How Exactly Do You Wish the Death of Your Enemies?

The last eight weeks have brought many to the point of discouragement, frustration, anger and bitterness. It’s so easy to see why. I can’t imagine too many people not wishing that this plague had never happened; wishing we could reset the clock and have things exactly as they were before.

During this time there has been an increased increase in the Psalms. David wrote at least half; though we have contributions from the Sons of Korah, from Asaph, from Solomon and from unknown sources. And David poured out his heart to God. We have to marvel at the transparency of his emotions.

But David also wished his enemies dead. He asked God to bring about their swift destruction. More than once.

Is that a model for prayer in the 21st Century?

Pouring out my own heart, I wrote a piece here a few days ago about unanswered prayer. At least that what it was intended to be about. I think we need to be especially carefully dangling that carrot in front of prospective believers or new believers. Offering answered prayer as a sure thing, when it’s really something that God isn’t necessarily going to deliver.

Some of that article was personal, describing a handful of situations, one of which would fall into that general category of enemy or enemies.

However…

Despite my frustration and anger, I can’t see myself wishing the death of someone else. I just can’t bring myself to pray that prayer, ‘Lord, kill him.’

Perhaps it’s the difference of a New Testament; New Covenant perspective; a post-incarnation era unknown to the Psalmist. Perhaps it’s living at time in history when the grace of God is the only thing we have to offer the world. Perhaps I have a hint of “God is not willing that any should perish” coursing through my bones.

Please recognize that I’m thinking of this in terms of a domestic situation; this isn’t about the larger just war versus pacifism issue. This isn’t about an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

I just think that the God of the impossible is able to exceedingly beyond anything we could request or imagine. He’s capable of writing the scene so that it plays out with a creative twist we couldn’t have conceived.

I really believe that. It’s a testimony to the faith I still have.

In the middle of the doubt I increasingly wrestle with.

Root Causes of Cynicism and Doubt

Any commitment to follow to Christ is going have its basis in the truth of the resurrection. We know anecdotally that other foundations, valid as they might be, can crumble when tested. Some objections to faith recur more frequently to others and can be (a) barriers to entry, in terms of making a first time decision to be a Christ follower, or (b) the roots of doubt or cynicism which can cause even a long time faith to collapse.

A quick online search reveals some of these:

• The Genesis / Creation / Evolution question
• The problem of evil and suffering in the world
• Things done, both presently and historically by Christians, often in Christ’s name
• Things done to them personally by Christians, aka the Church at large
• The authority and reliability of the Bible
• Philosophical issues concerning the very existence of God

But there’s one thing I never see listed, and I can name that song in two notes:

• Unanswered prayer

I would say this is more the case with situation (b) above, but it could also apply to the person who in coming to Christ brings with them specific petitions or to use the theological term, supplications.

It’s also something I find myself struggling with more and more.

There. I said it.

I’m not alone in this. I think of people with whom I’ve interacted over the last few years, and the long-time, ongoing prayers of their hearts have been for a son, or daughter or spouse to come (or come back) to faith, and those prayers have not been answered.

I think of two people I know who have dealt for years with intense chronic pain who in one case can’t sleep at night because of it, and in the other case can’t think clearly when it strikes with intensity.

I think of people who ache to be chosen for some type of higher activity in their workplace, or in their church, but are always ignored or passed over in favor of someone else.

I think of two couples who have special needs adult sons, who believe in a God of the impossible when it comes to healing (or even improvement) but are also resigned to the unanswered nature of their requests.

Finally, I think of people for whom outsiders would say, ‘Their lives seem okay;’ who aren’t facing world-shattering challenges but just wish some of their circumstances could be different. They ask God to simply give them something to put in the ‘win’ column…

…Apologists can spend energy coming up with answers to the first six objections, but also need to have an answer to the seventh one, ‘Why aren’t my prayers answered?’

I think of one such apologist, now reaching the end of his ministry, who never neglected to see the pastoral question when facing doubters and skeptics; to see the question behind the question.

Those are often at the roots of a faith-shaking that the theoretical, intellectual, or philosophical questions can mask.

