Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Christian Carnival LXVIII

Welcome to this week's Christian Carnival! I have been so blessed to be able to read all of these posts ahead of time, so I'll hurry up and let you get to them too. Please excuse my methods of order, but I am a Packrat, I just gather stuff into the first pile that seems to match. ;)

Walking in Faith

Kim Bloomer of Sharing Spirit brings us The Perfect Substitute. "We might think that our moral convictions are part of what really counts in our Christian walk. Really though, God wants us to surrender even our convictions."

At 21st Century Reformation, Brad Hightower posts Thesis #3 - Shalom in the Home - Marriage and Divorce in the Church. "This post is part of a series (The New 95 Theses Project) Brad at 21st Century Reformation is undertaking to look at how to define the vital problems facing the Church (especially with respect to bridging the 'knowing/doing Gap') and creating theses to articulate (ultimately) solutions."

Bob at Mr. Standfast posts Christian, You Are the Light of the World. "Meditation on Matthew 5:14, Christ's astonishing assertion in the Sermon on the Mount that his listeners, and by implication all who follow Him, are the light of the world."

On Between Sundays, Robin posts It's The Little Things. She "contemplates how very little she has to complain about, especially after studying the life and ministry of Paul."

Martin LaBar at Sun and Shield posts What is teaching? "The post is a reflection on what I've done, over almost 41 years of teaching at a Christian institution of higher learning. I'm retiring at the end of this semester."

Kim of Ramble Strip posts Why I love my God and my church. And it's not because JC Chavez's twin attended in the 1920s.. "Some of my fondest memories are in the senior high Sunday School class, which at one point grew to be so large that we had to switch classrooms."

On I Was Just Thinking..., Robin writes Answer Me This Way. "Too often we ask God not only to answer our prayers but to answer them our way, not His."

Phil Dillon of Another Man's Meat writes the wonderful article Conforming to the Standard of Non-Conformity. "At a time when conformity seems to be everything, some wisdom about the Biblical standard of non-conformity."

Mark Olsen of Pseudo-Polymath posts On Virtue. "I follow a word study on Virtue where it leads."

violet of promptings has written a heart set on pilgrimage. violet posts some devotional thoughts inspired by Psalm 84.

Dadmanly writes at Gladmanly the article A Place for Faith. "God wants us to find that place of rest in His peace. The prophet of Proverbs 30 illustrates a proper attitude to keep that pathway clear and the beacon strong."

Louie Marsh of The Marshian Chronicles presents No Hope Here!. "Who or what holds the hope of the future? Some point to this and some to that - but for the Christian Christ must remain our all in all!"

At Sprucegoose, Bruce Harpel asks Are Christians Haters? "Compromise is the easiest way to stop hating. Many Christians substitute a reluctance to judge for a hate of sin. Jesus had a love for the sinner, but never excused the sin."

Here at Kentucky Packrat, I have posted Whining on the Job, about my struggles with remembering the Lord in my work life.

Marla Swoffer shares Bad Words. "Is language ever sinful? A discussion of swearing and itsvsubstitutions using my own life, the Bible, and other forms of analysis."

Ron Stewart of Northern 'burbs blog blesses us with the first part of his testimony at My Path... Part I . "First part of my testimony - nothing flashy, but a miracle nonetheless."

At Listen In, Paula posts Sand in My Shoe. "In 'Sand in My Shoe,' one of the gritty realities of marriage is considered by Paula of Listen In."

RickInVA at Brutally Honest posts Noah's First Communion. "Nephew's first communion brings opportunity to experience God in more ways than one."

Shannon Woodward of wind scraps brings us gone fishin'. "Apparently, all Oklahomans fish. It's not optional."

Theology

John Pettigrew of "/ musing / struggling / dreaming /" gives us Original Sin, an original look on this very traditional theological concept.

Mark Daniels of Better Living: Thoughts from Mark Daniels brings us Like Being Peas and Carrots with God. What does it mean to be reconciled with God and how does it happen?

On dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos, Richard H. Anderson posts Transference and the Day of Atonement. In this post, he references psychoanalysis in an analysis of the Gospel of Luke.

Smells and Bells has the post Rogation Day. "A discussion of a wonderful, beautiful, powerful sermon I heard during my May 1 service. Truly an inspirational description of what it means to live for Christ, as a part of His vine."

Hammertime of Team Hammer's Musings has written the article Theology Tuesday: Free Will. "Team Hammer tackles the debate between free will and God's sovereignty, and comes up with a solution that should satisfy us all."

Kim of The Upward Call brings us Seriously.... "This entry is personal reflection about the importance for Christian women to know theology."

