Were the Beatles ‘bigger than Jesus’?
In the wake of the Vatican’s recent offer to pardon Lennon for his infamous remarks, Scott McClellan takes another look at what the songwriter actually said, at the Collide Magazine blog:
“73 million people watched The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964—that’s a lot of Beatles fans. According to a Time Magazine article from 1966, 123,307,449 Americans said they were members of religious bodies, but “only 45 percent of adult Christians attended services on Sundays in 1964 …”
A miracle turnaround
Read the moving account of Lauren Richardson, whom doctors assumed to be in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’ At first her mother wanted to let her die, but then …
‘Lauren’s mother became a born-again Christian and visited her daughter at her hospital facility, which [Alliance Defense Fund attorney Matt] Bowman believes was quite eye-opening. ‘And then an amazing thing happened,’ he notes. ‘She told Lauren that Lauren would be cared for, and Lauren started crying …”
(HT: James M. Kushiner)
Inhale – exhale – now muse …
Idol Chatter’s Donna Freitas is skeptical about what some consider a valid contemplative spiritual practice: slow blogging:
“In our evermore fast paced online world, figuring out how to experience certain technological endeavors as spiritual practices makes total sense–in theory.”
Who says you can’t have community in a big congregation?
Thabiti Anyabile challenges the notion that small groups are necessary for biblical community, at the 9Marks blog.
Two blog births
Fide-O ‘dogmatician’ Jason Robertson has started a blog called Compelling Truth, which will showcase his theological articles.
And Matthew Blair (The Foolish Galatian) has just launched a photo blog called Life With a Bible.
Share your fiction at Storyblogging Carnival #94 …
Donald Crankshaw gives details at Back of the Envelope:
“If you use your blog to share your fiction, then the Storyblogging Carnival is your opportunity. Here we host any and all forms of storytelling in blog format.”
Praying and fasting in tough times
Jeff Krieger shares some insight at ChurchCrunch:
“Let me just say this right off. I don’t like to fast. I like food. When I walk into PF Chang’s, they yell my name a la “Norm!” on Cheers. I am not fat, mind you. I just like to eat. So, fasting … not really high on the list.
There are over 92 verses in the Bible related to and calling God’s people to fast …”
“The Best Christian Albums of 2008″
Christianity Today lists 12 (HT: Zach Nielsen):
12. Children 18:3 – self-titled
11. With Arrows, With Poise - The Myriad
10. Satisfied - DecembeRadio
9. The Ill-Tempered Klavier - Ben Shive
8. Beautiful Bird - Cindy Morgan
7. The Fight of My Life - Kirk Franklin
.
.
.
1. Albertine - Brooke Fraser
WWJT?
Justin Wise suggests that Christians aren’t very gratuitous when it comes to eating out, speaking from first-hand experience as a waiter:
“‘It’s the Christians,’ was the reply from my co-workers. ‘The Christians always come in on Sunday mornings for brunch after their church service and they don’t tip. At all. Christians are the worst tippers ever.’”
Read the entire post (don’t skimp).
“Resurrection Probably Reported in Same Year It Happened”
As Craig Blomberg posts, a soon-to-be-published book by New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham will detail evidence that suggests that belief in Jesus’s resurrection must have emerged shortly after his death:
“[Gerd] Ludemann, the atheist [historian], says this means within one to two years from Jesus’ death, it was widely agreed on that Christ had been bodily resurrected. Bauckham, according to [Gary] Habermas, apparently moves that date back to within about one-half year’s time, in order for the necessary time to elapse for this to become widely standardized by the time of Paul’s conversion.”
Together for Adoption Conference audio
- Jason Kovacs and Maridel Sandberg - “Conference Welcome and the Christian Alliance for Orphans’ Vision for Orphan Ministry“
- Dan Cruver - “Adoption in God’s Story of Redemption“
- Rick Phillips - “The Good News of Adoption“
- Carl Robbins - “Adoption and the Multi-Ethnic Family of God“
- Tullian Tchividjian - “Our Adoption and Visiting Orphans in Their Affliction“
Links at Jason Kovacs’ blog.
Psychoanalyze your blog
… with the Typealizer. Just write your blog’s URL and voilà (HT: Razib Khan).
“Why Professors Blog”
Fred Sanders posts at The Scriptorium:
“It’s easy enough to find horror stories of professors “fired for blogging” (just google the phrase), or job applicants who suspect their strong online opinions have rendered them less than hireable. But what I wanted was evidence that somebody had been hired for blogging, or promoted for it, or that professors were using new media activity to make progress on their professorial goals. Instead of just brainstorming about my own reasons, I interviewed a handful of my favorite academic bloggers in my own field, Bible and theology …”
Read the whole thing.
Global … cooling?
I’m admittedly far out of the loop on global warming, so sue me if this is a bogus report – but it looks intriguing:
“‘Planet Has Cooled Since Bush Took Office’ – Scientists Continue Dissenting – Gore Admits ‘I’ve failed badly’ - Global Sea Ice GROWS!”
(HT: Mark Shea)
Emergent decentralizing
Last month, the leadership at Emergent Village decided, among other things, “to streamline, decentralize, and reduce expenses by discontinuing the role of National Coordinator” (see this post).
In the spirit of decentralization, Joshua Case has “declared” himself the new National Coordinator of Emergent, and invites others to do the same in this video (HT: Steve Knight):
There’s also a Facebook group formed for the same purpose.
Read “A Letter from the Board to Friends of Emergent Village,” which describes the EV’s new direction.