A mature faith will recognize that not every request is granted in the affirmative. But when prayer has been offered as a means of touching the heart of God concerning our life situations, we do sometimes long for a response.

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For those of you reading this on a tablet or desktop or laptop, here’s a challenge. I usually try to illustrate blog posts with an image, but when I did an image search using the phrase “unanswered prayer” it turned up an interesting collection of quotations. I decided against using any of them, but they bear checking out if you have the time. Feel free to share one in the comments if it strikes you as significant.

Remembering Norman Geisler

A leading voice in Christian apologetics, author Norman Geisler passed away on Monday at age 86.

Books by Geisler in Christian bookstores include: Who Made God?, Chosen But Free, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, When Skeptics Ask, Essential Doctrine Made Easy, If God Why Evil, and more. He also contributed to many other books, such as Four Views on Eternal Security and a large number of Bible reference books.

Richard Land, Executive Editor of The Christian Post wrote:

…Dr. Geisler has been the “go to” authority for more than two generations of evangelical seminary students who were looking for a bold, erudite, and uncompromisingly faithful defense of the inerrant, infallible Word of God and the historical doctrines of the Christian faith. His ministry was invaluable, and his influence incalculable…

The funeral service will be on July 6th, Saturday at 3pm in Charlotte, North Carolina according to his Facebook page notice.

Read more at Religion News Service.

 

 

Currently Reading: Gunning for God by John Lennox

I must be unintentionally driving my book promotion and publicity contacts a little crazy. Lately I’ve been reading and reviewing books that are (a) not new and (b) not from the usual gang of publisher suspects, but are in fact things friends have loaned to me.  Not having the same obligation to review by a certain day, or to have read the whole book, I’ve been posting things here when I’m about half-way through, only to realize afterwards that I want to finish the whole book before returning it.

Such is the case for Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists are Missing the Target by John Lennox (Lion Books, 2011). I’m not a science guy exactly, but I am finding this extremely easy to follow and the author’s style very engaging. Lennox will be 72 next week (he shares a birthday  with Billy Graham) and to the best of my knowledge is still a Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University (which gave us that other part-time Christian apologist you may have heard of, C. S. Lewis).

The book’s purpose is not to argue for the existence of God, or a particular model of creationism, but rather to point out the flaws in the arguments of the major proponents of what is termed The New Atheism, which Lennox points out isn’t new at all. And item by item, he does refute their arguments and even the right of scientists to delve into certain issues of philosophy or moralism that are beyond their purview.

But while there are areas where the author feels strongly that Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are somewhat lacking in scholarship (such as Biblical interpretation) or have wandered outside their boundaries of their respective fields (such as ethics) or have taken a leap of logic (such as imposing conditions on Christianity that would never be accepted if the shoe was on the other foot) he chooses to disarm them gracefully.

Christian apologetics doesn’t fascinate every Christ-follower, but I would argue that people need to include books like this once in awhile to have a balanced reading diet. This one hits all the high notes and is certainly one of the best resources to counter the arguments being made by those on the other side.

 

Christianity Fares Poorly in Recent Polls, Surveys

Numerically, Christianity is in decline in North America. If the U.S. wants to see its religious future it needs only to look to Canada, which although it has its unique characteristics (different mix of ethnicities, historically stronger Roman Catholic population) is very much a “20 minutes into the future” window on what the U.S. is facing. And in some respects the UK provides Canada with a similar preview of increases in secularism.

We wrote about the implications for the church a few months ago in a review of the new book, The Church in Exile.