The Online Pilgrim has the first post in a series: The Communion of the Saints The Trinity, the Community, and the Individual in Postmodern Context. "This post begins to ask the question "what role does individualism play in being a protestant?" The language of the post is meant to be a play on the matrimonial nature of the Church. The subsequent posts will deal with what role Church History should play in the development of our own personal beliefs, and finish with how this relates to the current postmodern paradigm."

Rebecca Writes the third in her series: His Workmanship, Part 3. " This post is commentary on Ephesians 2:6-7. It also explains why you might be just a little like the Stanley Cup."

A Penitent Blogger brings us The 500, a "reflection on the 500 brethren who saw the risen Christ."

Derek Gilbert of Weapon of Mass Distraction notes the new sale, Number of the Beast--Now 7.5% Off! "A newly translated fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament seems to reveal that the number of the beast isn\\222t what we thought. Instead of 666, it may actually be 616."

the bloke from ...in the outer... posts False and True Religion. 'An investigation of the phrase "false religion" and applying what James (especially verse 26 and thereabouts) has to say about the matter, concluding that it might be often inappropriately applied to most religions today.'

Debate and Discussion

David of A Physicist's Perspective makes some very good points in Politics, rhetoric, insults, and charity. "I've noticed that, when people disagree, they often resort to name-calling and insults. This happens especially in politics, as we all know, but it happens in other areas, as well. I think Christians need to learn to demonstrate a little bit of what people used to call "charity" in this regard, and I explain what that means."

Plaidberry also addresses debate behavior in Come Together, Right Now... Electronically. "Particularly among those who share the Christian faith, I believe it is crucial to expand the dialogue beyond those with whom we agree politically. Regardless of our views, it is crucial to understand why it is that those who share our faith have a very different worldview"

On The Journey, Rodney Olsen asks What happened to forgiveness? "While many are calling for authorities to throw the book at Jennifer Wilbanks over her faked abduction, should Christians be responding differently? Is it naive to want to forgive?"

Matthew Anderson at Mere-Orthodoxy presents Egalitarian Histories and the Claims of Scripture. Matthew quotes a comment by a reader about history, and then explains and defends the Christian view of the Bible as history, and as more than just a recording of history.

Pastor Russ guest-blogs on The Bible Archive with the fascinating post Russ on Total Depravity. "Rey welcomes Brother Russ to post his take on Total Depravity from a Non-Calvinist perspective."

Dr. Ray Pritchard has posted Why The Jews Rejected Jesus at his Blog at crosswalk.com. "The Jerusalem Post recently published a book review by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of David Klinghoffer's new book, Why the Jews Rejected Jesus. As Boteach's review makes clear, the major point of contention between Jews and Christians has not changed for 2000 years: Who is Jesus?"

John Schroeder of Blogotional posts in Controversial Concepts a request for calm, spirit-driven discussion about the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit".

bill at Faith Commons writes Is the Jesus story just a copycat of Pagan deities?. "A look at one of the claims that the Jesus story is merely a Jewish rehash of Pagan god-man stories from other cultures."

Sven of World of Sven has written God, the rose-tinted past, the glorious future, and the present. "Christianity has a rich heritage, but by over-idealising the past and lamenting the present we are cutting ourselves off from what God intends for us."

At Christianity is Jewish, cwv warrior writes Seven Years To Go. "Trying to wrap up Daniel's Seventy Sevens, cwv warrior gets caught in the debate between traditionalists' and the Bible-believers' interpretations."

On Plunder the Goods, Sam Peterson posts Veritas Forum/ Intelligent Design. "There was vehement, angry opposition to the excellent talk by Prof. Michael Behe, author of Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution at the Veritas Forum at Stanford last night."

At Truth Be Told, Jerry McClellan discusses Tithing.... "Is it biblical to tithe today? Are we as Christians mandated to continue the tithe and if so, who should we be paying this tithe to? The churches, ministers and clergy?... A careful analysis of scripture reveals some interesting if not startling points about tithing that are not brought up in many of today's churches by or by our Christian leaders."

Jeanette of Oh How I Love Jesus has written What Is the Christian’s Duty to the Poor? In this post, she discusses what she feels any one Christian's duty is to poor people.

Dory from Wittenberg Gate sends in On Judgment vs. Discernment and Sin vs. Crime. "A passage such as Matthew 7:1, ("Judge not, that ye be not judged...), as well as many others can be easily misunderstood if we don't recognize the difference between judgment and discernment and the difference between sin and crime. Dory discusses these differences and applies them to the Biblical concepts of church, civil and individual government."

Dunmoose the Ageless posts Lectio Divina. "A short reflection and a couple questions based on a reading from the Old Testament book of Baruch."

Funky Dung of Ales Rarus poses An Open Question to God-bloggers. "Do you use the Blogdom of God? Are you a member? If either applies to you, I'd like to hear your opinions on a few issues."

