Asides Copyright Trolls
(2010/8/31)
Laura at Pursuing Holiness notes one and presents a course of action. I think bloggers often move past fair use, but news outlets and going way too far the other way. ()
New Meaning to Language Police
(2010/8/31)
This story gives new meaning to the idea of language or grammar police. (HT: The Agitator) ()
Christianity by Force or Manipulation
(2010/8/23)
There is very little that offends me more than the idea of manipulating people into Christian events or trying to convert them by force. ()
What Makes a Plumber Real
(2010/7/20)
Michele Bachmann says she hopes that the newly formed Tea Party Caucus will provide a voice in congress for “real housewives, real farmers, real businessmen, real plumbers.” (Source.) I’m wondering how “real” farmers, businessmen, and plumbers differ from the rest … ()
Somebody Needed a Dictionary
(2010/5/6)
… to look up “suffrage.” ()
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By Henry Neufeld
Matt Friedman has a column on Agape Press, and links to it from his blog. In it, he complains of Christians, in his words members of “the Evangelical left” who call themselves red-letter Christians. The name is derived from the practice of some Bible editions that put the words of Jesus in red.
To Friedman, the main reason for them to do this is apparently to avoid certain topics that are discussed in more detail in the parts of scripture that are not in red. To quote him:
One wonders, of course, if the real reason they have decided to use Scripture this way is that Jesus never actually uses the terms “homosexual” and “abortion.” The Red-Letter designation ostensibly frees these passionate lefties from the issues they despise the most and the texts that more directly address them.
My question is equally direct. Do many conservative Christians (I know that it is not all conservatives) dislike the idea of the red-letter Christians because it emphasizes the texts that “more directly address them?” Is it because they would like to replace “Blessed are the poor in spirit” with “Blessed are the spiritually satisfied,” and “Blessed are those who are persecuted” with “Blessed are those who fight for their own rights while ignoring the rights of others?”
Continue reading Red-Letter Christians
By Henry Neufeld
In yesterday’s mail I got a political ad. With Florida’s primary just a few days away, that’s not unusual, but this one was particularly interesting. On the front it reads “Republican Voter Guide” with the admonition under it “Vote September 5th.” Now a reasonable person might conclude that one is going to find [...]
By Henry Neufeld
MSNBC.com has an interesting article today on medical practices and faith. The general title belies the content which is almost exclusively about clinics that do not offer birth control, sterilizations, in-vitro fertilization, or abortions.
According to the article there is a growing trend. The article notes:
The number of “NFP-only” practices is [...]
By Henry Neufeld
Peter Kirk has a post on one of my favorite topics, order in worship, titled God is not a God of disorder but of peace. I want to call attention to a couple of points in his post.
First, on the context of the passage from which his title was taken, he says:
It seems to me that this verse gives a general principle, which here is being applied specifically to gatherings of the church but can be applied more widely. I don’t think the specific application here is only to prophecy, but to everything described in verses 26 to 32. Indeed the point is basically to support the last part of verse 26, “Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” (TNIV). Thus it does apply to “untoward” manifestations of any kind, but of course that depends on exactly what is considered “untoward”.
This is a good point, because Paul is talking about order in the worship service throughout 1 Corinthians 14. We tend to pick the verses from that chapter that best suit our own style of worship. Those who speak in tongues have one set of verses that talk about positive aspects; those who prefer not emphasize the verses that speak against it. But in order to understand the entire chapter, one needs to realize that the whole question here is what activities will be constructive, or building, in a worship service.
Continue reading Worship that Builds
By Henry Neufeld
Over on The Panda’s Thumb a number of writers are reviewing the new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design. I haven’t read the book. I should, but I probably won’t get to it for two or three months. In the meantime, you can always read the book itself and [...]
By Henry Neufeld
I’ve written a few posts that reference Walmart (here, here, and here) and the various accusations and calls for boycotts that have come out about it. This is one area where my free market bias comes into play. I think that low prices are a good thing, and I don’t believe that Walmart [...]
By Henry Neufeld
Since starting the Moderate Christian Blog Aggregator, I’ve gotten a few comments on what it means to be moderate. One very reasonable question is how I can combine the words “moderate” and “passionate,” as in “passionate moderate.” It seems like a contradiction in terms. And I do do intend the two words to [...]
By Henry Neufeld
One of the many things that annoys me about sports broadcasters is their tendency to create a trend out of every slight turn of the game. My stepson is a professional pitcher, and if he throws a strike the announcer is sure to start talking about the strong performance and how if he [...]
By Henry Neufeld
The Christian Alliance for Progress has been reporting a particularly egregious case of religious intolerance in the school system. There is now a petition drive, and you can get involved here.
To be honest, I’m not terribly optimistic about the value of this type of petition campaign, but I would imagine it can’t [...]
By Henry Neufeld
This is one that seems fairly obvious to me for anyone who partakes of orthodox Christian theology. If you believe that Jesus was God incarnate, God in the flesh, the Word become flesh, then Jesus must be the center of Christian faith and Christian theology. If you believe that Jesus was merely a prophet or less, then you obviously have the potential for other answers. One prophet, for example, could not become the center as opposed to all the prophets. But for now let’s stick with this more or less orthodox, trinitarian, incarnational theology.
A friend called my attention to a blog, Biblical Foundations, where Dr. Andreas Kostenberger posts. There he has a post titled Jesus and the Bible, in which he complains of people making Jesus more central to Christian theology than the Bible, a complaint which he could certainly level at me.
He says:
It seems strange why anyone would want to pit Jesus against the Bible, but in recent weeks the question which of these two is primary, Jesus or the Bible, has once again taken center stage in many circles.
As long as there are people who put the Bible ahead of Jesus, this is certainly an excellent topic to discuss.
Continue reading Jesus is God and the Bible Is Not
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