Dr. Russell D. Moore heads the Ethics and Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and is always very clear and forthright in framing the Evangelical position on issues for wider culture to comprehend. In an article titled “Is Christianity Dying” he writes:

• Bible Belt near-Christianity is teetering. I say let it fall
• Secularization in America means that we have fewer incognito atheists. Those who don’t believe can say so—and still find spouses, get jobs, volunteer with the PTA, and even run for office. This is good news because the kind of “Christianity” that is a means to an end… is what J. Gresham Machen rightly called “liberalism,” and it is an entirely different religion from the apostolic faith handed down by Jesus Christ.
• The Pew report holds that mainline denominations—those who have made their peace with the Sexual Revolution—continue to report heavy losses, while evangelical churches remain remarkably steady—even against some heavy headwinds coming from the other direction.
• Christianity isn’t normal anymore, and that’s good news. The Book of Acts, like the Gospels before it, shows us that the Christianity thrives when it is, as Kierkegaard put it, a sign of contradiction.
• We do not have more atheists in America. We have more honest atheists in America.

To read the entire article — recommended — click this link.

Meanwhile, USA tapped another Baptist writer, Ed Stetzer for an article titled “Survey Fail: Christianity Isn’t Dying.” The articles subtitle confirms what Moore is saying, “Fakers who don’t go to church are just giving up the pretense.”

•  Rather than predict the impending doom of the church in America, this latest study affirms what many researchers have said before. Christianity isn’t collapsing; it’s being clarified. Churches aren’t emptying; rather, those who were Christian in name only are now categorically identifying their lack of Christian conviction and engagement.
• If evangelical Christianity is growing, or at the very least remaining steady, why is Christianity as a whole shrinking and why are those who claim no religious affiliation increasing at such a rapid rate? In short, nominals — people whose religious affiliation is in name only — are becoming nones — people who check “none of the above” box on a survey.

To read the entire article, click this link.

Of course, discussions like this tend to move from the sublime to the ridiculous. So we have, at Billboard of all places, this article: “Bill O’Reilly Blames Hip-Hop for Decline in U.S. Christianity.” Here’s a snippet:

• Obviously, these statistics were gonna get an entrenched conservative like Bill O’Reilly upset. And when Bill sees a problem, Bill needs a scapegoat — and when you’re a conservative talking head, what better scapegoat is there than black people? … “There is no question that people of faith are being marginalized by a secular media and pernicious entertainment,” O’Reilly said. “The rap industry, for example, often glorifies depraved behavior. That sinks into the minds of some young people — the group that is most likely to reject religion.”

What’s deplorable about this is that O’Reilly is missing the point entirely as to what Christianity is and sees it as moralism instead belief in the deity and atoning work of Jesus Christ.

If you feel you must, you read the story at this link.

Yesterday, we also linked to a story at Huffington Post, “The Surprising Sacred Gathering Spaces That Are Moving Into Your Neighborhoods” which you’ll find at this link.

Finally, CBC television in Canada jumped into the discussion last night, but as their charter mandates, were forced to look at all religions.  I’m not sure if their content is available in the U.S. but you can try to view the 12-minute piece at this link. (There was also coverage this week at ABC World News.)

with additional research from Clark Bunch at The Master’s Table blog and Flagrant Regard

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Link List

While this is list number two-hundred-and-something at Thinking Out Loud — and probably about the 400th link list over all, it’s list #52 at PARSE. A year! Time flies when you’re having links. Since Leadership Journal owns this weekly piece, clicking anything below takes you to PARSE where you can then link to the item you wish to read first.

