Miller on Mentoring

Relevant Magazine talks to Don Miller about mentoring the fatherless. I think this is an important issue to which we need to pay careful attention in our churches.

Mohler on Pop Music and Marriage

Al Mohler chimes in today on the subject of music as well. Here is his post entitled "What does Pop music have Against Marriage?"

Music ain't what it used to be

Bob Kauflin has some interesting comments and reflections on the changing face of the music industry.

24: Season 1

***Warning! Spoilers to follow - Don't read if you haven't seen season one of "24" and plan to watch it.***


Ok, so Kim and I just finished watching season 1 of "24" on DVD. We have not gotten caught up in the 24 hype until recently when we starting subscribing to it on our Netflix and watching 2-3 episodes a night before bed. BTW - not a great way to calm yourself down to go to bed and not have wack dreams about people trying to kill you...

Anyway, I love the show now and can totally see what all the hype was for. Brilliant writing and the acting is excellent. We will certainly be watching all the next few seasons in succession.

In light of these compliments of the show I do have one main complaint:

Nina being the bad girl at the end - totally unbelievable. I think the producers and writers were trying a bit to hard here to be shocking. I get why they did this, but at what expense? I kind of rolled my eyes a bit when she broke out the German-speak to reveal her true identity. Again, yes, it was shocking, we all were shocked, but I think the show lost a bit of credibility for me in the process.

I did like how his wife died at the end. That last sentence sounded horrible, but you know what I mean. I did not see that one coming either and it was much more believable than Nina being the other mole. That fact that it did not have a happy ending did make me want to tear into season two as soon as possible.

All you 24 freaks... what is your take?

This is Funny

(HT: Miese)

Sincerity

(HT: Brant Hansen)

The Problem of Sex in the Movies

Joe Carter has a very interesting post here called "Initmation vs. Exhibition:
Sex, Cinema, and the the Problem of Perspective". He says:

Since sex is intended to be seen from a first-person perspective, viewing the act from the third-person causes it to lose its power and inherent connection. Sex was designed to be performed rather than observed which is why the most capable artist is unable to overcome the natural limits of perspective.

By combining these two concepts (visual iconography and perspective) we can begin to understand why sexual imagery is inherently ineffective in film. Since sex doesn't elicit a particular emotional response from which we can identify (in the way that images of violence, for instance, can stir up feelings of empathy) we are forced to imagine ourselves in such a situation before we can properly identify with it. But the combination of a specific visual image (the actors) and the third-person perspective keeps us from forming the emotional connection necessary to fully appreciate what is being conveyed.

Ironically, the prudishness of the early era of motion pictures helped to ameliorate this disadvantage. Since the decency standards required sexual acts to be hinted at rather than expressed openly, the viewer was better able to put themselves in the place of the film's characters. The audience had to "fill in the details" in the same way that would be required in less visual forms of art, such as literature. Though the connection was made on the subconscious level, it was still drawn from a first-person perspective allowing the viewer to gain a deeper emotional appreciation and connection with the characters.

Portraying sexual relations is necessary in film because sex is a part of our world and a primary aspect of life. Some of the greatest works of literature (including the Bible) have sex as an important theme. It would therefore be unduly limiting to exclude such motifs from film. For the medium to rise to the level of great art, however, it must learn how to portray sexual relations in a way that is both realistic and relatable. Doing so will require filmmakers to understand how to present sexual imagery in a way that conveys representation rather than just titillation. In order to move forward with their art they would do well to look to the formula from the format's past: more intimation, less exhibition.

Read the whole post, it's really intriguing.

Calvin on the Sociological Implications of Conflict

Click on the picture to see it bigger to read it.

