Top Religion story of 2005

The local church is the hope of the world?

Protestants really need to get their ecclesiology in order. The trend is leading us to self destruction. Enough to make me become Catholic? Well no, but still we are going to far it our response. We have drifted a long way. As this story puts it, "When the Reformers distinguished between the local and universal church, they did so to point out that not every church member had justifying faith. But they insisted that every believer be immersed in a local congregation, where the gospel is rightly proclaimed and the sacraments rightly administered. The notion of freelance Christians would have made them spit out their beer."



"Not that I'm blaming Barna. His book merely reveals every thin spot in evangelical ecclesiology. We flamingly disregard 2,000 years of guidance under the Holy Spirit. We elevate private judgment above the collective wisdom of apostles, martyrs, reformers, and saints."

The theme

The entertainment theme reminds me of this book someone told me about. The cover is fitting.

Unentertained in an Entertainment Culture

Again with my theme

Merry Christmas

What we have said, then, has been about that second faith, which is not only to believe in Mary’s Son, but rather that he who lies in the virgin’s lap is our Savior, that you accept this and give thanks to God, who so loved you that he gave you a Savior who is yours. And for a sign he sent the angel from heaven to proclaim him, in order that nothing else should be preached except that this child is the Savior and far better than heaven and earth. Him, therefore, we should acknowledge and accept; confess him as our Savior in every need, call upon him, and never doubt that he will save us from all misfortune. Amen.
-Martin Luther

The limits of reason.

"When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity." - Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends & Influence People)
Ok, he may not be a dead theologian. But he says so simply what Luther or Calvin would take a whole book to say. This truth is abundantly clear when looking at the recent decision on the Intelligent Design case. David Klinghoffer explains what I mean well here.

Scary Santa

With all due respect that is the scariest Santa I have ever seen.

The exalted (and snotty) elect

Apparently this is a problem with the Osteen family. Christianity Today recorded a similar incident where Joel whined against airline policy until he got his way and then chalked it up to "the favor of God." No, maybe you are just an annoying complainer that people hate to deal with. Again, we know what happens to the first.

Stalin's Utopia

We are always closer to a sci-fi reality like "1984" or "Journey to the Center of the Earth" than anyone realizes. Stalin just illustrates the absurdity of socialism and leveling desires: There will always be a desire to be above a lower class of people. At least as Christians we know: "The last shall be first..." We should not desire for all to be equal, but to be last.

Bono

Torture bad.

I think what really happened is Bush lost his veto stamp and doesn't want to admit it.

Is this a law like banning suicide? Yeah, Torture is bad, but passing a law against it will just mean intelligence agencies will keep doing it illegally. In a ticking time bomb senario, the moral man would have to break the man-made law for a higher law.

UPDATE: I heard on the radio a town in South America was running out of cemetary space. So the mayor outlawed dying. Typical...Pass a law, mades everything better...

What to do on Christmas

Well I have never seen so many stories about things to fight over at Christmas time. For my part I plan to say Merry Christmas to as many people as I can, and find some church that will be in session sometime that weekend. Fortunately mine will be but from the looks of this story some Protestants may have to find a nice Catholic Church and go and attend Midnight Mass. Whatever works for you, just take some time to remember it is nice to be with family, but the day is about the Christ child.

It's here.

Left behind

I believe this is the Lutherans' official response to rapture theology.

Israel vs Iran?

With Iran months away from a nuke, will this be deja-vu with Israel doing what America should be doing (ala Iraq 1981) and then having us slap Israel on the wrist with a "tsk, tsk" and a *wink* *wink* ?

Its getting to the point in the Middle East where we can almost turn the book of Revelation into a checklist...

UPDATE: According to our military...Israel can't do it this time.

Bored in a Culture of Entertainment

How true. This is why I liked the movie "Lost in Translation" (sans the scene in a 'gentleman's club'). We increasingly find ourselves bored in a culture of entertainment. Maybe I need to chuck my computer and TV and do something productive like reading through the complete Institutes. ahhh...redeeming the time, for the days are evil. (Eph 5:16)

Freakonomics Fiasco

I found this story at The Corner. I have not normally been interested in his findings. On the abortion issues I did not care because the strategy of killing them before they commit the crime does not hold much water with me. As the research is now falling apart they had some interesting comments that Pro-lifers are even somewhat disappointed. I agree with the point Steve makes here though, which is regardless of the ramifications lets start with the TRUTH.

Quote from the story.

"This fiasco reveals much about what's wrong with public policy discourse in modern America. Fifteen minutes of Googling would have shown book reviewers of Freakonomics that the abortion-cut-crime theory hadn't come close to meeting the burden of proof, but, instead, much of America's intellectual elite fell head over heels for this theory. Being largely innumerate and unenterprising, the punditariat is unable or unwilling to apply simple reality checks to complex models. It's easier to simply engage in intellectual hero-worship and take a guru figure like Levitt on faith."

Boycott anyone?

Right vs Right on Intelligent Design

Here's a little more for you, Aaron, on the Intelligent Design debate on the Right.

I can't get over his "God in the gaps" reasoning on some items like eye development and the genesis of bats. ID could have some validity but i have not found any good rebutals to the arguments that seem so readily available from books like this.