• Some churches make guests feel welcome all too easily, while other people are actually running metrics on the welcoming factor. (Second link opens as a .pdf)
• Baptists may lament a drop in baptisms and new members, but across the road at the Assemblies of God Church, things are hopping. (Pun intended.)
• Essay of the Week: Theology meets parenting in Daddy, Does God Want to Save Me?
• Of the more than two hundred kidnapped school girls in Nigeria, some are members of families involved in Bible translation in the region.
• Authorities in Scotland have dropped charges against Christian apologist and street preacher Tony Miano.
• Contrasts: Christianity versus Christians.
• Shrunken Sermon: We didn’t invent the doctrine of the trinity. Like the early explorers to North America, we discovered something that was there all along.
• Praying for Pop Stars: Lessons from Justin Bieber’s mom. (Be sure to read all 3 pages.)
• …Meanwhile, earlier this month The Biebster was baptized.
• Does the Charismatic/Pentecostal teaching on prophetic words override sola scriptura?
• …And some Charismatic types you really don’t want on your altar/ministry team.
• I link rather frequently to Karl Vaters’ blog because the reality is that many churches are small(er). In a recent piece, he suggests such churches may be that way by design, or they may be failing to move forward. (His words: ‘Strategic or stuck.’)
• Meriam Ibrahim has been released by the government in Sudan; now the ACLJ is petitioning for her and her family’s safe passage to the U.S.
• Analogy Avenue: How churches went from being ocean liners to cruise ships. (There’s a big difference.)
• Second-guessing the Teacher: Why did Jesus make Judas the treasurer when there were better choices?
• It’s possible your church website is already powered by WordPress. Why not go the next step and use WP to take donations.
• Andy Stanley armchair quarterbacks the Southern Baptist Convention convention on the issue of revival.
• Tim Challies joins the many writers who have looked closely into the publishing phenomenon, Jesus Calling.
• 2013 stats are out, and while philanthropy for environmental causes, education, and the arts was up; religious giving was down…
• …But if your missions committee wants to get more bang for its buck; “…as a native African missionary, my team and I can do more effective work in evangelism with $10,000 than a visiting missionary can do with $100,000.”
• …Or perhaps people need to “give ’til it hurts.”
• Most talked about this week: Why I Miss Being a Born-Again Christian. (For more from both sides, Google the title along with the word ‘response.’)
• What can your church learn from World Cup fever?
• Church Profile: Capital Hill Baptist Church is drawing Millennials.
• Not new, but new to me: The Passion Bible Translation.
• Point/Counterpoint: Is the gay issue worth splitting a church over?
• I don’t think I’ll ever sort out all the various Baptist groups; especially when Presbyterians are this complicated.
• On kids sitting still in church; wiggling or wriggling during worship. (Sit still while you read it.)
• Quotation of the Week: Looking for a leader or a babysitter?
• For your faith to be viable, is it necessary for there to have been two actual people named Adam and Eve? Albert Mohler and N.T. Wright would disagree on this one.
• Five paragraphs. Six theological conundrums. And they’re not all gender issues.
• The Newsboys’ declaration of faith, “We Believe” is number one this week at Praise Charts.
• Would a Christian hire a hit-man to kill his wife? It’s not a riddle, but if it were the answer might be “No, he would have to stop being a Christian first.” An update on the lead singer of the band As I Lay Dying.
• Link to more links: If you like your links on a single theme, check out Blogging the Apocalypse.
• Some of those other Christian link writers pad their lists with cute cat videos, but after one year at PARSE, I can honestly say we would never do that here. (Especially if the feline is shilling for a cat food conglomerate.)

Thursday through Tuesday, Paul blogs at Thinking Out Loud, both writes and steals devotional material at Christianity 201, and provides hints of the following week’s link list on Twitter.

 

It’s not every day that we see a Jaguar X16 with a Jesus fish in our part of the world. Mind you it’s a gold fish, nicely framed and matted.

Wednesday Link List

gbi

It’s summertime and you don’t need an Angler’s License to fish for Christian news and opinion pieces on the net. 

