November 20 Links
Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. The family is recuperating, but at the same time there is a lot going on at our house as I’m sure that there’s a lot going on at yours.
So, until I can get some time to write some new posts, take a look at some of the stuff that I’m reading:
Haiku Blogging
Leo Babauta talks about how to organize and simplify your blogging so that you can write good content and still have a life:
- Limit your blogging hours.
- Limit communication.
- Limit promotional activities.
- Limit stat checking.
Jesus Skateboarding in His Skivvies
Should the King of Kings and Lord of Lords be portrayed as a topless guy on a skateboard?
Abortions and Illegitimacy
If abortion was supposed to solve the problem of inconvenient pregnancies and “unwanted” children, how come we have a whole fatherless generation?
Great question.
The Earth Was Much Warmer One-Thousand Years Ago
If this is the case, then what does that mean for Global Warming and the Industrial Revolution– is it all natural after all?
Focusing on the Family
Yes, it’s that time again. Time to look at a few links on the family and get some fast quotes and my comments…
The Myth of the Perfect Family
Stacey McDonald points out the obvious– no family is perfect, and we do ourselves damage when we believe otherwise:
We’re not to serve God by pretending life is easy for us or that we have it all down perfectly, because it’s not and we don’t. The world needs an honest depiction of real down-to-earth people living out real life to the glory of God. Unbelievers will see God in us when we demonstrate contentment wherever He has us, when they see the peace He gives us in trials, and when we give rather than take.
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Links a Lot – Christianity
Ah, time for another edition of Data Dump. This week we’re going to look at 5 posts I’ve bookmarked under the title “Christianity” and give you my quick comments.
What You Can Learn from Calvin and Hobbes about the Message and the Medium
I think that I may have been too young to appreciate Calvin and Hobbes– they weren’t in my local paper, and by the time I started reading the strip he was already done. The point of this article, though, is about Christianity. You see, we live in a day where if we can slap “WWJD”, “Lord’s Gym” or just about anything else on a T-shirt or coffee mug, we will. Fred Sanders attempts to teach us
Anybody who has a message that they care about communicating should pay attention to the great lesson taught by Calvin and Hobbes: The lesson is that not every message can be communicated in every medium.
Can the message of Christianity really be contained on a coffee cup without cheapening it?
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
Again, I have not read this book, but Dale Van Dyke has, and he starts a critique of the book here.
I Want You to Want Me
I’m sure that we’ve all see one. The fake $20 that’s really a tract. Centurion over at Pyromaniacs talks about how people are trying to trick people into getting saved– and how phoney it is. Let alone insulting– it’ll take a couple of seconds before that kind of tract ends up in the trash. But the point is that we’ll stoop to anything to try to get people to come to Christ– anything but proclaim who He really is and doing what He said the way He said it.
Christianity Without Salvation
What happens when you take the cross out of Christianity? What if you erase Christ and in its place keep his teachings. You get “Christianity and the Social Crisis”, a book designed to meet people where they were and encourage good living, a kind of Christianity lite. However, the part of the article that most fascinates me is the closing sentences:
The Christian confession of faith, by itself, offers no guarantee that either individuals or societies will be transformed. But, for believers, not even the smallest steps forward can be taken without it.
Here is a basic understanding of the salvation that is lost on most people– the confession of faith is the beginning– “not even the smallest steps forward can be taken without it.”
“Perillous” Days for British Christians
Where will the current start of discrimination against those that are Christians end? This article details reports, especially in Britain, of Christians receiving persecution for their faith. No one’s being burned at the stake, but people are being passed over for jobs and other things that are starting to build.
Don’t get me wrong—this is all pretty trivial, compared with being burned at the stake. I am big enough and ugly enough to stand being ridiculed. Slightly more worrying are the circumstantial reports of people, such as Christian obstetricians concerned that their career paths are blocked, because they take a biblical stand on abortion.
And that concludes today’s edition of Links a Lot. Tune in next week for more links on a given topic!
What I’m Reading
It’s time again for another round of “What are you reading?” This edition is going to be done on the fly as I take a pass through my feed reader I will tell you what I found interesting on this pass:
Two Words
These guys over at Pyromaniacs are having a week of brevity– but I can’t get over their motivational posters about the Emergent Church. This post has another two on the topic.
