can turn many different ways and set its course for many different destinations. Soon, you will be making decisions that will affect the rest of your life: college, friends, marriage, career. You may be feeling insecure, unsure, and afraid, like a small boat sailing out into a great, dark, stormy sea. There is One greater than the sea, One who stilled the storms. Read Luke 8:22–25. If you “put your hand in the hand of the Man who stilled the waters”, he will lead you. He promised, “I will be with you always” (Mt 28:20, the very last verse in that Gospel). If you trust him to lead you, then your path through life will be the right one because it will be his path. I cann...

One of the hardest things for me about suffering is loneliness.Inevitably I feel isolated. Though my friends can help, they cannot share my sorrow. It is too deep a well. When loss is fresh, people are all around. They call, offer help, send cards, and bring meals. Their care helps ease the razor-sharp pain. For a while. But then they stop. There are no more meals. The phone is strangely silent. And the mailbox is empty. No one knows what to say. They aren’t sure what to ask. So mostly they say nothing. Sometimes that’s fine. It’s hard to talk about pain. And I never want pity, with the mournful look, the squeeze on the arm, and the hushed question, “So how are you?” I don’t know how to answer that; I don’t know how I am. Part of me is crushed. I will never be the same again. My life is radically altered. But another part of me craves normalcy. A return to the familiar. To blend into the crowd. I Don’t Know What I Want I want to be grateful for my friends’ supp...