Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Christian Carnival CCXCVI

    Welcome to the September 30, 2009 edition of the Christian Carnival CCXCVI.  This is the “I can’t think of a creative theme” edition!

     

    For His Glory presents Your Spiritual Wardrobe posted at For His Glory, saying, “God has provided everything we need for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3). Come and see the list of outfits He has provided for us to clothe ourselves in as we walk through life.”

     

    Will Green writes about the theology of the fall and suffering, with a post titled A theory on the relationship between the Fall and suffering today at Weblog of a Christian Philosophy Student.

    FMF presents Dave Ramsey, Christianity, and Money posted at Free Money Finance, and discusses the financial philosophy and style of presentation used by Dave Ramsey.

    andriel presents Yom Kippur – The Foreshadowing of Christ posted at ReturningKing.com.  This is part 10 of an ongoing series entitled, “A Pastoral Soteriology” (more to come).

    NCSue presents The case of the errant embryo posted at IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING.  This presents a story of very difficult questions and how a couple have responded to them.

    John presents Speaking Truth to Power? posted at Brain Cramps for God, saying, “Is it possible for the members of the Body of Christ in the US to separate themselves from their attachment to their secular political divisions to truly ‘speak truth to power’?

    JLS presents What Ever Happened to Frank? posted at Pastoral Musings.  It’s a haunting question.

    Will D presents How has Literal Interpretation Changed? posted at Fundamentally Changed.  The word “literal” is used quite loosely on all sides.  You will benefit by noticing the nuances presented in this post.

    Edward presents A House Divided – Is Age-Segmented Ministry Failing? posted at Crimson Conservative and asks whether it is time to re-think the model of age-segregated ministry.  Crimson Conservative shares his thoughts and reflections on Christianity Today’s recent article.

    Diane R presents Finally….Maybe It’s Over! posted at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet, saying, “The time for segregating the church into age groups has to be over, hopefully.”  This is a second look at this subject!

    Chasing the Wind presents Does God Exist? posted at Chasing the Wind, saying, “People have been asking if God exists for thousands of years. God has already provided all the proof we need, both external and internal. All we have to do is be honest about our seeking.”  A study of Pslams 19.

    Rick Schiano presents Let Go, for Mental Peace posted at Ricks Victory Blog.  Fear can do untold harm.  Can you let it go?

    Andrea @ Unfailingly Loved presents Safe and Sound posted at Unfailingly Loved.  Lost and unsure of your way? Call out to the Lord. He is faithful to be present. He knows your name, where you are, and where you need to go.

    NtJS presents The Big Birthday Lesson: A new tradition posted at not the jet set, saying, “Starting at 6 years old we decided that a child has finally developed enough socially and mentally to understand sharing and giving, that the world is bigger then them and not centered around them.”

    Ridge Burns presents Presence posted at Ridge’s Blog.  “The presence of God is active and real today.”  Do you notice it?

    Barry Wallace presents Is theology your idol? posted at who am i?, saying, “This is a follow-up to my post on the potentially damning dangers of theology and includes a couple more excerpts from J.I. Packer’s “Knowing God.””

    Rodney Sutton presents Help! My Feelings Have Been Hurt And I Can’t Get Over It! posted at Happy Hog Speaks!.  Forgiveness can be very difficult–yet necessary!

    Marcus Maher presents The Future of Missions? posted at Seeking the truth….  Is ‘business as misions’ a promising model?

    Annette presents By Faith – Abel, Enoch and Noah posted at Fish and Cans.  She examines three examples of faith from Hebrews 11 and looks at how their story might find application in our lives.

    Michelle presents a praise report, 09.26.09 posted at Thoughts and Confessions of a Girl Who Loves Jesus….

    Rey presents The Holy Spirit, an overview on the reality and person of the Holy Spirit, posted at The Bible Archive.

    Trent Cotton presents True Understanding of Salvation-Confessions from a Converted Catholic posted at Christian Men-Christian Warriors.

    My wife, Jody Neufeld, presents Speak Jesus, I am Listening at Jody’s Devotionals.

    Here’s my own contribution for the week–my interview with Keith Williams about the Mosaic Bible (NLT).

    And here are some blog posts that were not submitted, but that I decided it would be worthwhile to call your attention to.

    Josh Mann at for the Sake of Truth wrote a post Ancient Boxing and the Apostle Paul which is just a sample of the many posts he writes on New Testament backgrounds.

    One of our other contributions referenced Allan R. Bevere. Besides the that post, let me call your attention to the first post in his series on Revelation. It looks like it will be fun!

    Would you approve of a conservative Bible translation project? Before you answer, check out this post from Exploring Our Matrix.

    There are many other deserving posts and blogs out there, but I’ll leave it at that.

    That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Christian Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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  • Book Notes: The World of Jeeves

    The World of Jeeves is an omnibus collection of stories about Jeeves and Wooster.  If you’re a fan, this is a great collection.  I have to admit that I had only read a little bit before I picked up this volume, but I am a fan of almost any British humor and Jeeves and Wooster never fail to please.

  • Book Notes: The Laughter of Dead Kings

    The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters has a couple strikes against it.  (Note some minor spoilers ahead.)

    The first of these is that it is not consistent with other books in the series.  Peters admits this and says she doesn’t care, which is obviously her right.  I find inconsistencies in the background of stories fairly annoying.  I like all the stories with the same character(s) to hang together.

