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Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

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death

Theology, Worldview, and the Death of My Father

June 20, 2020 by Randal

In this video, I reflect on the death of my father to Alzheimer’s in theological perspective while interacting with the eulogy I delivered at his memorial service in April 2019. The lesson: A Christian worldview should equip you to view life, suffering, and death in the light of hope, grace, and the cross. Unfortunately, the […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Alzheimer's Disease, death, problem of evil, suffering, theology, worldview

My Tribute to My Father

June 12, 2019 by Randal

My dad died on April 3, 2019. Ten days later on April 13, we held the memorial service, and I was honored to take part. This is important to me, not simply because I loved my dad and I grieve his passing but because I value others thinking about life and death from the perspective […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: dad, death, eschatology, funeral, grief

Random Thoughts on the Death of My Father

April 8, 2019 by Randal

I recently wrote an article describing my last visit with my father. He passed away on the morning of April 3rd, two days after his 85th birthday. Given the number of people who linger for years in the purgatorial twilight of dementia, his relatively quick demise (he was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in December 2017) […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: death, grief, lament

The Last Visit with Dad

March 28, 2019 by Randal

My dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease on a rainy afternoon in December 2017. Afterward, we went out for lunch to a restaurant downtown. Dad got confused and thought we were in Mexico. “Wow,” I joked, “It’s a lot cheaper to go on vacation when you have Alzheimer’s!” Gallows humor is a dark and welcome […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: death, hope, mortality, resurrection

Do you have to love Jesus more than your children?

March 20, 2015 by Randal

A little while ago I was speaking at a convention on the topic of heaven. As often happens, several people came up afterward to ask questions and share comments and stories. Over the next several minutes the conversation slowed and eventually the crowd drifted away leaving one man standing quietly. Once the others had left […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: afterlife, death, God, grief, Jesus

What happens after we die?

December 10, 2014 by Randal

This past Sunday (Dec. 7th) I was invited to give a talk (aka a “sermon”) at St. Albert Alliance Church on the topic “What happens after we die?” (Thanks to Matt Garvin for inviting me and to the church for being a great host.) The talk was part of an extended series the church did […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: death, eschatology, eternity, existentialism, intermediate state, naturalism

Do human beings have spectral bodies?

February 7, 2014 by Randal

The other day I received the following query via email: “Do we get an intermediate body for our souls in heaven whilst we await the second coming?” I suppose the answer will depend what one means by “body”. Historically, most Christians have believed that human beings have (or are) souls, and that these souls are simple […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: afterlife, anthropology, death, dualism, ghost

Near-Death Experiences: A Review

June 22, 2013 by Randal

J. Steve Miller, Near-Death Experiences as Evidence for the Existence of God and Heaven. Acworth, GA: Wisdom Creek Press, 2012. Stories of near death experiences are not hard to come by. But can these popular anecdotes of a light at the end of a tunnel and one’s life flashing before their eyes provide any hard […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, death, NDE, near death experience, Steve Miller

On the dying of Christopher Hitchens

March 22, 2013 by Randal

At the moment I’m reading through Christopher Hitchens’ posthumously published Mortality (Signal, 2012). Hitchens lived his life as, among other things, a brash iconoclast of “religion” and slayer of many sacred cows. He especially seemed to despise the idea of God and regularly expressed his belief that a universe with God would be tantamount to […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Christopher Hitchens, death, Eusebius, Galerius, schadenfreude

Should Christians believe in ghosts?

June 21, 2011 by Randal

The question was recently posed to me by one of my readers. Stuart did not share my assumption that the world may contain ghosts who, among other things, might engage in hauntings:  “I think you’ll need to provide some more scritural backing to convince me that people can die (or be killed) and then their spirit can […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: death, eschatology, ghosts, Gregory the Great, pareschatology, supernaturalism

On the pap people say when other people die

November 7, 2010 by Randal

Jim Clench was a fixture on the Canadian classic rock scene as a bass player and song writer for both April Wine and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Perhaps his best known song is April Wine’s perennial concert favorite “Oowatanite”. Not exactly Gershwin, but the song, and Clench himself, have earned a mention in the liner notes of modern arena […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: April Wine, comfort words, death, Jim Clench, metaphysics

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