Christian Carnival CVIII
Welcome to this week’s Christian Carnival CVIII, a weekly roundup of self-submitted blog posts from Christian Bloggers. Sorry for the lateness of getting this posted but having just returned from vacation, I’ve fallen somewhat behind. Posts are in the uncreative order of receipt.
Here’s this weeks entries:
Martin LaBar of Sun and Shield presents Dick Fischer on taking Gensis literally, pointing to an on-line article by Dick Fischer, wherein he argues, with quite a bit of evidence, that most or all of the claims of Young-Earth Creationism are contradicted by scripture.
John Howell of Braing Cramps for God presents Natural Law: Its Source and Discernment.
Miss O’Hara at Miss O’Hara presents Numb.
Kim C at Life in a shoe: a peek into the methods and madness of one mother of 7 presents Abortion in America. Good news from the other side: it’s becoming harder and harder to get an abortion.
FMF at Free Money Finance presents The Tithe is for Today. Talks about why tithing is a New Testament principle.
John Luke at Blogcorner Preacher presents
The Random Yak, for the Random Maniyak at Random Yak presents A Song of Wandering, but Not Alone
David Taylor of Disciple’s Journal presents On missions: What about the persecuted church?. While the nations rage about . . cartoons . . I provide a brief profile of Christian Freedom International as one example of ministry to believers in some of the toughest areas of the world to be a Christian.
Ed of Attention Span presents A Hint of the Eternal. What does it mean that God is eternal? How can we as finite humans wrap our minds around that concept? At Attention Span, rev-ed sees “A Hint of the Eternal” in a spring by the side of the road.
Laura Curtis of Pursuing Holiness presents Here we go again…. Christians will protest the “crucifixin’s” segment of Will and Grace furiously if the American Family Association has anything to say about it. And that is our right. However, before we act on this, let’s take a moment to think. Christians will protest the “crucifixin’s” segment of Will and Grace furiously if the American Family Association has anything to say about it. And that is our right. However, before we act on this, let’s take a moment to think.
Will Hinton of Dignan’s 75 Year Plan presents End of the Spear Controversy. “The casting of Allen does present ironies if not outright dilemmas. Saint himself said so, but has continued to offer Allen support (see below). But how far do these culture warriors want to take this? Because the logical conclusion of this approach leaves you in a cultural hermetic bubble, without any relationship to those of differing beliefs and practices. This isn’t about surrendering to PC ideologies. It’s about loving our neighbors and not confusing “in the world” with “of the world.”
Rev. Trudy Mackay of The God Blog presents How do we walk in love?. “Today it is impossible to keep track of the people you affect. Through our blogs, Rev. Trudy and I communicate with thousands of people every day. We can’t know how our words sit with them. Some take courage and inspiration; others might disagree. Even if you don’t have a blog, the simple act of going to town and walking in a store puts you in a situation beyond your own control. You are seldom seen as you see yourself. There is nothing you can do about this without the Lord’s help.”
John Hollandsworth of Light Along the Journey presents Neo’s Choices in the Matrix. John draws out some parallels between the choices that Neo makes in the famous film with the choices that all of us are faced with in our walk with God.
Matthew Jones of Random Acts of Verbiage presents Judges 19. A look at an extremely difficult Biblical passage. Where is the good news?
Richard Anderson of dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos theopilos presents The Fruits of the Theology of Matthew. Richard discusses the significance of Matthew using the word “fruits” six times in his gospel including three times in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
Adam Graham at Adam’s Blog presents Poem: Our Father. Adam at Adam’s Blog begins a series of poetic meditations on the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father.”
Michael Meyer of Chasing the Wind presents Trusting in God’s Promises. Half-hearted Christians never learn to conquer the giants in their lives. Trust in the Lord to receive His promise.
Kim at Mother-Lode presents There is More. How do we reconcile our longings and disappointments with Christian contentment? Kim maintains that it is neither a Candide-like insistance that we live “in the best of all possible worlds” nor a Buddhist-friendly denial that anything matters.
Lennie of CrossBlogging presents Tolerance and Compassion in Islam. The last few days have provided some interesting events. The incidents in particular are the Cartoon in a Danish Newspaper and the Painting of Bin Laden portrayed as Christ. The first has outraged Muslims. They are rampaging in the Middle East attacking and threatening Westerners. The cartoonist have now gone into hiding after threats on their lives. Contrast this to reaction by Christians offended by the Bin Laden as Christ painting. The Christians have been speaking out and sending emails. They are not out rioting and threatening to kill the artist.
Jerry of Truth be Told presents Brockback, Jacked Up, and Screwed Up.
deputyheadmistress at The Common Room presents The Mission Field
Richard Crout of Give Your All 4 God presents Important Lessons from the Pinewood Derby.