• That woman who walked up the aisle with a baby strapped to the train of her wedding dress prompted various responses, but some criticized her for her grammar.
• Video of the Week (1): Tullian Tchividjian was on a roll in this ten minute from clip the Liberate conference.
• Essay of the Week (1): A Charismatic group heads off to Gay Pride Day to do spiritual warfare, but ends up marching in the parade.
• Chapters of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) are being targeted for “derecognition” on various college campuses.  John Turner blogs that the message here is clear, Evangelicals are no longer welcome.
• Essay of the Week (2) Eugene Cho responds to the spate of gun violence in elementary and high schools and colleges and universities.
• There are ten kids in the Harding family. Seven went to college by age 12. Sample: “Heath, 18, calls himself ‘the slacker’ of the Harding family. He earned an undergraduate degree in English at 15 and a master’s degree in computer science two years later.”
• A 24-year-old Salvation Army employee with only two days training finds herself in the middle of a “rape dungeon” at the Manus Island detention facility in Papua, New Guinea (PNG).
• Pope Francis makes a point that Evangelicals should remember: Leadership involves following the Holy Spirit, not following majority opinion or consensus.
• Essay of the Week (3): There are many parallels — and some striking differences — between your local church and World Cup soccer.
• A Pew Survey shows that while they may not mind atheists, many don’t want their daughter to marry one.
• Here are four predictions on where conservative Protestant fundamentalism is heading by someone who knows the subject well. (Be sure to read the comments this blog attracts on every post.)
• Not every country has the USA’s First Amendment, so when an Irish Assistant Pastor quit over his Senior Pastor’s anti-Islam message, it attracted public attention and the sermon is being investigated as hate speech.
• As many couples plan for summer weddings it’s easy to overlook that a lot of wedding planning isn’t really marriage planning. (You never know the advice you’re not getting.)
• Quotation of the Week: Brian Zahnd’s Farewell to Mars.
• For reasons you might not guess, atheists have their favorite Bible verses. (That Bible Gateway post is based on this article.)
• Salvation Semantics: You can know that you’re saved, but can you be certain that you’re saved?
• Video of the Week (2): When Christian Retailing magazine ranked this album #1 in the May/June print issue, we decided to check out Deitrick Haddon and LXW (League of Extraordinary Worshipers.)
• An American tourist in North Korea is being detained, allegedly for the crime of leaving a Bible in a hotel room.
• Apologist J. Warner Wallace, in the middle of a series on angels and demons, takes a thorough look at the concept of guardian angels. So, do you have one?
• Ouch! A Canadian North Point affiliate pastor offers seven reasons you should suggest some people should leave your church.
• Behind the scenes: Nate Phelps’ upcoming documentary offers a one-of-a-kind perspective into his father’s Westboro Baptist Church. (The movie is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter.)
• Chart of the Week: Neo-Puritanism contrasted with Neo-Calvinism (opens in your computer as a .pdf)
• Church Growth: “Is your church struggling to break through the 200 barrier?” Link to a New Small Church Podcast.
• After six years in the shadows, Mosaic Church founder and author Erwin McManus has returned to public life. (If you have 38 minutes, in the video, McManus teaches about Christ as artisan.)
• “Today we’re gonna teach you a new song!” Do you internally groan when the worship leader says this? Here are nine things about new songs.
• Work in Progress: Author David Croteau discusses his forthcoming title, Urban Legends of The New Testament. (What, they didn’t have snopes.com back then?)
• Christians have been going to the movies a lot lately, but while wanting to be entertained, 79% say Biblical accuracy is important.
• Ed Stetzer (a CT blogger) offers seven reasons why it’s established, existing churches that should be planting churches.
• After reducing the number of categories from seven to five in 2012, new categories were announced for the 2015 Grammy Awards for Gospel and Contemporary Christian genres.
• In a piece written before Father’s Day, Pete Wilson learns a valuable parenting lesson from his middle son.
• Veteran CCM artist Bob Bennett requests prayer this week, as does Andraé Crouch.
• African pastor on the Charismatic movement: “…there is something intrinsic in the Charismatic milk, which, once sucked for a number of years, tends to lend itself towards these heretical views” John MacArthur’s long lost cousin?
• The opposite of the megachurch: The micro-church.
• Jamie Arpin-Ricci does an all-too-short interview with the author of Inventing Hell.
• After going digital-only, an Anabaptist quarterly magazine returns to print.
• Before sending the kids off to a place you don’t know, make sure the camp is a member of the Christian Camp & Conference Association, or Christian Camping International. (Or is otherwise accredited by a church denomination you know.)

 

Typically, my youngest son includes his youth pastor as a reference on job applications; but for this summer job there is the terse admonition, “You may omit names of ministers of religion.”

Wednesday Link List

If your work week runs Monday to Friday, by noon on Wednesday you’re ‘over the hump,’ but the Baptist in me still blushes when someone says, “Happy Hump Day!”  With that, I think we’d better quickly move on to the links which you’ll find at Out of Ur.

