Friday, February 24, 2006

Brokeback to the Future

Funny clip... thought it would be a nice change from all the serious stuff.

Posted by Amanda at 2/24/2006 01:52:00 PM 0 Comments

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Pro-Potter

This is one of the best articles I've seen from a Christian perspective that applauds Harry Potter. Thank you for this insightful article, Internet Monk.

Posted by Amanda at 2/24/2006 09:46:00 AM 0 Comments

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Thursday, February 23, 2006

Church steals XBOX 360 logo?

Some folks are accusing this church of theft because of their new promotional flier. Is this really stealing? I don't think so. Churches are finally doing something smart, I think. They're finally getting smart on how to attract the younger generations. Churches should not be stuck in the pit of tradition. Thanks for the tip wonderingfellow.

Posted by Amanda at 2/23/2006 10:25:00 AM 4 Comments

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Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Burnside Writer's Collective

My favorite quote from Penny's article, Flag-waving SUV: It is far easier to point our fingers and judge than to look at our own lives and ask God to weed out our sin. My favorite quote from her follow-up article, Living Out the Greatest Commandment in America: Truth or Irony?: We must be careful to follow the spirit of Christ, not the spirit of the Age. And Christ is about unity, not division; love, not hate; righteous anger, not self-righteous condemnation.

Posted by Amanda at 2/21/2006 02:20:00 PM 0 Comments

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"Cheney is a terrorist."

So it seems Alec Baldwin thinks he's an op-ed writer. Check out his scathing attack on Cheney because of the whole shooting. I personally prefer to read this article that puts Baldwin in perspective.

Posted by Amanda at 2/21/2006 02:14:00 PM 5 Comments

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Megachurch Game?

I'm not sure what I think about this. There's a SIMS inspired game called Megachurch. The teaser is this: Imagine if you could create the church you wanted, any way you wanted. Put together a worship service exactly the way YOU want: hymns, no hymns, drums, no drums. Are you from Wisconsin, start Polka Mass! Start a building campaign, ask for donations. It sounds fun. I'd probably enjoy this game...a lot. But something else about it doesn't strike me quite right. Comments?

Posted by Amanda at 2/21/2006 09:27:00 AM 2 Comments

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Monday, February 20, 2006

Lapsed Posting and Donald Miller

My posts are lapsed over the weekends because my home computer has been sent back to the manufacturer for tech support. Bah. But I found this amazing article by Donald Miller about the whole James Frey scandal. I found it on another blog, but the article is actually posted on the Burnside Writers Collective.

Posted by Amanda at 2/20/2006 01:02:00 PM 0 Comments

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Friday, February 17, 2006

Deconstructing Jesus: Your Story is God's Story

Michael Spencer, of Internet Monk, has written a fabulous piece on viewing God, Jesus, and the Bible the way they were meant to be viewed. The method of changing your thinking? Deconstruction. He says:

I am deconstructing everything in my life that is not vitally connected to Jesus as King and Messiah.

How do you go about doing this? What's the point?

Deconstruction means taking apart the CULTURAL misappropriation of Jesus that goes on all around us. Jesus is used as a symbol by everyone for everything. This is just as much a problem for Christians as it is for the secular world. We have to cut through that, peel off that paint and find Jesus in the Gospels. Deconstruction means taking apart the SOCIAL and PSYCHOLOGICAL versions of Jesus. Many of us grew up in families and churches that gave us almost everything we believe about Jesus. How do you think Jesus views interracial dating? How do you think he views the use of alcohol? How do you think Jesus feels about tattoos? Chances are that many of us were interacting, not with what we know about Jesus, but with what we’ve taken in from well-meaning parents and church members. It means deconstructing the RELIGIOUS contexts in which we have created our version of Jesus. You may be at Passion, Promise Keepers, Beth Moore and concerts by all your favorite artists. You are still called to follow Jesus into the pages of scripture to see if you are getting the real deal. What’s being left out? What are the blind spots?

