Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    New Wake
    New Wake
    New Wake
    Ebook110 pages1 hour

    New Wake

    By Cameron Glenn

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A young man speaks with his father and girlfriend about a new philosophy about what a "Kingdom of Heaven On Earth" might look like and how it may happen.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCameron Glenn
    Release dateMay 22, 2017
    ISBN9781370489503
    New Wake
    Author

    Cameron Glenn

    Cameron Glenn grew up the third of seven children in Oregon. As a child he dedicated hours to the pursuits of basketball and cartooning, as well as waking up way too early for his paper route in order to earn money to buy toys, candy and comic books. He also loved to read and write, which he continues to do voraciously. He currently lives in Salt Lake City after having earned a BA in literature from Boise State.

    Read more from Cameron Glenn

    Related to New Wake

    Related ebooks

    Philosophy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Dark Side of Awe

      Jan 29, 2024

      The Dark Side of Awe
      10 min read

    • Article

      Resurrect Forgiveness

      Sep 30, 2021

      IN CHINA, THEY HAVE rewritten the story of the woman taken in adultery. It’s among Christ’s most iconic parables, but the Chinese Communist Party have creatively gone to the trouble of improving it. It begins the way we would expect. “The crowd wante

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Iľja Rákoš

      Dec 23, 2020

      I’d been out of the hospital following (let’s call it) treatment for COVID-19 about a month. My hospital ward of 50 patients had one oxygen concentrator. Despite my blood-oxygen saturation levels of 90%, that device wasn’t coming my way anytime soon.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Cal Thomas: The power of Christmas

      Dec 24, 2020

      Of all the great and small events of 1991, the death of CBS News' "60 Minutes" co-host Harry Reasoner probably rates near the bottom in the amount of attention afforded it by the public. Yet when a keen observer and a person of talent and grace leave

      2 min read

    • Article

      Jamie Wheal Meaning 3.0

      Jul 17, 2022

      Jamie Wheal Meaning 3.0
      18 min read

    • Article

      John Fram

      Jun 10, 2020

      John Fram
      7 min read

    • Article

      Ghosts Who Walk Among Us: The Millions Interviews Claire Cronin

      Oct 19, 2020

      It wasn’t ghosts and demons that most frightened me while writing; I was haunted by God. The post Ghosts Who Walk Among Us: The Millions Interviews Claire Cronin appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Why 'The Guy' From The Office Wants A Spiritual Revolution

      Aug 13, 2023

      Rainn Wilson's book calls for a spiritual revolution in America. And even though he himself is a very funny guy, he is not joking about this at all.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Mar 8, 2024

      Send your letters to editor@joymag.co.za Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for

      7 min read

    • Article

      Lindsay Hunter Is Redrawing the Boundaries of Crime Fiction

      Jan 18, 2024

      "I believe in breaks, in fallow periods, in getting one’s bearings. But reading is my constant. I feel bereft in those brief moments between books." The post Lindsay Hunter Is Redrawing the Boundaries of Crime Fiction appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Humans Are Wired for Goodness

      Aug 22, 2019

      Nicholas Christakis and I are on the same page: We would definitely sacrifice our lives to save a billion strangers, perhaps even several hundred million, plucked at random from Earth’s population. But, for sure, not a thousand strangers, or a millio

      15 min read

    • Article

      Queen Beauty.

      Nov 1, 2019

      Queen Beauty.
      6 min read

    • Article

      Kalahari CLOSET

      Jun 15, 2022

      Kalahari CLOSET
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Mar 25, 2024

      Books
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Jul 30, 2021

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Code of Hammurabi

      Nov 5, 2019

      The Code of Hammurabi
      12 min read

    • Article

      ‘Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness’: Ninth Commandment Goes To Princeton

      Dec 19, 2019

      Alexi Sargeant has a distinctive approach to honoring the truth both professionally and personally. Part of a series on the Decalogue in modern life.

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Book of Loki

      Mar 12, 2018

      The Book of Loki
      20 min read

    • Article

      Man On Fire

      Nov 19, 2020

      Man On Fire
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for New Wake

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      New Wake - Cameron Glenn

      New Wake

      By Cameron Glenn

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2017 Cameron Glenn

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      New Wake

      Chapter One

      Part One

      So here’s the thing, he said.

      He cleared his throat and looked down as if a bit ashamed and shy. Steam from tomato soup wafted up over his face. I wondered if my face would look like his when I was as old, late forties. I hoped not. A slice of grilled cheese with one bite lay on a plate near him. He fidgeted in his seat before looking up. I sensed that he had thought a lot over what he wanted to say but mining his deep nebulous thoughts into spoken words out loud would be more difficult than he had anticipated. I had thought he’d want to talk about mom or my childhood, what maybe he considered the good days. But he didn’t.

      Here’s what I think it’s about.

      It?

      "Everything, I guess. Life. I’m not very articulate, when I write it all out, if I write it all out, I’ll have to be more careful; I’m hoping you could help me. Okay, but so, ‘The Kingdom of God’."

      I rolled my eyes and folded my arms and slumped in my seat.

      No, no hear me out, this isn’t a religious talk, or not how you think. Just ideas. Possibilities.