• You can’t walk the hallways of the Christian internet without running into Calvinists, but Lutherans are stronger numerically. So why don’t Lutherans have greater influence?
• Atheists may not believe, but they want to belong. More accurately, they want to help serve.
• With the Duck Dynasty people entering into a licensing deal with a winemaker, it’s no surprise that Free Will Baptist Family Ministries cancelled an upcoming appearance by Willie Robertson to raise funds for a Christian school building project.
• Quote of the Week: John Piper — “…we really need to keep in mind that every charismatic abuse has its mirror image in non-charismatic abuses. Nothing I am going to say is unique to charismatics. In some of these cases, the non-charismatic church is more guilty than the charismatic.” Read more.
• While Pope Francis has changed the style of the papacy, it is creating ripple effects that are changing the style of American bishops.
• So who exactly set the guest list and invited “the Tea Party Power Players” to Billy Graham’s birthday bash?
• In light of decreased attendance and giving, James MacDonald has taken a 20% pay cut. One writer says that this seems noble, but looks at the Harvest Bible Chapel founder’s larger financial situation.
• A world away, Filipinos worship in churches ravaged by wind and rain.
• “The Mormon church was already one of Florida’s largest landowners. For more than 60 years, the church has owned … a 290,000 cattle, and citrus operation straddling three counties south of Orlando.” Now they’re going into the forestry business.
• Raising kids while serving on a foreign mission field is full of challenges, and singing, “This world is not my home, I’m just passin’ through;” is probably not very helpful.
• With the current interest in Christian feminism, is there room for complementarians?  A serious discussion followed.
• Author Rachel Held Evans doesn’t want to be divisive. Nor does she want to be silent.
• A Canadian priest is facing 76 sexual abuse charges involving dozens of victims dating back to the 1970s in Canada’s far north.
• The Church of England, says a former Archbishop of Canterbury, is one generation away from extinction.
• You’re not that busy, or you wouldn’t be reading this. So it’s time to play Bible Jeopardy. (What is, “Don’t tell my senior pastor my score?”)
• If this is true I’m in trouble: What your sleep patterns say about your personal theology.
• Essay of the Week: At Aljazeera America (of all places) an exhaustive article on how sexual assaults are handled at Bob Jones University.
• Same sex attraction: Vimeo removed this pro-change 32 minute video, then it was put on YouTube. Let’s see if it’s still there by the time you read this…
• …Meanwhile a Methodist pastor in Pennsylvania faces defrocking after presiding over his son’s same-sex marriage.
• With nearly 200 comments, you’d expect some of the answers to the oft-asked question, “What is the gospel?” But maybe different answers when it’s Marcus Borg doing the asking.
• With the anniversary of C. S. Lewis’ death just days away, some still-applicable quotations.
• Nadia Bolz-Weber’s sermon — in her church a 10-12 minute homily — for All Saints Sunday included a “saint” from her own local congregation. (Click the link to listen as you read.)
• Add another Bible narrative to the scrap heap of stories that never happened, as this blogger categorically dismisses the story of Jonah.
• Break out the Petra and Daniel Amos albums; it’s a campaign to bring back the print edition of CCM Magazine…
• …and here’s one Christian artist’s best kept secret. What if there had been a girl in The Beach Boys?
• Finally, in our Christian music link trilogy, a story you can’t live without: Singer Mandisa is launching Simply Mandisa, a line of clothing and accessories, ’cause that’s what you do next, right?
• The Creation and Earth Museum in San Diego has been denied a place on the local museum council.
• Was a bus driver at Rutgers University fired for not properly securing a wheelchair, or does it have more to do with his praying for a passenger in a wheelchair?
• While I wouldn’t want to be able to put a check-mark next to #5 on my first visit, here’s one writer’s seven things to look for in a church.
• Your teaser title for this week: Eldering and Economics.
• Regular viewing of R-rated movies can have a negative impact on faith; at the same time as some church-produced films are being rated R.
• Question of the Week: How many gamers will skip church to spend more time on their new Play Station 4?
• Here’s what happens when a PhD in Theology takes seriously the idea of a Mark Driscoll Scholarship for Women Pastors.
• Jamie The Very Worst Hugger admits that when it comes to wrapping your arms around someone, she does not have that particular spiritual gift.
• A UK Church blog offers you the opportunity to calculate your social media influence rating.
• Well, we could keep going all day here, but I see by the clock on the clubhouse wall that it’s time to go. If Christmas is leaving you without ideas, here’s a can’t miss suggestion for that special person in your life, also pictured below.