This is good stuff. Go read the whole thing.

Posted by Amanda at 2/17/2006 10:41:00 AM 0 Comments

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Thursday, February 16, 2006

WMD?

The timing of some things is absolutely uncanny. I read on One Hand Clapping today some opinions on the war and WMD. He quoted Polipundit, today: Look, we could have video of Saddam examining bunkers full of WMD, neatly labeled in English, with a huge map in the background with U.S. targets brightly circled using Saddam’s blood as ink and those on the Left not believe it. We could produce the map with his DNA on it and they would argue that the evidence was obtained without a warrant and therefore should not be considered, and would then argue that Bush still lied. The arguments made by Demcrats over the past few years have had NOTHING to do with facts so I don’t know if ANYTHING could ever convince them. He also quoted himself from last May saying virtually the same thing, as well as some other folks who agree. The scary thing is, last night I was talking about this with one of my friends. He's a former marine who ran into an old marine buddy on Tuesday night. The buddy has been in Iraq twice now, and claims to have pictures that prove that WMD were actually found. He claims that after some investigations, we have found that they were given by the French government and that if we were to announce that, we would probably lose an ally and gain an enemy with France. This certainly gives one reason to think.

Posted by Amanda at 2/16/2006 10:51:00 AM 7 Comments

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It was birdshot!!

Hugh Hewitt has definitely found a new fan. Those who post on Hugh's blog seem to have the only voice of reason in the country right now--and I say right on! Check this post out: The Press: Making a Bazooka Outta Some Birdshot by Mary Katharine Ham February 16, 2006 09:08 AM EST Does it make me a total redneck that when I heard the VP had sprayed someone with birdshot, my first thought was, "Eh, it's birdshot. He'll be all right"? Obviously, I hope and pray fervently that Harry Whittington recovers fully. His slight heart attack was a scare for everyone, but I'm glad to hear he's sitting up, talking, and working from the hospital, and that his heartbeat is normal again. It's not at all that I think shooting someone is no big deal. Very big deal. It's just that there are degrees of seriousness that I think are lost on folks whose shoulders have never nuzzled the butt of a shotgun. Most of the press corps, I think it's safe to assume, are those kind of folks. They aren't the hunting type. If they were, they'd know that birdshot, while dangerous just like anything propelled by a firearm, is designed to kill birds. In fact, it's designed to kill very tiny birds without doing a lot of damage to the very tiny bits of meat on said birds, so that the meat can later be prepared over a tiny fire with tiny bits of crushed herbs. And then comes the eatin'. The eatin' of tiny, delicious vittles. So, when I heard the VP was quail hunting (read: tiny bird hunting) and sprayed his friend with birdshot, I was concerned for Whittington's safety, but also fairly certain that Harry'd be back to litigating pretty soon. From what I know and have learned in the past couple days, quail hunters generally use birdshot pellets between a size 6 and 8. Check out the picture to see how big those pellets are in comparison to a penny. Whittington was 30 yards off when he was hit with those pellets. This is a serious matter, but it is not exactly the close-range, see-through-the-wound shotgun blast the press delights in implying that it is by offering as little perspective as possible. I think the American public understands this. I think most of the American public knows that gun safety is very important, knows that there is some inherent risk in hunting, knows that accidents sometimes happen, and knows at least one uncle or cousin who's been sprayed with some kind of shot. When Cheney sent Katharine Armstrong to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, he was thinking he might be able to get the story to a reporter who had met up with the butt of a shotgun and could give the story some perspective. At this point, it's fairly obvious that he would have been better off if he had just had Armstrong call the AP. Then he wouldn't have incurred the tantrumy wrath of the primadonna press corps. You know why they're mad, right? You know why David Gregory did everything but need a diaper change on national TV the other day? It's because a small-town reporter at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times got the story before they did. David Gregory needs a binky because the adorable Kathryn Garcia got the story before he did. The media coverage you're seeing now is a classic press corps vanity tantrum. The story is no longer about the Vice President or Harry Whittington or his injuries or any kind of perspective on the incident itself. It's all about how Cheney handled the press. The story is all about them--when they knew, how they were informed, how many people knew before them, how they can correct this so they'll know more in the future. I'm looking forward to the info-graphic on NBC Nightly News, which shows exactly where David Gregory was as the shooting drama unfolded. Gregory will point out the trip he made to CVS at 1:15 p.m. on Sunday for shaving cream, which could easily have been postponed so that he could cover a major national story if he had only been informed! In the meantime, the VP's friend is in the hospital, the VP is devastated that he put him there, and I think most of America gets that. They don't need an all-out press conference to understand that Cheney feels bad about shooting his friend. The press wants an all-out press conference for themselves more than they want to make sure the American people are informed. Luckily, we have Bryan Preston and a PowerLine relative to inform where the press fails to. I gave a little class in shotguns and birdshot vs. buckshot to a friend last night who's never touched a gun. She seemed reassured and surprised by what I told her. If the press had really been covering this story for the past couple of days, she wouldn't have been surprised. She would have known all this.