An Interesting Conversation

Michael Spencer has an interesting conversation going on here with Frank Turk. He documents it in this post. Here is my favorite paragraph:

It should be said that a lot of “solid Calvinists” have nothing to say about missions other than to post pictures of William Carey. I could, but won’t, name major reformed pastors who almost exclusively write on the subject of doctrinal discernment, and almost nothing on church planting or missional methodology. Their “method” is to announce theology, and to act as if they don’t have methodological or cultural issues in their own setting. I would suggest that every effective missionary sending agency knows that theology must be put into some kind of church planting expression, and that expression needs to be thought through for effectiveness. I would also suggest that constant discernment-orienting preaching can’t be the front end of new church planting. Perhaps some “solid conservatives” ought to consider that younger SBC pastors don’t see drawing lines between themselves and other Christians as the primary thrust of doing Great Commission church planting in their culture. Yes, it has a place, but a never ending recitation of who differs from us is not the way to build a church. Again, I mention Tim Keller and ask you to note the difference between Keller and many other mainstream reformed leaders.

Read the whole post here.

Multi-Tasking

Here is an interesting article about multi-tasking and teens. I guess I better close the 5 other firefox windows that I have open and get back to preparing for marriage class.

(HT: Spotalicious)

Fernado Ortega - The Shadow of Your Wings

Recently I was given this CD by a friend at church. It's great. Fernado has the voice of an angel and his arrangements are amazing. This recording is predominately piano and strings with a couple different guest vocalists. His lyrical content mainly draws directly from scripture and traditional hymns of the last few hundred years. It is a very chilled out recording, but I find it to be very worshipful and meditative. It's a great way to rumenate on the great truths of scripture through original song and the reworking of old hymns. I would highly recommend it.

You can find it here at amazon.com.

"I Love Jesus!"

Looks like some high school students need to rethink their strategy for evangelism. Though I think the PC implications of this story are wack, it's still probably not the best way to go about sharing the "love" of Jesus with those of different faiths.

Groothuis on Cultural Engagement

Dr. Doug Groothuis is a professor at Denver Seminary in the area of philosophy. He has an interesting blog and I particularly dig him because he is jazz musician as well. He has a good post here dealing with his struggle with cultural engagement in light of the writings of Francais Schaffer.

He says:

But on the night of the Academy Awards, I find myself realizing that I am not much like Schaeffer in one respect: I ignore much of popular culture. I don't attend movies. (Of course, I don't watch television.) I have perhaps seen three movies in the past decade. They repulse me, by and large; and I have better things to do. This was not the case in the 70s and 80s. I would often attend films, try to discern their worldview, reflection on how they were shaping the culture, and try to give a Christian response--just as Schaeffer did. But in the late 1980s something radically changed. North American films became horribly garish and offensive, by and large. My wife and I stopped attending.

It is true that theater culture is diminishing. Miniaturization strikes again. We have "the home theater." Many people watch films on DVDs at home. They subscribe to NetFlicks, and so on. My wife watches very old movies she tapes off of TV. I don't. That's it.

Have I betrayed my mentor, or has culture changed so radically that abstention is better than interaction? I honestly don't know. Sometimes after rereading a Schaeffer book, I want to view a film just to analyze its worldview commitments and understand what many people are exposing themselves to on a regular basis. Then again, I remember all the unread books, the music to listen to, the bike rides to take, and so on.

Rainn Wilson (Dwight) on SNL

If you are a fan of the TV show "The Office" you will love this:

What we can learn from Wilberforce

Since William Wilberforce is pretty popular right now with the release of the movie about his life, I thought I would point you to this interesting article from the The Christian History Institute. It is entitled, "William Wilberforce: The fight against slavery and what we can learn from it". It's an interesting read and concludes with some moving words from Wilberforce that I'll reprint here:

