Cappuccino Foam Art
“I’m Gonna Make Mistakes.” Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus, a Christian, embraces the idea of being a role model while also admitting she's flawed. (Interview with Carolyn Arends)
How insecure must you be about your religious beliefs to demand the State prohibit anyone from saying bad things about them? The Economist weighs in on the recent United Nations resolution against "defaming" a religion. Think about it: When a government can determine what is or isn't "defamation," there goes the right to free speech. Yikes.
My current issue of This is True reported that the Daily Universe, the student newspaper of the Mormon-church-run Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, published a typo. On its front page, a photo caption identified the “Quorum of the Twelve Apostates” of the church, rather than “Apostles.” All 18,500 copies were pulled from newsstands, and the paper was reprinted. Hmmm.
Dana Spivey asked us to pray for little Bentley Welch, a newborn in her extended family. Bentley’s mom wrote this on her blog:
My aunt Dana, gave me a letter from her church.. I was in AWE, I could not believe that these amazing people took time out of their busy lives to do that for Bentley and our family who live an hour and half away. The letter was perfect and everything more….Several members of the Church even signed the letter letting us know each and everyone of them are praying for Bentley. I just could not control myself when I read the letter, it also included a few verses in hopes to give us a little peace…I am so thankful for this letter, I hold it close to my heart. We are going to start a scrapbook or something to keep all these things together so we can look back.
“When I think about atheist friends, including my father, they seem to me like people who have no ear for music, or who have never been in love.…These unbelievers are simply missing out on something that is not difficult to grasp.” (“Why I Believe Again,” by A.N. Wilson. This is really a remarkable piece on Wilson’s return to faith. I remember reading his God's Funeral: The Decline of Faith in Western Civilization. Check out the Q&A with him, including this answer to what he is still trying to resolve on his return to faith: “Childish playground things - religious people aren't cool, religious people have spots, wear specs, all those feelings; embarrassment at being in the same gang as people whose views sound, and perhaps are, absurd ; or worse than absurd. The disconcerting sense that certain psychological types (often v unappealing) seem to be drawn to religion. I very much dislike the intolerance and moralism of many Christians, and feel more sympathy with Honest Doubters than with them.”
Good Stuff: Take 8 minutes to see Mike Huckabee's interview with former supermodel Kathy Ireland, who tells how she became a Christian and how she became pro-life. (HT: Between Two Worlds)
“The religious right, at least in its cruder expressions, is indeed a phenomenon without a future. A younger generation of evangelicals and their leaders, while generally remaining culturally conservative, tends to view the religious right's model of social engagement as too narrow in focus and too negative in tone. And the loose language of creating or re-creating a ‘Christian America’ has always been a heresy, a historical error and a blunder. A heresy because no human kingdom, however admirable, can be properly identified with the Kingdom of God. A historical error because the federal government has been wisely nonsectarian from its beginning -- its laws informed by religious values while establishing no single, official religious tradition. A blunder because the conflation of faith and ideology can politicize, nationalize and thus diminish the appeal of faith itself.” (Michael Gerson, reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of Jon Meacham’s Newsweek cover story of last week)
“United Airlines has just implemented a tough policy for fat people: If you're too big to fit in a coach seat on a full plane, you'll have to pay for a first-class seat or two adjacent coach seats. And if those options are sold out, you'll be bumped from the flight.” (Slate) Salatan suggests an alternative. His idea is sound, but couldn't airlines just concede that travelers are, on average, larger these days, give us all a skosh more room, and quit shoehorning us in those ridiculously tiny things that pass for seats?
“The ministry of preaching…is a declaration of war. We’re not delivering speeches; we’re striking a nerve with our culture, our listeners, the enemy who opposes them and, sometimes, with our own souls. A.W. Tozer said: ‘Our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum,’ and every time we issue that ultimatum, we step into a ring of fierce spiritual combat” (Link)
Palm Pre Fever, Baby—but please come to AT&T soon, which my office requires. “The Pre takes everything that's great about the iPhone — multitouch commands, the App Store — and adds most of what the iPhone's missing, such as a real keyboard, MMS messaging and a multitasking OS that can do more than one thing at once. And I also got a pleasant surprise. Contrary to previous reports, the Pre will be able to run Palm OS legacy applications. Millions of Palm PDA, Treo and Centro owners can simply port their favorite apps over to the new platform” (Fox)
“Rapid-fire TV news bulletins or updates on Twitter or Facebook could numb our sense of morality and make us indifferent to human suffering, scientists say. New findings show that the streams of information provided by social networking sites are too fast for the brain's ‘moral compass’ to process and could harm young people's emotional development” (CNN) That’s odd for CNN to report the finding, considering that people had the same concern about 24-hour news coverage to begin with….
I’m trying out BeatScanner, which assembles playlists from your music collection that serve as good workout music.
Slightly fewer men than women go online, but they spend longer when online and go to more sites than women. (story)
Gordon MacDonald wants to know:
In these days of economic distress we will no doubt hear much about a historic 19th century depression that hit in 1859. America and much of Europe was then plunged into fiscal chaos. Unemployment in American cities neared 25 percent.
While not having a complete economic stimulus plan, a man named Jeremiah Lanphier one day got a simple idea. Why not, he asked, get some people together each day at noon to pray? Lanphier was the key guy who got churches up and down the east coast to open their doors at midday and admit people for the purposes of prayer. And by the millions—in America and in Europe—people began to pray.
I doubt that Lanphier ever got a scintilla of credit for the eventual economic recovery of the nations. But, on the other hand, he originated a spiritual bailout.
All I know is that what became known as the Noontime Prayer Revival touched several generations before its influence ended. But it took a fiscal meltdown to get it off the ground.
Jeremiah, where are you when we need you?
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