Posted by Amanda at 2/16/2006 10:32:00 AM 2 Comments

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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Emerging Churches

Andrew Jones (aka tallskinnykiwi) has gotten to the core of a controversial issue: criticism of emerging churches. I may not attend an emerging church, but I definitely see the need for the movement, and I wholeheartedly approve of this challenge.

Posted by Amanda at 2/14/2006 04:58:00 PM 0 Comments

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The Shot Heard Around the World

I was trying to avoid posting on this issue, because so many people out there have turned Dick Cheney into a laughingstock. We all know what happened. While hunting, Dick Cheney accidentally shot a 78 year old man. Initial reports indicated that the victim would recover just fine. However, Mr. Whittington has now suffered a minor heart attack due to birdshot migrating close to his heart. Hugh Hewitt said this: "It was what they call an asymptomatic heart attack, meaning he suffered no, um, symptoms. No chest pain, no arm pain. He's conscious and talking to folks. Pray for his health." God bless men like Hugh Hewitt. I can only imagine what folks will now be saying. My question is this: so what? If this had happened to anyone else in the world, the media wouldn't have cared (unless of course it was the President). Accidents happen. World leaders are human and fallible. Give it a rest people!

Posted by Amanda at 2/14/2006 11:57:00 AM 0 Comments

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Friday, February 10, 2006

Conservative and Liberal Translations?

This is definitely one of the funniest things I've read recently. I think his post makes a valid point. Check it out.

Posted by Amanda at 2/10/2006 09:55:00 PM 0 Comments

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The DaVinci Code

Dan Brown has become a household name since his best-selling novel gained notoriety via controversy. Walk into any bookstore and you'll find books called things like Breaking the DaVinci Code or The DaVinci Deception. There are even blogs out there devoted to it (Check out Gary Burger's blog.)People have been scrambling to prove this novel as a fraud since it hit bookshelves in 2003. The controversy has once again picked up since an adaptation of the novel will hit the big screen on May 19, 2006. Now, I am personally a fan of both Dan Brown and The DaVinci Code. I eagerly await Tom Hanks' portrayal of the stodgy Harvard professor on the big screen. You see, I didn't miss that word I used twice in the opening paragraph: novel. By definition, a novel is a work of fiction. A fact page contained within the covers of a novel are part of the fiction. I read the book with that assumption in place and was not bothered by the worldview presented in the fictitious world of Robert Langdon. (Sidebar--this is also why I am a fan of JK Rowling and Harry Potter). The center of the controversy, at least in my circles, is the Christian aspect. I have seen so many Christians just absolutely bash the book and tear into Dan Brown, calling him a blasphemer and other, much worse, names. But I ask, how does that advance the kingdom of God? How will attacking someone show them the unconditional love of God? It seems, rather, to portray a rather conditional view of God's love. "Do this, and God will love you." "Don't do this, and God will love you." This view is totally works driven and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I want no part of that. The heart and soul of Christianity is the love of God. The unconditional love of God. As Christians, it is our job to show that love. We are the light of the world. How much light are we emitting when we tear down our neighbors? Christ was truthful, but never condemning. Sin is sin, of course. Being a Christian does not give you a license to sin or condone sin. What it does give you is grace. And after you have experienced grace, you should be bubbling over with graciousness towards each other--this does not include tearing people down. The controversy around The DaVinci Code should not even include Christians. Christians shouldn't instigate it or add to it. By feeding the animosity, Christians are given a bad name, as well as helping perpetuate stereotypes that, quite frankly, I wonder if they are accurate portrayals of Christians in this country.