Critique: Rob Bell…Velvet Elvis (Movement 2)
I’m not quite sure what to totally make of all of the Emergent and Post-Modernism that’s floating around the net these days. I haven’t taken the time, really, to dig into much of it. A lot of the stuff that I’ve been reading seems to say that Purpose Driven and Emergent are very much the same– and they take the emphasis off the Bible and place it onto feelings and experience. That’s a dangerous move.
Children and the Kingdom
A simple quote, but a deep thought. Why is it that Jesus compares the kingdom to children? Is it their honesty and candor? Is it physical age? Is it their innocence, their ability to trust, or something else? There’s a lot about kids that is appealing, why do you think Jesus chose them as an example?
The Limits of Frugality
We all have limits when it comes to frugality. I mean, we could all be saving money by doing all kinds of things, and this post talks about some lengths people will go to to eek out just another few pennies a day (or $30 a year) savings. There has to be a balance between frugality and convenience. Where that is is for each person to decide.
Hoochie Moms
It’s interesting the different ways people react to what they see. Becki reacted to a woman that was dressed more like she was supposed to be in a night club than picking up her children by stifling laughter. It’s hard not to feel sorry for these people, in a way, because they are trying so hard to be something, to gain attention– they are missing the Savior.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of The Princess Bride
Which is funny that she should mention this because my family all gathered around a bowl of popcorn last Friday night to watch it. It was the first time that my kids had seen it, and I was sure they would like the sword fighting. Instead, they wanted me to play the part where the old woman says “Boo, Boo, Boo” again.
Daddy, Will You Please Cover Me?
A father comes home after being disappointed about a woman seeking the need for attention by dressing immodestly only to have his daughter ask him to cover her. It sets him thinking Biblically in this free ebook about what it means to be a father.
If You’re Wondering Why Blogging Was So Light Today…
Congratulations to Rob at Say Anything. He has some ultrasound pictures up of his baby and he muses about how it’s impossible for him to think of it as anything other than a baby.
That’s it for this time through the ole blog reader. Tune in next time!
Data Dump: Posts I’m Reading
It’s that time again. Time when I show you a little of what kinds of post interest me across the web and give you my .02.
This edition will be filled from people that are in my feed reader– both old and new posts that are really quite interesting.
So, without further ado, today’s Data Dump:
Anna S talks about what a wife should be doing versus what society believes they should be doing.
Let’s get this straight once and for all. What does being a helpmeet actually mean? It means the wife is supposed to encourage her husband, have unconditional faith in him, cultivate his feeling of accomplishment. She is called to help him – not do his job for him.
Bravo, Anna. You keep standing for truth and what is right!
Dressing for the Masses
Deborah talks about modesty and how we should be more modest when we come to church. After all, going to worship the King of Kings should be a little bit different than cleaning the toilet:
We have been going to a pretty conservative church, so I knew I needed to be a little more lenient in the area of dressing for church. But what a disappointment it has been! I think the biggest thing that has hit me is the lack of respect for God, His house where we gather to worship. Going to a morning worship service should not be the same for us as going out to mow our lawns or clean the toilet. That may sound harsh, but the way people are dressing for church especially is the way we would have dressed 20+ years ago to do those things.
You’re right– Deborah– what we wear on the outside is a reflection of what’s going on on the inside.
Well, I’ve finished posting all of the pages of Chapter 1 and have posted a recap of what has happened in the protagonist’s life up to this point. So, if you’ve missed the details, at least you’ll know what’s going on in the story.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? I’ve recently launched MInTheGap Fiction– my longer fictional works from high school. There’s still time to join in on the adventure before chapter 2 starts in August!
Want a good way to think about how to meditate on God’s Word? I stumbled across this one from the Pivot Ministry:
As the bee sucks the honey from the flower–so by meditation we suck out the sweetness of a truth. It is not the receiving of food into the mouth, but the digesting of it, which makes it nutritious. Just so, it is not the receiving of the most excellent truths in the ear, which nourishes our souls–but the digesting of them by meditation.
