Category Archives: blogging

The Read and Share File

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Here’s what I’ve been reading:

First from Christian Post.  I hate to mention Westboro Baptist because that’s what they want.  Good press, bad press, they eat it up.  Westboro has announced they will protest funerals of tornado victims in Illinois, saying they got what they deserved.  Does God hate sin?  Yes.  Will he punish sin?  Yes.  What Westboro Baptist does not understand is the Gospel.  The Good News is that Christ received in himself the due penalty for our sin.  (more)

In his Friday Random Links, Noel Heikkinen shared this article from the Transformed blog.  I have been in churches that make fun of education, referring to seminary as cemetery, and know exactly what these guys are talking about.  The greatest commandment is to love the LORD your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Mind is in that list, just saying.

The Key to Knowledge (Obsecrations, by way of Resting In His Grace) is on a similar topic.

This is the second Sunday of Lent; Palm Sunday is April 1, Easter is April 8.  I looked up Easter on Wikipedia just for kicks.  I did not read the whole thing (looks like about 2,000 words) but the introduction looks very good.  Here’s a sample:

Easter marks the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of the Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In many languages, the words for “Easter” and “Passover” are etymologically related or homonymous.[4]

*note: those are Wikipedia internal links, I did not go through and insert each one myself.  The main article on Easter is well informed, but I will not vouch for all the others.  

The Read and Share File

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The Read and Share File is a new feature here at The Master’s Table.  I’ve had nothing but positive feedback so far, let me know what you think.

John Piper asks Why Did God Let Paul Become a Murderer?  This is some heavy theology, give yourself time to take it all in.

Did you give up anything for Lent?  According to Stuff Christians Like the Internet is the most common thing to do without for 40 days.  It’s called a Digital Fast and obviously no one reading this is on one.

So you would think that police in New Orleans would pretty much have their hands full during Mardi Gras.  In addition to everything else going on (I decided not to print a list) Paul Wilkinson shares this story about Hope Church.  They got shut down for giving out coffee and water – for free – to parade goers without a permit.  Have you ever seen Mardi Gras?!?  Handing out bottled water, that’s gotta’ stop.

Tim Challies is giving stuff away free stuff every Friday, or at least finding it for us. Here you can download Christian themed March calendar wallpaper.

*For a guy that normally looks like a million dollars, that may be the worst picture of Joel Osteen I’ve ever seen.  Thanks Christian Post.

 

As Long as it’s Black

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That’s what folks used to say about the Ford Model T: it came in any color you wanted, as long as you wanted black.  Consumer sovereignty has come a long way since the 1920’s.  Not only can today’s car buyer select exterior and interior colors and features, but each make and model car comes in several different styles.  40 years ago you had two choices when buying a phone, desk or wall mount.  Maybe there were a very few colors to pick from.  Today dozens of companies produce hundreds of designs.  The epic failure of products like Ford’s Edsel, Beta players and New Coke are classic economic 101 lessons demonstrating that the consumer is indeed sovereign and gone are the days that companies can force a product onto the marketplace or tell us what we want.

Unless you’re Facebook.

Continue reading →

The Read and Share File

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I would like to try something new.  Sometimes I’m reading or watching the news, and a statement or comment lights that creative spark and I sit down and crank out a blog post.  At other times I read something in an article or on a blog and think “Oh that’s neat,” then go about what I’m doing.  I don’t feel compelled to write 800 words, but would like to share with my readers those things that have blessed me or twisted my noodle just a little bit.

I’m still working on the concept – and the title – but let’s begin with the Read and Share File and see how it goes.

Daniel Jepsen at his self title blog explains Why I Don’t Preach the Law.  The Apostle Paul points out that the Law is useful, but has limitations.  Namely the Law does not make us righteous.  Jepsen lists shortcomings of preaching the Law rather than sharing the Gospel.

Internet Monk (apparently doing a whole series on wilderness, but I missed the announcement) has this to say about the Wilderness of Life Under the Law.  If all you get from the Old Testament is the Law, you’re missing out.  Abraham was justified by faith before God gave the Law.

Steve Brown of Steve Brown Etc. had published a book, Three Free Sins.  He is in the middle of a very short book tour.  Tons of stuff to read, download and listen to on his blog.

Paul Wilkinson publishes the mother of all link pages every Wednesday.  Here is the special, limited edition Leap Day Link List.

Tweaking the Blogroll

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An important function of a good blog is maintaining a healthy blogroll.  Sometimes the list needs to be edited.  I’ve been working on mine the better part of the afternoon, both adding and subtracting as need be.  These are the blogs I read, at least when I get the chance.