The Wednesday Link List is written by Paul Wilkinson who blogs the rest of the week at Thinking Out Loud and Christianity 201.  Professional stunt blogger. Do not attempt at home. Offer not valid in Wisconsin or Hawaii.

Wednesday Link List

Not many weird religious news stories this week; try to do something stupid over the next few days, okay?  This is a link list without links. To see them click over to Out of Ur. As for the above graphic, you need to listen to Phil Vischer Podcast…

• According to a CNN story, the head of Christian Copyright Licensing Inc. claims that Chris Tomlin is the most prolific songwriter in the United States right now.
• Personally, I thought my alternative ending to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire Conference would have been an interesting touch…
• …but of course, truth is always stranger than fiction.  While I first read about Mark Driscoll crashing the party, I’d not heard James MacDonald’s name mentioned until this.
• Two pieces on the subject of porn: Eric Simmons at Desiring God with I Hate Porn, and Tim Challies offering some preventative measures with The Porn-Free Family.
• Did you see marathon swimmer Diana Nyad talking to Oprah? Is it possible to be an atheist and still be “in awe?”
• Short Essay of the Week: What if modern technology permitted Biblical education to take place individually, and the place we gather weekly was for interaction, coaching, personal support and prayer? Be sure to read David Morrow’s The Flipped Church.
• Medium Essay of the Week: Dancing as “keeping in step with the Spirit;” a metaphor for a life of faith, unless of course you believe that, “the praying knee can’t belong to a dancing leg.”
• A Minnesota Pastor takes 20% of the revenue from a land deal and creates entrepreneurial opportunities for young people. Read the original CT article and this response (with video).
• Most Provocative Title: From Catholic writer Tony Agnesi, are you Living Your Resumé or Your Eulogy?
• Starting Over: For Jon Acuff, this particular blog represents Day Zero.
• Academic Article of the Week: We all know what the gospel is, but if you’re studying alternative texts, what exactly is a gospel?
• …and aggregate the Tweets of some well-known Christian academics, and you might find yourself reading Bible Gateway Bible Profs News.
• Kid Min Corner: Unlike many children’s DVD series, Phil Vischer didn’t stop at the end of Acts. So what themes from Paul’s letters did he feel were worthy of inclusion in a kids video?
• Youth Ministry Corner: Apparently some parents would rather just write a check to pay for missions trips, and the kids don’t want to do fundraising, either.
• Know any Aspies? That’s a term for people with Asperger’s Syndrome; people for whom the church can feel like an alien place.
• The blog Sliced Soup found this 18-month old guide to Hebrew pronunciation of YHWH, but as it turns out the video channel it’s from is a goldmine of instruction in Ancient Hebrew.
• What should worship leaders do when the keyboardist who wants to join the team is a classically-trained pianist.
• Pastors: If that illustration you’re using is actually debunked on Snopes.com, look out! Turns out Millennials like to fact-check sermons.
• Video(s) of the Week: Two beautiful acapella song covers on YouTube by David Wesley — One Thing Remains and the more recently posted (last week) How Deep the Father’s Love.
• People You Should Know: Another edition of the Young Influencers List.
• Charlotte Church is now 27, but she knows the pressure put on young music stars to be hyper-sexualized.
• Questions about the film’s ending has caused tension for the March, 2014 movie based on the life of Noah.
• Music Flashback: From our Lost Songs collection, the worship of Calvary Chapel Downey, with the hauntingly beautiful song To be Like You.
• Denominational stereotypes? Christianity Today answers the question, ‘Why are Google searches so much fun?’
• Finally, if you’re going to steal stuff from a church, don’t try to flog it at a yard sale only a few streets away.

