Younger Christians may be more supportive of same-sex unions

Mark Bergin, WORLD

Have you worn any of this stuff?

Some *interesting* Christian merchandise at the blog of J.D. Greear (HT: Zach Nielsen)

“Are seminary students self-absorbed pr**ks?’

More evidence that Christians (especially learned ones!) are bad tippers, who make a bad impression publicly, from Theophilogue.

See also this recent post by Justin Wise on the same subject.

Is there truth to the message of these posts? If so, what can we as Christians do to remedy this phenomenon?

“Contemporary Christian radio 2nd most popular music format in US”

Joanne Brokaw reports on a Reuters story:

“The most popular music format is still Country, but Contemporary Christian is now in second place, with 945 stations. That’s double what it was a decade ago. And there are 322 Southern gospel stations.”

The prayer circle: an analysis

Prodigal Jon (”Stuff Christians Like”) provides a humorous breakdown of the six characters you meet in a typical Christian prayer circle:

“2. The Almost-er
This is the person sitting near you that is constantly on the verge of praying. You can hear them doing that little breath thing, that small inhale that occurs a split second before someone speaks …”

Read the whole post.

An ‘ideal evangelicalism’

Michael Spencer offers his vision of an ‘ideal evangelicalism,’ admitting that he would not be the best architect of such a thing:

“1) Evangelicalism would be much better if it would admit that the Reformation and all subsequent divisions divided the one true church of Christ. None of those divisions created a new church or recreated the one, true church. All of Christianity today is the broken parts of what should be whole and entire …”

“7 Reasons Why I Don’t Like Most Christians”

Tell us how you REALLY feel, Justin Wise!

Does ‘non-evangelical’ = ‘unreached’?

Michael Spencer reflects on a Baptist missions poster that characterized most South Americans (who are Catholic) as ‘unreached’:

“If the default position is that Catholics aren’t Christians, because they aren’t evangelicals or Southern Baptists, I want to call that worse than unfortunate. It’s sincere, but it’s the opening act for bigotry.”

What does it mean to read the Bible literally?

Jan Lynn attempts to clear up some misconceptions at the view from her:

“Ask me if I take the Bible literally, and I’ll ask you, ‘Well, do you take the newspaper literally?’ The answer is probably yes, because of course, the newspaper is filled with news, written by professional journalists and is nothing like the Bible. Duh.
 
That would mean headlines like, ‘Tigers Eat Indians’ would be literal, right?”

[Photo >> Life With A Bible]

A New Kind of Conversation: Blogging Toward a Postmodern Faith

Edited by Myron Bradley Penner and Hunter Barnes. Contributors include Brian McLaren, Mabiala Kenzo (Ambrose Univ.), Bruce Ellis Benson (Wheaton) and Ellen Haroutunian.

An introductory blurb by Bill Reichert is posted  at Provocative Church:

“Take a large portion of theology, with a dose of conversation and a pinch of blogging and you would have the recipe for the book entitled, “A New Kind of Conversation.” This book is an experimental book that enters into a conversation about Post-Modernism with five evangelical leaders and academics acting as the primary bloggers (authors) …”

Tim Challies’ review of Wittmer’s Don’t Stop Believing

Read it at Challies.com:

“Michael Wittmer feels trapped in the middle. To one side are conservative Christians demanding lockstep allegiance to narrow doctrinal statements—statements so detailed that they insist on specific theories of the end times or specific understandings of the spiritual gifts. … On the other side are postmodern Christians who question many traditional assumptions—or maybe even every traditional assumption—but who go about it in ways that discredit their arguments …”

“Amend ETS: A Successful Effort”

Denny Burk, one of the co-sponsors (with Ray Van Neste) of a proposal to amend the ETS doctrinal basis which was recently rejected, offers a debrief about the vote:

“In short, we feel that our effort was successful, even though the Society decided not to adopt our specific proposal. The final vote was 130 opposed and 47 in favor (with 177 total votes cast, it was an abysmal turn-out for such an important vote). How can I claim that our effort was a success after we got only 26 percent of the vote? Let me explain.”

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).

No on vote to amend ETS doctrinal basis

At the Christianity Today liveblog, Ted Olson posts a brief note on the Evangelical Theological Society’s vote. Here’s a snippet:

“Last year, I blogged about an effort to amend the doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Theological Society. Several members felt that the organization’s statement–which is limited to biblical inerrancy and the Trinity–did not sufficiently safeguard the organization’s evangelical identity.”

See the “Amend ETS” website (the amendment itself is spelled out here).

Weekend Walkabout: Nov. 21, 2008

[Friends, I'm pressed for time today – please pardon the dearth of posts. May your weekend be a joyful one. You can help it in that direction by making time to seek Him. See you Monday, Lord willing.  - HC]

26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):

• The Addict in Us All, Carolyn McCulley
• Benedict on Monasticism, The Anchoress
• Considering Servant Leadership (parts one, two, three), Jan Lynn
• Dear Church Member, Ragamuffin Soul
• The Empty Promise of Meditation, Al Mohler
• Five by Five, Defending. Contending.
• Great Ideas for churches to make the most of Christmas, what’s next
• Happy 100th Birthday, Irene Peterson!, John Piper
• If not consumerism, what?, Rod Dreher
• Joshua Guthrie: Dollar for a Drink, Alex Harris
• Korea - 14 Days - Questions, Questions, Questions…, John Saddington
• Lately, I’ve Been Rethinking My Position on Gay Marriage, Locusts & Honey
  
• A Mother’s Hope, girl talk
• New Archaeological Evidence for the Old Testament?, Aaron C. Rathburn
  
• Operation 513: In Memory of a Fellow Evangelist, Reformed Evangelist
  
• Puritan Reformed Journal, Vol. 1, Michael Dewalt
  
• Qeiyafa, Looting, and Buried Secrets, Todd Bolen
• The Realism of the Supernatural, Sally Thomas
• Study: Two Thirds of Americans Believe Their Values Not Shared by Hollywood, Sharper Iron
  
• Ten Dollar Blessings and a Lesson in Circles, Billy Coffey
• The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism Part 1: The Biblical Worldview, Michael Spencer
• Videos of the Week - 11/20/08, Collide
• Why I Gave Up ‘Humility’, John Stackhouse
• X-Ray Discovery Sparked 19th-Century DIY Craze, Wired Science
• Your ‘past’ year resolution?, Eugene Cho
• Zondervan Acquires Online Community-Building Resource for Churches, Justin Taylor

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