Phil Dillon of Another Man’s Meat presents The Luigig Cascioli Case - Prooof for the Existence of Fools. This post is the ongoing case in Italy where a priest was sued and has to prove Jesus did exist.
A Penitent Blogger presents Commandments of Men. A reflection on how our Lord’s denunciation of the Pharisees might also apply to us.
Jeremy Pierce at Parableman presents Neither Male nor Female, Jew nor Greek. This post responds to an argument that Paul’s statement that there is no male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free cannot be used to argue against racial segregation if it is interpreted in a way that allows gender role distinctions.
Kim Bloomer of Sharing Spirit presents All We Need is Love on how love is not about feelings but about action.
Rev Bill presents Pro Bono. Rev. Bill gives us some words from Bono of U2 — and a link to the speech Bono made at the National Prayer Breakfast.
Terry Hull of Terra Extraneus presents Why I am No Longer a Fundamentalist Christian. “When I was a teenage believer, I knew I was a fundamentalist Christian. I believed the fundamental doctrines of historic Christianity. I still believe those things today. However, today I am no longer a fundamentalist. Today I know that the term “fundamentalist” comes with a lot of cultural and emotional baggage, including a lot that I vigorously reject.
Louie of The Marshian Chronicles presents Some Truth About Accountability. The first of three articles on the importance of accountability in ministry, the reasons so many avoid it, and why it’s a pain in the butt!
CWV warrior of Christianity is Jewish presents Here a Year. cwv warrior talks about being a voice in the wilderness after one year of blogging for God.
Kathleen Dalton of Vegetable Soup presents Minor Prophets… Major Prophets… Ordinary Men. Here you will see some practical ways many people (and these are all people I know personally) have tried to fulfill their calling to be like the prophets of old…risking reputations, jobs, family acceptance, even safety…for the privilege of sharing their part of the picture of Jesus for all the world to see.
Alex of Jordan’s View presents What was the Point at “The End of the Spear”? Like others in the blogosphere, Jordan was critical of the filmmaker’s decision to cast a homosexual activist, but sees the film’s greatest flaw to be its muted gospel presentation, which sadly results in a film that does not fulfill its potential either as an evangelistic tool or as an artistic statement
Mark Olson at Pseudo-Polymath presents Considering Worship and Prayer Again. “I’m a tyro when it comes to prayer as evidenced by my carnival entry a few weeks ago. Anyhow, I take another stab at it and solicit suggestions.”
Derek Gilbert of P.I.D. Radio presents The Long War. American evangelicals need to step back and take a hard, critical look at this Republican administration we’ve elected. While we in no way support some of the key moral issues promoted by Democrats, Christian conservatives must wake up to the fact that President Bush is using a war that will never end to justify broad government powers our forefathers fought a war to escape.
Jeff the Baptist presents A Record of Prayer. To all the world this is a boring blue memo pad. You can get five of them for a few dollars at any supermarket or drug store. Yet inside is something precious. Every page is contains prayer requests…
All Kinds of Time presents The Doubters’ Commission. A closer look at who Christ was commissioning in the Great Commission.
…in the outer… presents Will the Church Survive?. Thoughts on the feared repercussion of the Italian litigation against Rev Enrico Righi that might lead to an adverse result to the church brought about by an appeal to the EU Court.
Donna-Jean of Liberty and Lily writes of the death of a long-time friend in her tribute, “At Home”.
View From the Pew presents Study of Mark: Mark 8:27-31. ‘I’ve been doing a study of Mark (for an unfortunately long time!) and this is the latest installment on one of my favorite passages in the Gospel — “Who do you say that I am?”‘
That’s it for this week. Next week will be hosted at Pursuing Holiness. God bless!
Hi John:
I notice there’s two “End of the Spear”- related posts in this Carnival, and that they present very different viewpoints. I read Mr. Dignan’s post and his contention that Christians should be loving towards our neighbor, even when we have strong disagreements, is of course true. But I love my gay neighbor not by becoming complicit in his error through “tolerance” and “acceptance” that does not point out his sinful error, but by pointing him to the truth. The result of the “tolerance” shown Chad Allen, for example, by letting him star in this Christian-made true story is that his platform for gay activist views has been broadened, and he’s using it. It seems Allen is also confused by his being asked to participate in this project. He thinks it shows a kind of warming towards acceptance of his lifestyle from believers, at least the ones who asked him to work on this movie (see this interview)
Dignan’s post also seems to not see why so many Christian bloggers have been critical of the film. The makers of this film asked for the support of churches by saying it would be a gospel tool, yet the film downplays the gospel motivation of the missionaries so much that the film’s drama doesn’t make sense. I’ll stop here and just suggest that readers who want to read opposing views to Dignan’s arguments, read my post (and my blog also points to other very good resources), then make up their own minds.
Comment by Alex Jordan | February 8, 2006