February 2009
13 posts
“There’s not a hole in your heart [to be filled with Jesus]. If there is,...”
– Donald Miller, 2006
“If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy....”
– Martin Luther, 1521
WatchBilly Graham on technology, faith and suffering | Video on TED.com
Self-Control
The Greek word used in Galatians 5:23 that we translate as
self-control is ἐγκράτεια (eng-krat'-i-ah). According to Thayer’s and
Smith’s Bible Dictionary, the word ἐγκρατεύομαι
(eng-krat-yoo'-om-ahee), the verb form of ἐγκράτεια, can mean:
in a figure drawn from athletes, who in preparing themselves for the
games abstained from unwholesome food, wine, and sexual...
Take up Your Cross
I know I have heard Jay Bakker say that taking up your cross is finding
your purpose (because the cross was Christ’s purpose), and I won’t deny
that there is definitely something to that. Specifically, though, I
think the “purpose” referred to in “taking up your cross” is dying. It
seems pretty obvious to me. The cross was a means of death for Christ
and anyone...
Tearing Down the Wall
Sometimes I really feel like I am learning to be a Christian all over again. In fact, I think that the most important advances in my relationship with Jesus have been made when I tear down things I thought I knew about Christianity and start from scratch. Each brick in the wall that once formed my conception of God’s expectations had a word written on it.
Perfect. Sanitary. Clean....
“If we are ever to enter fully into the glorious liberty of the children of God,...”
– Robert Farrar Capon, Between Noon and Three: Romance, Law, and the Outrage of Grace
Barack Obama Should Become Lutheran →
Steve Miller extols the benefits to President Obama should he convert to Lutheranism.
Most Lutheran pastors are about as thrilling as watching
dust collect, and are positively soporific.
This is how Lutheran men kind of are. This is why we’ve
never had a Lutheran president. …
It’s clear we’re never gonna get one organically. Would
you please make us the...
EventBox: Social Network Aggregation →
EventBox is an application that contains updates from Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, and more. I can finally feel “caught up” by visiting just one application instead of multiple applications, Web sites, and widgets.
Though EventBox is still in beta, I may save five bucks and just buy it now. (The regular, shipping price will be twenty dollars.) There is a trial period of fourteen...
Katy Perry, Christian recording artist? →
But was she a legitimate Christian artist? In 2004, at the age of 19, she told Blender Magazine that during her adolescence, she wasn’t “your typical Christian. I’ve done a lot of bad things. Use your imagination.”
So, um, doing bad things means that one is not a legitimate Christian? I’m not defending Katy Perry — or is it Hudson? — but that is just...
Son of Spam →
The ultimate spam message.
AFTER YOU COMPLETE YOUR ONLINE DEGREE (IN 8 MONTHS OR LESS), I WILL SEND YOU A HOT AMATEUR MP3 THAT WILL CONSOLIDATE YOUR DEBT USING ONLINE AUCTIONS.
Actually garnered a 31.1 from SpamAssassin. Anything over five is spam.
Don Miller: The Ride Across America →
“I started to find it odd that the central piece of every church service we attended was a 40-minute lecture. It made me wonder if the evangelical church didn’t believe the way to approach God was through the intellect.”