My advice to other bloggers is to not let your blogroll get stale.  If a blog hasn’t posted in 6 or 12 months, there’s no reason to recommend that site to others.  Likewise, if you’re still listing the same 10 blogs you always have, consider if that’s really a fair assessment of who and what you’re reading.  Just a thought.  My opinion and $4 will get you a cup of coffee at FourBucks.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

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There are posts filed away that were started and never finished.  I have ideas that never got as far as unfinished posts.  There are things I would like to share that are just never going to happen.  There are just not enough hours in the day for me to blog everything I would like to.

Blue Like Jazz (written by Donald Miller, see also Searching for God Knows What) has been made into a movie.   It opens April 13th.  I saw this a couple of days ago about Barack Obama’s Christianity, and read an interesting article asking “Who is authorized to Baptize?” at SBC Voices.  I wish I could read everything on the Christian blogosphere and link to everything you should read, but for the time being I’ll leave that to Paul Wilkinson (Wednesday Link List) and Jeff Dunn (Saturday Ramblings on Internet Monk).  I rely on those guys to keep me informed.

Maybe I want too much.  Isn’t that always the way?  We’re in full time ministry, raising a two-year-old, and I’m trying to finish a book.  The same book I’ve started three times already, this time making it to chapter six.  Sometimes I daydream about starting a vlog, but I started a Bible Survey website that never got out of Genesis.  I probably don’t need to do more, but focus on doing a better job at what’s already on my plate.  Still, I look at these guys that post 3 or 4 times a day, often more than I do in a week, and think how do they do that?  Must be nice.

2011 in Review

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I don’t obsess over stats (or at least I try not to) but the WordPress.com stat helper monkeys created the following presentation.  The least I could do is share it.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 110,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 5 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Answer is Jesus

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“If God is the question, Jesus is the answer.”

That’s why I love Michael Spencer.  I still read Christian blogs, including Internet Monk.  I author a Christian blog, but haven’t found anything that gets my gears turning the way Spencer did.  Read this classic iMonk post to see what I’m talking about.

Michael Spencer was blogging before I knew what a blog was. He started internetmonk.com 12 years ago, really getting in on the ground floor of the Christian blogosphere. Chaplain Mike and others keep the dream alive at iMonk after Michael passed away in April of 2010.  I was a disciple of  Michael in real life for seven years, and he had a profound impact on the way I think about ministry.  The post linked above cuts right to the heart Christianity.

Blog Fodder: Palestine, SBC and Rob Bell

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These are perhaps the most blogged stories over the past few days in the Christian blogosphere.  Each is somewhat divisive, and everyone has their own opinion.  In no particular order:

Palestine is petitioning the U.N. to create a Palestinian state.  President Obama and former president Clinton agree that doing so at this time is a bad idea. Clinton however railed on the Obama White House last week that all the current problems with Israeli relations are the fault of Obama policies. Benjamin Netanyahu describes the U.S. is a friend of Israel, but Obama is in a delicate political position right now.  Palestine would need the support of the U.N. Security Council to move forward, and the U.S. has said it will veto the measure if it comes to that.  Obama’s political career needs for it to not come to that.

Southern Baptist Convention might seek a new name.  Back in the late 80’s an SBC name change was handily defeated. “North American Baptist” was the proposal back in the day, implying a broader base than the South. I once heard an IMB missionary to Canada comment on the irony of planting Southern Baptist churches there. Since slavery is no longer the dividing issue (SBC denounced all historic ties to racism back in 1991) it begs the question of why all American Baptists could not re-unite. The answer is that SBC would never give up their organization, but we MUST beg the question.

Rob Bell is leaving Mars Hill Church. Bell went to the unlikeliest of places and practically did the impossible with Mars Hill. His recent book Love Wins seems to imply universal salvation, and has not been received well (to say the least) by some Christians. He said something about broadening his horizons by leaving, whatever that means. Rick Warren suggests the danger here is that leaders no longer have a community to keep them accountable. Bell could easily support himself without Mars Hill; selling books and DVD’s might be far more profitable than pastoring.

Discuss: I’ll Give You a Topic

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As a matter of fact, I’ll give you three topics.  I’m going to toss these out in no particular order and sort out the results later.

1. Palestine asked the UN to be recognized as a state.  President Obama advised against it.  The U.S. does not want to veto it in the Security Council, but says it will if necessary.

2. The Southern Baptist Convention is considering a name change.  None of us had blogs back in the 80’s, so maybe this is entirely for our benefit.

3. Rob Bell has resigned from Mars Hill.  Rick Warren had comments, what are yours?

…

12 hours later and no takers.  Comments to this post are closed.

Read Blog Fodder: Palestine, SBC and Rob Bell at The Master’s Table.