May 2009
20 posts
Mary, Full of Beer
Now when the angel greets Mary, he says: “Greetings to you, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Well up to this point, this has simply been translated from the simple Latin, but tell me is that good German? Since when does a German speak like that—being “full of grace”? One would have to think about a keg “full of” beer or a purse “full...
“Life without love is death. To love is to be in the light; to hate is to remain...”
– William Barclay, “The Letters of John and Jude”
The Next iPhone →
John Gruber has been nothing if not very accurate in his assessment of upcoming Apple announcements in the past. If you are placing bets (as he himself does metaphorically) this is the information to bet on. He always seems to have extremely reliable sources.
The Ten Commandments of Church Web Sites →
Among others:
Thou shalt not post embarrassing, poorly produced or prepared images of thy pastor and thy congregation’s staff. Better no pictures, than ugly ones.
On Differences
Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.
If there are corrections to be made or manners to be...
Bowling for Columbine
Michael Moore: If you were to talk directly to the kids at Columbine or the people in that community, what would you say to them if they were here right now?
Marilyn Manson: I wouldn't say a single word to them, I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did.
The Books of the Bible
International Bible Society has produced a very progressive Bible. To do so they had to produce a very old-school Bible. From their own description:
Chapter and verse numbers are removed from the text. (A chapter-and-verse range is at the bottom of each page.)
Individual books are presented with the literary divisions that their authors have indicated.
Footnotes, section headings, and other...
“If God promise riches, the way thereto is poverty. Whom he loveth he chasteneth,...”
– William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man
Always Singing One Note—A Vernacular Bible →
William Tyndale was the first person in history to translate the Bible from Hebrew to English.
His craftsmanship with the English language amounted to genius.
He translated two-thirds of the Bible so well that his translations endured until today.
He was burned at the stake as a heretic.
Star Trek and Sacred Text →
Written over many years by many different authors, one would think that the Bible would have ended up more like this:
Roddenberry is quoted as saying he didn’t like the movies, and “didn’t much consider them canon.” Unfortunately, there exists no definitive list of which movies in particular Roddenberry disliked, or what elements in them he didn’t consider canon....
Metamorphosis Church →
It’s not much right now, but I put up a little page for Metamorphosis. We meet at the Tap Room in Ypsilanti, Michigan. We are there every Thursday night at 7:00 PM. Come check out what a church for people who don’t want to go to church looks like.
“For [God] seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His...”
– C. S. Lewis, “The Efficacy of Prayer”
“Without violating the authors’ personalities, they wrote with their own...”
– Lewis Sperry Chafer on the Bible as the inspired word of God
Hypercritical →
Struggling with what seems to be OCPD for years, this rings true:
Now, at this point, it’s reasonable to ask, “Have you considered the possibility that you’re just an excessively critical jerk?” I can tell you that, over the years, I have dwelled quite a bit on my…”peculiar predisposition,” let’s call it.
The drawbacks are obvious. Knowing...
“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was...”
– Donald Miller, “Blue Like Jazz”
Reason, Faith, and Revolution →
[Terry] Eagleton likes this turn of speech, and he has recourse to it often when making the same point: “[B]elieving that religion is a botched attempt to explain the world … is like seeing ballet as a botched attempt to run for a bus.” Running for a bus is a focused empirical act and the steps you take are instrumental to its end. The positions one assumes in ballet have no such end;...