Posted by Amanda at 2/10/2006 03:55:00 PM 0 Comments

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Thursday, February 09, 2006

Freedom of Speech and Religion

When I saw the recent cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, I was mortified. I felt an instant revulsion towards Kanye West for trivializing the crucifixion and emulating Jesus Christ. So the question arises, how patriotic am I if ignore the first amendment right for freedom of speech? In theory, Kanye should be able to do or say whatever he wants because here in America we are to be tolerant of everyone. But how tolerant is Kanye being of Christianity? A friend of mine pointed out the similiarities between Kanye's cover and the recent controversy surrounding the Danish cartoons of Mohammad. Both involve the overlap of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In theory, everyone has the right to worship who or what they want to. In practice this obviously isn't the case. As opposed as I am to the Muslim religion, I sympathize with them. Whatever happened to good old fashioned respect? When did it become too much to ask of people to respect others for their beliefs, opinions, and practices? Both Kanye and the Danish newspapers have slapped two world religions in the face. And by doing so, they have alienated millions of people around the world. Is this what we call tolerance? What are we tolerant of? Disrespect? Intolerance? If I take a step back, I see validity in both arguments. But as Normblog suggests, it is possible for two sides to be equally sincere and seemingly right while only one side is truly right. His example about the Nazis and the Jews is right on target. Those who rally together and cry "Freedom of speech!" need to be aware of how intolerant their views may be. They often stand up and cry "Intolerance!" when they are criticized, but what is it they want us to be tolerant of? Their own intolerance! Why should we be tolerant of intolerance? I don't know about the rest of the world, but I'm tired of being told I have to be tolerant of the athiests, the liberals, the muslims, the jehovah's witnesses, and everyone else while no one wants to be tolerant of me, the Christian! And because I have experienced this over and over again, I can very well empathize with the Muslims on this issue. They should not have to be tolerant of someone who is not tolerant of them. See Randy Thomas' blog for a fabulous article, that includes the following: I am no fan of Muhammad. He was a false prophet. I am a great big humongous fan of free speech. It affords me the right to say Muhammad was a false prophet. What is the truth? I am a pseudo-intellectual at best but I don’t think this is ultimately about Muhammad or the freedom of speech. Like warriors of old lining up on a battlefield taunting their adversaries, this is about a world getting ready for a world war on one level. On another level this is about the war over souls, a spiritual battle. ... Continuing on this personal level, reprinting them for the sake of Freedom of Speech could be a stumbling block for a Muslim person finding freedom in Christ. If a Muslim visits this blog they are going to be upset about my statements concerning Muhammad and possibly my support in shutting down the murder of people they do not see as innocent. At least they won’t have to argue with me about those cartoons. They will challenge me on who the True Prophet is and the concepts of liberty for people and souls. That is fine and we can attempt to have that discussion. The cartoons are already reprinted everywhere and will do nothing but drive people away. I wish that my own first instinct had been so gracious.

Posted by Amanda at 2/09/2006 11:47:00 AM 4 Comments

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