      I sighed. It’s funny, these invisible chains that limit our freedoms and shape our paths. If he weren’t my drifter father I could just stand up and leave, be free. It reminded me of being in church; there’s these chains that tie you to the pews that keep you from leaving, when a child. It is the same with your home. Theoretically you could leave, but you can’t really. Few are that brave or smart, especially when young. We’re forced into these situations, or these situations are forced onto us, that we can’t get out of. Who we are born to, the teachings and education forced on us, what country and home we’re born into, our skin color, our minds.

      Okay, so I recently read these books; I think you should read them. He reached down and pulled out from his case two books he then placed next to his plate of grilled cheese. The Heart of Christianity by Marcus J. Borg, and Zealot: The life and times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan."

      I’ve read this one, I said, scooting Zealot near me.

      It’s interesting, right?

      Yeah. Like the part where it’s explained the authors of the gospels added that part about Pontius Pilate washing his hands just to shift blame away from the Romans onto the Jews, not because that was historically accurate in any way; the real Pontius Pilate would think nothing of crucifying just another Jewish messiah rabble rouser, but because they wanted to convert the Romans.

      Right, and therein lies the seeds of centuries of anti-Semitism, the shadows of which still plague us today, he said. "This other book, The Heart of Christianity, is actually a good companion to Zealot. It sort of shows how you can still be a good Christian, even, a more pure Christian in the way Christ intended, separate from the extreme, hateful and judgmental money loving incarnations which have emerged in North America, while still accepting much of the scholarly historical Christ documented in Zealot"

      Interesting, I said looking at the cover, mildly curious.

      So, you know these are dark times, confusion, cruelty, bullying, rule the way, and disrespect for truth, a love of anger and angering, a lack of compassion.

      I shrugged. Sure, I said.

      And, so, this book makes a convincing case that Jesus was more temporally minded then how he’s thought of now, in his time; he was basically like that days version of a Bernie Sanders style socialist. But also a magician.

      Yeah, his feelings about the rich are pretty explicit and straightforward, I admitted. Did he really have magical powers?

      My father looked at me directly. "Apparently, but anyways, when he speaks of The Kingdom of God he’s not talking about heaven necessarily, but rather a kingdom on earth, like ‘the kingdom of Caesar’ except for Caesar, god rules; how would things be on earth if god ruled? And then he explains it; the last would be first, the first would be last, the rich would give up all their possessions to follow ‘god’; all those types of socialist sayings that current so called Christian conservatives would take as demonic blasphemy and wickedness, ironically."

      Right, I said, glad to be agreeing. "I’m sure there are mountains of papers by Christian conservatives defending themselves against the liberal charge that they aren’t very Christ-like. An old charge that reaches beyond modern liberalism: Gandhi has that famous quote, I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. However maybe that’s a charge they find so weak and absurd that it does not merit retaliation; the argument won in their minds by one repeated mantra: you want to kill babies and I don’t. (They think abortion is killing babies). Thus with this statement they ride high on their own confident moral authority on all other things and issues as they aligned with Republicans in the crusade of killing government, freeing business of those evil regulations meant to protect consumers from fraud and abuses, adhere to the fallacy of trickledown economics so that the rich may have more money to afford that second gold toilet in their second yacht, take government out of the menacing business of trying to help their citizens not starve or needlessly die when sick, promote guns and ‘shoot-first’ laws everywhere, excuse all crimes and corruption of those within their own party while raising shrill hell and red faced bombast pouncing on any perceived mistake done by any of those of the opposing party; you know, those good Christian value attitudes. Lies, anger, hypocrisy, punish the poor, boost the rich. Boost the favored rich and kick down the vile poor, forever, amen. Always be quick to anger and be judgmental. Lie."

      My father continued. Okay, so maybe that’s what ‘heaven’ is then, if there ever is to be a heaven. Not some cloud in the sky but rather a thing that must be created on earth. That’s not such an outlandish thought really.

      Where would our eternal souls dwell? I asked. I’m not really ultra religious.

      Reincarnation, he said. Our souls are our souls, they do whatever, I don’t know, who knows. But, it would kind of suck wouldn’t it, eternally being denied the pleasures of the body, eating, sex, or just feeling the sun rays. Physical touch and sensations; the five senses.

      But the aches, the pains, the diseases, the breaks, I countered. They say heaven is a reprieve from all these bodily aches and pains.

      Right, it would be, it could be, but here on earth. With the advancement of technology and medicine; you know it’s hardly been just a hundred years since we figured out that disease is spread by germs. I mean, the amount of healthcare discovery and remedies in just the last fifty years are staggering; what we know that we didn’t before.

      I stared at him blankly for a moment as he chewed a bite of his grilled cheese with renewed invigoration.

      No amount of science or technology can cheat death, I proclaimed. I mean, there’s these stories of these Silicon Valley eccentric billionaires trying; dreaming of fusing their consciousness with androids, getting these weird blood transfusions from teens all the time. But, you know, that’s crazy.

      He nodded, chewing, swallowing. I know, he said. But it’d extend life, alleviate these bodily aches and pains you speak of which are the downsides of wearing flesh.

      So… we still die, and then what?

      "Then we come back in new bodies within this new heaven on earth. Perhaps one day the science can mesh with the spiritual, if there is a proof of souls or consciousness outside our bodies, and there can be a way where we recall our past lives; that way we maintain a semblance of our identity and past earthly relationships, if that’s what people are fearful of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1