Wednesday Link List

Apologies to subscribers whose paragraphs have had ever-increasing font sizes. WordPress doesn’t always interpret HTML tags consistently, but we’re checking each post now before it publishes. Hopefully…

• In 40 rooms in England’s Lake District, copies of The Bible in the bedside table have been replaced with Fifty Shades of Grey.
• Classic Media, the parent company of the Veggie Tales brand is to be purchased by DreamWorks, creators of Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon.
• God called me to add this link — okay, not really, but Heather Goodman things we overuse Holy Spirit language.
  
• “Accepting people is more important than agreeing with them;” is among the findings of Elastic Morality, a 2011 Canadian youth research title that’s been flying under the radar.
  
• Anglicans at The Falls Church in Virginia prove they can do modern worship songs as good as anyone else. Click here to listen to A Thousand Amens. 
• And speaking about breaking denominational stereotypes, how about this: Baptist Monasteries. Yes, they exist and they aren’t new.
• Meanwhile, conference speaker and author Gordon Dalby gets busted by a Catholic Priest for receiving communion. 
• Mixing church history and doctrine, Parchment and Pen offers a thumbnail sketch of the rise of the Catholic Church. 
• If you missed the video embed here Monday, you need to go take a look. For those who did watch, here’s another speaker from the same Lutheran youth conference, Leymah Gbowee.
• When churches close, there’s no place for no place for marginalized kids to go; and Karen Spears Zacharias knows this from experience.
• It’s not new, but here’s a classic video of Tony Campolo explaining how he came to throw a birthday party for a hooker at 3:00 AM.  
• David Platt on video talks about comparing modes of radical Christian living. 
• Two articles from New Direction Ministries that someone you know might need: (1)For the straight conservative Christian trying to repair a relationship with a gay loved one; and (2) The other side of the coin: When gay people long for reconciliation with their conservative Christian family
  
• A portrait of Joel Osteen has been removed from a Georgia Library even as the TV preacher describes his message as not so big on hell-fire.
• And speaking of preachers, this list goes back to February, but I like how Dudley Rutherford handled this listing of the top ten preachers in America.
  
• An Australian church that averages about 300 attendees is applying for permission to build a 5,000 seat auditorium.
• In the spirit of the First World Problems meme, Michael Belote offers First World Theology Problems, though I’m not sure I get all the nuances of this.
• To new bloggers just starting out on WordPress: (1) Get rid of that “Hello World” post that came with your theme template by either deleting it or writing something profound to appear as the ‘first post’ you never wrote; and (2) Replace that “Just Another WordPress Blog” with your own tagline. Please!
  
• Graphics today are from Faith in the Journey.
  

Christian Clichés to Avoid

For three days a week ago, Christian Piatt (pictured at right) looked at oft-used Christian clichés.  While we were tempted to reblog the whole thing here, we thought we’d provide you with the links, but also list the words and phrases that Christian identified. He came up with 29. Why there was one short in the last list is never explained. Maybe you can leave a comment and help him come up with #30. (Or more.)

Read article one in the series here: Ten Cliches Christians Should Never Use

Read article two in the series here: Ten More Cliches Christians Should Avoid

Read article three in the series here: Nine (Final) Christian Cliches to Avoid

List one:

• Everything happens for a reason
• If you died today, do you know where you’d spend the rest of eternity?
• He/she is in a better place
• Can I share a little bit about my faith with you?
• You should come to church with me on Sunday
• Have you asked Jesus into your heart?
• Do you accept Jesus as your personal lord and savior?
• This could be the end of days
• Jesus died for your sins
• Will all our visitors please stand?

List two:

• Love the sinner, hate the sin
• The Bible clearly says
• God needed another angel in heaven, so He called him/her home
• Are you saved?
• The Lord never gives someone more than they can handle
• America was founded as a Christian nation
• The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it
• It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve
• Jesus was a Democrat/Republican
• (Insert sin here) is an abomination in the eyes of God

List three:

• Christianity is the only way to God/Heaven
• When God closes a door, He opens a window
• God helps those who help themselves
• Perhaps God is (causing something negative) to get your attention/It is God’s way of telling you it is time for (fill in the blank)
• There, but for the grace of God, go I
• If you just have enough faith (fill in the blank) will happen for you
• I don’t put God in a box
• (Insert name) is a good, God-fearing Christian.
• God is in control

Quite the list, huh?  As I copied/pasted each one here, it was all I could do not to include some of the commentary that goes with each.  (And pictures, too!)  Every one of these could make a great discussion subject, and I don’t promise that further down the road, we might steal the entire post for one (or all) of the lists.

But in the meantime, please click and comment at Christian’s blog. (You can leave a comment here if there’s one or two you’d like to see evolve as a separate discussion here at T.O.L.)

Oh, and there’s more, too:

Read Part Four here: Ten Antidotes to Christian Cliches