Having now disposed of the first part of this subject, I must speak of the transit of the slaves in the West Indies. This, I confess, in my opinion, is the most wretched part of the whole subject, So much misery condensed in so little room is more then the human imagination had ever before conceived...Let anyone imagine to himself six or seven hundred of these wretches chained two and two, surrounded with every object that is nauseous and disgusting, diseased, and struggling under every kind of wretchedness! How can we bear to think of such a scene as this? One would think it had been determined to heap on them all the varieties of bodily pain, for the purpose of blunting the feelings of mind…when the surgeons tell you the slaves are stowed so close that there is not room to tread among them, and when you have it in evidence from Sir George Younge, that even in a ship which wanted two hundred of her complement the stench was intolerable... What shall we say when we are told that their songs are songs of lamentation upon their departure, which, while they sing, are always in tears, insomuch that one captain (more humane, as I should conceive him, therefore, then the rest) threatened one of the women with a flogging, because the mournfulness of her song was too painful for his feelings? In order, however, not to trust too much to any sort of description, I will call the attention of the House to one species of evidence, which is absolutely infallible. Death, at least, is a sure ground of evidence, and the proportion of deaths will not only confirm, but, if possible, will even aggravate our suspicion of their misery in the transit. It will be found upon an average...not less then twelve and one half per cent perish in the passage. Besides these, the Jamaica report tells you that not less then four and one half per cent die on shore before the day of sale, which is only a week or two from the time of landing. One third more die in the seasoning, and...upon the whole, however, here is a mortality of about fifty per cent, and this among Negroes who are not bought unless quite healthy at first, and unless (as the phrase is with cattle) they are sound in the wind and limb. How, then, can the House refuse its belief to the multiplied testimonies, before the privy council, of the savage treatment of the Negroes in the middle passage? Nay, indeed, what need is there of any evidence? The number of deaths speaks for itself, and makes all such inquiry superfluous. As soon as ever I had arrived thus far in my investigation of the slave-trade, I confess to you, sir, so enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear, that my own mind was completely made up for the abolition. A trade founded in iniquity, and carried on as this was, must be abolished, let the policy be what it might. Let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest till I had effected its abolition.

Simmons on LeBron

I think I might start talking about sports more on this blog... Just in case you care.

Here is my first post...

Bill Simmons from ESPN.com says this about LeBron:

Here's what I know. I had four conversations with connected NBA people over the weekend that centered around the same themes: LeBron isn't playing nearly as hard as he did last season; it looks like his only goal right now is to get his coach fired; he's regressing as a basketball player (especially his passing skills and his shot selection); he made a huge mistake firing his agent and turning his career over to his buddies back home (all of whom are in over their heads); he was a much bigger problem during the Olympics than anyone realized; he doesn't seem to be enjoying himself anymore; he has an overrated sense of his own worth and his own impact in the sports world (as witnessed by the ESPN interview last week when he answered the "What are your goals?" question with two words: "Global icon"); he's been protected by magazine fluff pieces and buddy-buddy TV interviews for far too long; he doesn't have the same relentless drive to keep dominating everyone like Wade and Kobe have; and basically, we're much closer to LeBron re-enacting the career arc of Martina Hingis, Eric Lindros and Junior Griffey than anyone realizes. This will evolve into THE dominant NBA story of the next two months. You watch.

Sayonara, Senior Pastor

Writing for the Out of Ur blog, David Fitch writes about why we should abandon the "Senior Pastor" model in our churches. His reasons are:

1. Because it doesn't make sense to build a church around a personality.

2. Because there are no supermen(or women).

3. Because isolated pastors can get tunnel vision.

I tend to agree with what he has written here. In most churches, it's an impossible job description and really makes no sense Biblically. (Read this book if you don't agree with that statement)

Read his whole post here.

Review of "Amazing Grace"

ChristianityToday.com reviews Amazing Grace. From the review:

What's particularly interesting about Amazing Grace is that the abolition of slavery is the driving force behind it, yet the movie is more about one man's response to injustice—thus hopefully inspiring reactions of our own. It's an example of how we're called to step out of our comfort zones, even when our words and actions are not easily embraced. It's a well-told cinematic example of a man who used his faith and God-given opportunities to change the world for good.

A Pornified Culture

Tim Challies has a great post on his blog today concerning porn. He cites some remarks from Carl Trueman from the Ref 21 blog which are also very enlightening. It's a good read and Tim raises some important issues for us to think through.