Link list curator Paul Wilkinson blogs at Christianity 201 and Thinking Out Loud, the latter of which still sports its original look and theme, an actual functioning blogroll that is updated regularly, and a merry-go-round that still operates. (Not that last thing…)

Main branch of the Kansas City Public Library.

Wednesday Link List

Welcome to another installment of random links from Thinking Out Loud.  If you’ve been on summer holidays, the list has become the victim of a corporate takeover. We’re now at Out of Ur on Wednesdays, the blog of Leadership Journal, a division of Christianity Today. We’ve asked our Chicago-based new bosses to aim for 8:00 AM EDT !!

Check the list also for an explanation as to the above Church photo, aka “Fruitcake as building material.” 

• A subject I’ll click on every time: Greg Laurie on why is the United States seemingly absent in Biblical prophecy.
• So what about that verse about those with unruly children being unfit for leadership? Douglas Wilson kicks off a series wondering what happened to that qualification.
• Is there a hierarchy within the Trinity? Michael Patton suggests there is an order similar to the order in which we usually recite the parts of the Godhead.
• The Archbishop of Canterbury: Speaking in tongues? Yes. A personal conversion experience is necessary? No. Following Christ? It’s like getting measles. (Links like this? Priceless.)
• A CNN Religion writer suggests that as with everything else, there are six denominations of atheists.
• Coming in October to a theater near (some of) you: Watch the trailer for I’m In Love With a Church Girl.
• Readers at Real Clear Religion sent in another crop of 33 pictures of ugly churches. (We like #5 subtitled ‘Fruitcake as building material.’)
• Clergy lag behind military, teachers, and doctors in Pew survey list of most-respected professions; and this was a survey of churchgoers!
• Prime Minister David Cameron wants the default on UK home internet connections to block pornography unless the customer requests it.
• Women’s Department: A youthful group of women get together in Talking Taboo, a frank discussion about faith featuring a huge list of contributors.
• Bigger, better, louder, faster… in ministry we often want more when the model of scripture suggests maybe we need less of more.
• A song by J.J. Heller is featured in a 30-second tourism commercial for Queensland, Australia.
• Following a great family tragedy, pastor Rick Warren returns to the pulpit of Saddleback Church this weekend for the first time since March.
• Have you heard of churches wherein when the senior pastor resigns, every staff member tenders their resignation? One writer doesn’t like this idea.
• Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart is due to make a rare crusade appearance August 9th in Buffalo, New York.
• Sometimes those eBooks you get for a $1 (or less) are books that were never edited for grammar or spelling.
• The podcast On Pop Theology looks at modesty culture, purity culture, and why Christian dating advice isn’t so good. (Coarse language.)
• Somewhat related: Catholic bulletin announcement — “Dignity & Decorum: Please try not to wear beach shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Thank you.” But the temp is in the 80s at the 7:30 service.
• While missing the stats, here’s another article about college students exiting non-denominational Evangelicalism for ‘high’ liturgical churches.
• Ancient Art Department: You can blame the Egyptian god Bes for how the Devil got his looks.
• Also at the BBC Culture page: They’re building an ark in Long Island, though this one won’t touch water.
• I thought it would be cool to include a Spanish link. Too bad I don’t speak Spanish. Still it’s nice to know these blogs are there, like this one dealing with apologetics, worldviews, moral relativism and ministry to postmoderns. (Maybe I understand the language more than I realize.)
• American Interest Department: What US cities are ‘saintly’ and which ones are ‘sinful?’ You might be surprised.
• A blogger thinks we spent too much time in church facing the front of the room, and not enough time facing one another.

Finally, since Out of Ur is borrowing from us today, we thought we’d return the favor with a link to this post:

Twentyonehundred Productions is the InterVarsity multi-media team. They post an infographic like this each week on their Facebook page.  Normally, that would be the end of things here, but since historically, the Wednesday Link List began or ended with a cartoon, I couldn’t resist stealing borrowing one more graphic from them…