Jill Stanek points out that the AP doesn’t list the ban that was just passed in Louisiana but refers to it as the ban that was just upheld by the Supreme Court.
Interesting that the AP did not name that which was banned, Partial Birth Abortion, nor describe it, nor refute that there has never been a health reason found to commit it. Nor were any pro-life groups interviewed or referred to. Par.
Is The Surge Working, Or Not?
Depends on who you ask:
According to Senator Harry Reid, the Surge has already ‘failed’, even though the Surge properly has not even begun in earnest. It is never too early for the Democratic leadership to declare defeat however, invested as they are in failure in Iraq.
Is Reid correct? Not according to Michael Yon, who unlike Reid is actually in Iraq (and has been for months) and who has no axe to grind. Yon, you will recall, was not hesitant to declare that Iraq was undergoing a civil war – he calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. Listen to his interview with Hugh Hewitt, and contrast that with the views of the know-nothing Dems on the Hill.
Windows Home Server just went RTM (Release to Manufacturing) which means that you’ll soon be able to own your own copy. What is it? It’s a server for your home to backup data on up to 10 PC’s easily. And all it will take to restore a PC is a single disk. I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these– anyone want to get me an early Christmas present?
Here’s a post talking about different places that you can get images. I use Stock Xchng, but there are a lot of them out there.
Some More Speed Linking
There comes a time in a young man’s life– wait, that’s the subject of a different post.
Truthfully, there are so many things that I read on a daily basis, and so many things that catch my attention that I feel that I’ve got way too much to talk about and no time.
So, it’s at times like these that I’ll just point you at some articles I found interesting with a couple of quick notes, and then you can think and comment about them and we can discuss them!
The Worse You Play The Greater Number of People That Will Be Saved - All the more reason to be a poor golfer! With the Gospel printed on golf balls, it’ll pay eternal dividends if you lose them in the woods, right?
Erotic Church Service - Some people have no problem doing whatever will get them a crowd. In this case, the Protestant Church Assembly used an erotic dance dressed in a skin colored stocking crawls on the floor, gives forehead and hand massages to those that come, and helps them to get more relaxed.
Clown-Led Worship - Nothing brings more glory to God than a clown leading worship, right?
McClure United Church in Edmonton, Canada is the latest church to join the ranks of those churches that have offered ‘Clown-Led Worship’. Their service was sooooo unique and sooooo meaningful that it was covered by their local newspaper.
Whatever happened to reverence in the house of God?
Apparently that is long gone. It has been replaced with circus acts.
How to Grow Your Church - Finally, here’s a short video from YouTube telling you how you too can grow your church. It goes into detail about how to attract a crowd, but then compares the current methods to those of the Bible– this one’s right on.
Data Dump: Compacting, Purging and Simplifying Your Life
Here’s some links on Compacting, Purging and Simplifying Your Life…
The Compacting Committment – Meg talks about the compacting commitment and looks at it from a Christian perspective.
Room to Breathe – Amy talks about how she simplifies her life by purging out extra toys and clothes. Wash them more, but have less makes it so it doesn’t get out of control, or so she says.
Steve Pavlina writes:
There are a few rules that have served me well whenever I go through a purge cycle:
1. When in doubt, throw it out.
2. Ask, “What would be the worst-case outcome if I threw this item out by mistake?” If the answer is little or nothing, throw it out.
3. Could someone else benefit from this item more than I would?
Liss76 is purging this year, and keeping track of the amount in pounds!
Annie recommends having a toy garage sale for your children. They are much better at choosing what toys they really want than you think, and if you have older children let them know that they can pocket the profits.
Carol Keller talks about organizing one’s kitchen. Simply put, check out your current needs, weed out those things that are seldom used, throw out the things that don’t work.
airforcewife did something I don’t recommend, but understand. She purged while the husband was away because he wouldn’t. But she had the following advice that’s golden:
If you haven’t worn the clothes in the last two years, you do not need them (this is mainly a guideline for me). Pieces of fence chain from 1992 are really not necessary. And just how many stuffed animals are necessary for my kids’ survival? Apparently in excess of five thousand. Anything over that number and I send it to Goodwill.
The Worse You Play The Greater Number of People That Will Be Saved