A Conversation about Music and Christians

Andrew Osenga has a very interesting conversation going on over at his blog concerning Christian Music vs. Christians who also happen to express themselves through music.

Andrew is a guitar player for Caedmons Call and also is a great artist in his own right. I had the chance to write with him a couple times when I lived in Nashtucky and found him to be a very thoughtful guy with a genuine love for the Lord.

Here are the two posts - 1 and 2.

You can check out his record on iTunes if you click here.

This is Crazy!

(HT: Timmy B)

Vista

Challies.com reports that the new OS for Windows is not selling well. Duh. Get a Mac people.

John Mayer Summer Tour

John Mayer has just announced his summer tour plans. You HAVE to check him out if he is coming near you. Click here for tour dates.

Has TV replaced Oral Tradition?

American Idol and Lost were just "ok" last night. I was a bit disappointed. I should have known better than to waste 3 hours (with a break for bedtime for the kiddies) in front of the boob tube. Anyway, I'll probably still watch these shows on Wednesday nights, but Dan Edelen convicted me a bit with a great post concerning the media and how it has replaced the valued role of story-telling (the foundation of thousands of years of oral tradition) and mentoring of children. He says,

Imagine a campfire on the plains of Palestine circa 200 AD. A dozen people gather ’round its warmth, trading stories. At one point, the elder of the group stands up and tells of Jesus, His ways, and how those ways became the ways of their people. He talks for an hour, while the younger ones trade questions with him, learning, absorbing. Tomorrow night, the conversation will be similar, but varied enough to take others to a fractionally deeper place than the night before. The faces might be different this night, the main storyteller another of the wise ones, but what lingers in the cooling night air contains the same truth, the same life-giving wisdom.

On some nights, stories surrender to music. But the music doesn’t jar with the oral traditions. No, it reinforces truth, resembling what was taught and told, only in words set to rhythm and melody.

Night after night, this is how it unfolds for those people. This is their entertainment and their revelation.

A few sentences later he says,

Media stole the passed torch. It distracted those who came before us from their primary duty of ensuring the wisdom of the ages survived into the next generation. Whatever that wisdom may have been, that generation preferred the dull gray light of a cathode ray tube, or the voice of a box of transistors, to passing on the only things worth saving.

Read the whole thing here.

Anthony on Accountability

My favorite blogger of the chocolate persuasion (and great instructor at Covenant Seminary) Anthony Bradley has good post on accountability groups. He says:

Whenever I hear of one these "accountability groups" starting up it reminds me of how they will likely be locked into immaturity(milk), legalism, a time for empty penance, and never really arriving at the life-committed, God-made masculine daily formation and validation that men really need to make it. "Not sinning" is not masculine formation.

He makes some great citations from The Journal of Biblical Counseling. This one stood out to me as helpful:

Although the aim of accountability groups is good, the practice is often misguided. Accountability groups often smack of legalism. Failures to trust God are punished through graduated penalties (an increased tithe, buying lunch or coffee for the "partners," or unspoken ostracism from one's peers). As a result, our motives for holiness are warped. Confession in such contexts is relegated to "keep from doing it," making discipleship a duty-driven, rule-keeping journey.

Alternatively, accountability groups can devolved into a kind of confession booth from which we depart absolved from guilt, fearing merely the passing frown of our fellow priest.

I confess my sin; you confess yours. I pat your back. You pat mine. Then we pray. Accountability groups become circles of cheap grace through which we obtain cheap peace from a troubled conscience. This approach to holiness backfires and we begin to take Christless comfort in the confession of sin.

As a result, confession is divorced from repentance, reducing holiness to half-hearted morality. Accountability becomes a man-made mix of moralism and cheap peace.

I have written a bit on this in the past. You can check it out here.

Falling out of Repentance

Gary Thomas says in, Sacred Marriage:

Couples don't fall out of love so much as they fall out of repentance. Sin, wrong attitudes, and personal failures that are not dealt with slowly erode the relationship, assaulting and eventually erasing the once lofty promises made in the throes of an earlier (and less polluted) passion.