Lance Salyers of Ragged Edges tells us Why I'm Anti-Abortion. 'Focus on the Family's decision to spend over $4 million on ultrasound machines, and Planned Parenthood's opposition to it, reminded me of when I first met my daughter, Ella, via ultrasound, and why I'm not "pro-life" but "Anti-Abortion."'

William G. Meisheid of Beyond the Rim... posts Garbage Day Redux. William provides an excellent discussion of the challenges involved in finding someone with whom to confess your sins.

Kevin of Technogypsy posts Pascha Thoughts. He presents a meditation upon the Pascha, the "Passover".

Denominational Discussions

On Informed minds want to know., Blake Kennedy posts Is Fundamentalism Essential to Brethrenism?. He "contends that Plymouth Brethren thought is incompatible with fundamentalism as expressed in the latter half of the 20th century, demonstrates its incongruencies, and calls upon assemblies to reject fundamentalist influence in favour of historic evangelicalism."

Jeremy of Parableman gives us Ratzinger on Ecumenism With Protestants. "This post corrects some false statements I've made (though I did have good justification for making them) about Benedict XVI's attitude toward Protestant views on justification."

Politics

Wayne Moran of Questions and Answers posts Why do Liberals Hate Christian Conservatives in Politics?. As Wayne summarizes, "Liberals are like these "health experts", they first talk of this crisis, then the next one then on to another one. They are constantly changing what is right and wrong, both in politics and in society and they change the measuring stick by which we are to judge the issue."

Bill Wallo of Wallo World brings us The Standard on Religious Expression. "The challenges religious expression faces under the legal standard that there is no religious exception to "generally applicable" laws."

Education and Family Life

DeputyHeadmistress at The Common Room presents Books Build Character. As DeputyHeadmistress says, "I think with books, I can warn my children against certain character types long before we actually meet any of them without encouraging a judgmental and critical spirit, and without exposing them to personal unhappiness in the process."

At Bear Witness, Beary Ann writes Who is Raising Our Children. "We complain about some public rights that as christians we losing, but do we live those rights in our own homes?"

On Cerulean Sanctum, Dan Edelen posts Stay-at-Home Dads (or "Guys the Church Would Like to Forget Exist"). Dan discusses the issues he's run into being a stay-at-home dad, and how family-friendly Evangelical groups don't react well when it's a dad who's staying at home.

Agent Tim shares with us Homeschoolers Are Odd: Discrimination at it's Worst. He "takes on Scott Thomas of the Illinois Leader, who has started calling homeschoolers 'odd.' He looks into the fallacies of Thomas' statements, and discusses why Homeschooling is not odd, and how this is truly a type of discrimination." (Agent Tim also asks that we please note his new URL in the link above.)

Culture

Catez Stevens of Allthings2all posts Why I Like Television. "It's a major part of most people's culture. Is there anything worthwhile on television? This post says yes there is - from the great historical moments unfolding live - and the memories they give us, to the thought-provoking drama and the opportunity to see excellence in action in big sporting events. Catez explains why it is that she likes television - with examples you may relate to."

Messy Christian at Messy Christian presents More talk on [a certain female undergarment]. "Talking about sex always seem to make some Christians nervous. Apparently, so do talk about undies."

Joy McCarnan at karagraphy posts microphone check, micr-microphone check. "Just a quasi-comical anecdote about last night's/this morning's experience with a radio station production crew who didn't realize they were on the air."

At The Regulator, J A Greer posts about one of my favorite subjects, CS Lewis. In CS Lewis and the modern situation, he "describes CS Lewis' approach to modernity and individuals, particularly with his literary skills considered. His ability to communicate was enhanced precisely because he was converted out of the modern pagan situation."

Mark Woodward of CowPi Journal tells us about the Paperclip Campaign. "This week is the national week for the Days of Remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. As a way to remember them, and to remember all victims of terrorism and hate crimes, wear a paperclip on your collar this week! But why a paperclip?"

Tools and Technologies

Over at Notes, Leo Wong provides us with Jesus Prayer Variations, an interesting Java program that provides "the Jesus prayer" in multiple different languages.

Interviews

Matt Grills of The Minor Prophet brings us The real Indiana Jones. He "has interviewed international explorer and Bible scholar Robert Cornuke who believes he may know where Noah's ark is located (for the May issue of American Legion Magazine)."

Book Reviews

"rev-ed" at Attention Span gives us Book Review - "Plan B" by Anne Lamott. "In a search for the best of conservative and liberal ideas, I read Anne Lamott's latest book in an attempt to understand how we might better love those in need."

Richard J. Radcliffe of lawreligionculturereview brings us Book Reviews, Part VII (A Life With Purpose). He "reviews the 2005 biography of Pastor Rick Warren, A Life with Purpose (Rev. Rick Warren The Most Inspiring Pastor of Our Time) by George Mair."

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