    The second is that it attempts to tie two series together, and I don’t think the series were intended to match.  For some reasons those tie-ins don’t seem to work all that well.  In this particular case, I caught on to it fairly early, and the connections are pretty obvious, but to me they don’t add anything to the story.

    On the other hand, it’s written by Elizabeth Peters, after all, so it has to have something going for it.  Even though I have never liked the Vicky Bliss stories as well as the Amelia Peabody mysteries, I have always found them entertaining and fun light reading, which is obviously what they were written for.  It’s quite unfair to criticize an author for accomplishing precisely what she set out to do.

    Vicky Bliss is still in love with John, and when a major artifact goes missing, he’s obviously going to be blamed somehow, especially if the crime seems particularly brilliant.  Who else could have done it?

    We meet many of the old characters again and I must say I especially enjoy reading about Schmidt and his various antics.  Everything comes out OK, of course, but only at the very last minute.

    So despite the two strikes, I call the book a hit, just not a home run–for me.  Others, who don’t have pet peeves about such little things, may find it a home run in entertainment.

    OK, enough with the baseball metaphors already!

  • Book Notes: Cat in a Topaz Tango

    Cat in a Topaz Tango is the latest in the wonderful Midnight Louie series.  If you don’t like thinking and talking animals, then this book probably isn’t for you, but if you like light-hearted fun and a bit of mystery, it’s great.  If you like cats, so much the better!

    This is one of those rare series that manages to keep my attention through multiple books.  Douglas shows no inclination to “jump the shark.”  Her characters remain who they are.  Of course, they were always getting into some pretty strange messes, so perhaps that makes it easier!

    In this volume, Midnight Louie is using his feline agility and general sneakiness to keep up with his human, Temple Barr, through an an unusually complex set of moves, as a murderer stalks a dance competition, and Lieutenant Molina’s young teen daughter is, well, a teenager.  (Surprise!)

    We hear a bit more from Max, and we learn a bit more about Rafi Nadir.  It’s all good fun!

  • Mosaic Bible (NLT) and Lectionary Preaching

    I decided to check on what Holy Bible: Mosaic NLT might have for my lectionary reading this week.

    First I checked the material for the 18th Sunday in Pentecost.  Their readings do not coincide with the Revised Common Lectionary at all this week, though they do follow the church year.

    The RCL readings (with United Methodist readings) are:  Job 1:1, 2:1-10, Psalm 25 or 26, Heb. 1:1-4, 2:4-12, Mark 10:2-16.  The Mosaic Bible readings are Job 32:1-37:24, Psalm 112, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, and John 9:1-34.

    Oddly enough, there is a thematic match in terms of suffering, hardship, and justice, though the take on it might be different depending on which scriptures you use  The additional reading from Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is also contructive though it takes the theme in a slightly different direction.  Readings from Alexander McLaren on Christ as the lamb of God and by Ed Cyzewski on “Unfair Justice” would make good reading before one tries to preach on Job.

    Looking at the texts the other way, by going to the scriptures and finding readings, I find that Psalm 25 is used for Advent 1, and there are some useful readings there as well as some additional themes.  The epistle, Hebrews 1:1-4 is used for Christmas (actually Hebrews 1:1-12, but who’s counting?) and continues the theme of waiting introduced in Advent.  (Waiting and justice might make an excellent combined theme for a homily, don’t you think?)  The gospel reading from the RCL does not occur in the meditations of the Mosaic Bible.

    I believe that I will consult this Bible regularly in my lectionary reading.  The weekly lectionary passages form the core of my personal devotions, even though I do not preach regularly.  I especially enjoy finding connections between the texts and finding themes on which to meditate from those.

  • Christian Carnival and Mosaic Bible Announcement

    OK, these are not that closely related, but the Christian Carnival will appear here tomorrow, and it will be evening before it appears.

    I will announce the winner of the Mosaic Bible giveaway at the same time.

  • Jesus Paradigm Giveaway

    Details at for the Sake of Truth.

  • Can Anyone Identify this Spider?

    It has taken up residence next to my office, in a large web stretched between the office and a nearby tree. I rather like it, and will allow it residence as long as it wishes.

    In my younger days I collected spiders and was fairly good at identifying them, but my younger days are long past and I don’t have any of my books. I tried some online options but wasn’t able to come up with anything.

    So if I have any readers who do that sort of thing, I’d really like some help. The picture below is about half size. Click on it to see the full size spider. The web is not portrayed well due to bad lighting, but it is circular and symmetrical.

    Unidentified Spider, near Pensacola, FL
    Unidentified Spider, near Pensacola, FL

  • Singing Praise to President Obama?

    CBS is reporting on a school that has children singing songs about President Obama’s accomplishments. I note that the story compares the reaction to this to the reaction to Obama giving a speech. I thought the speech reaction was way overblown. The president of the United States should be able to address the nation, and to address schoolchildren as well.

    But even in the context of Black history month as the school superintendent said this was, I think this is deplorable. Use historical figures, celebrate current African-American citizens, celebrate President Obama as our first African-American president, but leave out the songs of praise for his specific policies.

    In both religion and politics, it seems some teachers fail to comprehend the idea of neutrality.

    HT: Dispatches

  • Mosaic Study Bible Contest Closed

    I have only four entries, but the contest is closed.  Thus, for the four of you who entered, I must say that 1 in 4 is a better chance than you are likely to get in any lottery.

    Considering the large number of reads of the relevant posts, I’m guessing my question put some people off, but that’s how it goes.  I will announce the winner on Wednesday afternoon, when I post the Christian Carnival, which I’m hosting here this week.