A few sentences later he says:

Use the revelation of your sin as a means to grow in the foundational Christan virtue of humility, leading you to a confession and renouncement. Then go the next step and adopt the positive virtue that corresponds to the sin you are renouncing. If you've used women in the past, practice serving your wife. If you've been quick to ridicule your husband, practice giving him encouragement and praise.

(From page 101)

TV Tonight

Ok, I am just going to admit it. Call me a flesh loving pagan if you want, but I confess that I am very excited to watch two hours of American Idol tonight, followed by a rousing hour of Lost.

I have three (four really) TV shows:

1. Lost
2. The Office
3. American Idol (when it gets down to this part of the season)
4. 24, season one, on DVD

Speaking of American Idol, I heard that one of the dudes sang a MuteMath song last night. Wild.

Infanticide and Jesus

Russell Moore reports:

In a truly stomach-turning report, CNN notes that a bag containing the skeletal remains of at least six babies was found on the grounds of a Christian missionary hospital in India. CNN notes that the bones could be from stillborn babies who were not buried properly, or they could be the remains of sex-selection feticides or infanticides.

This is hardly an Indian-specific problem. Would that we could blame such things on a "backward" civilization bereft of "progress" and "Enlightenment." India is a rapidly industrializing country, a nuclear power with a cultural heritage and a Hollywood commerce that is surpassed only by our own. In the United States of America, the only reason we so rarely find such bones is not because of our moral "progress." It is instead because our abortuaries have the technical "progress" to grind the babies to more unrecognizable bits. There should be a sadness here. We don't know the sexes of these babies, and we certainly don't know their names. There are no birth certificates or death certificates, no identifiable next of kin, no gravestone.

They were never named, and were disposed of with a cruel efficiency.

But Jesus knows their names. And one day He will call them, by name, from a grave and welcome them, not as medical waste, but as beloved sons and daughters. He will also remind a vicious and progressive humanity, one by one, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matt 25:40 KJV).

So, then again, I suppose, in one very important respect, we do know the name of each baby found in this bag, and each baby left unfound, in garbage receptacles all over the globe. And the name is Jesus.

Steve Gadd Lays it Down

This is the essence of good drumming. Steve's groove here is so deep, it's unreal. This is good music.

Guitar Genius

This guy is really good. Check him out.

Love That Lasts

In preparation for our marriage class one of the best books I have found is Gary and Betsy Ricucci's book, Love That Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace. It's short and sweet, but packed with Bible, the gospel, and practical ways to enrich your marriage. I would consider it a "must-read" for any married folks, especially those in the first years of marriage.

Free Pancakes!

Relevant Mag Blog reports:

Want some free pancakes? Today IHOP is celebrating "National Pancake Day" by giving away a free short stack (that's three) of buttermilk pancakes to vistors from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The only thing they're asking is that you consider making a donation to Children's Miracle Network. Last year, they raised more than $340,000; so go eat some pancakes and give some money to a good cause.

For what it's worth here is my ranking for places to get breakfast food (from best to worst):

1. Pancake Pantry (Nashville joint, unreal good)
2. Cracker Barrel
3. IHOP/Village Inn (they tie since they are virtually the same)
4. Waffle House (barf)

The Deep Joy of Jazz

Bill Edgar writes:

May we dare suggest that the gospel itself is a kind of improvisation? For what is the good news, if not God’s wise, loving plan to redeem the human race by facing the daunting obstacles of sin and evil, and turning them upside down. It is God’s own willingness to be oppressed in order that He could re-emerge as Savior. By becoming man, and being humbled, Jesus Christ improvised. He took the givens, and worked with them, and made them work for Him. He “trumped” evil and caused death itself to die. Jazz music, at its best, is the expression of a people who know this truth. So you gotta love it.

Read his whole article here from ByFaithonline.com.

Sit in a Burned-Out Forest

James 3:3-6 says:

If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

From the book Intimate Allies, the authors say this in reference to the passage above.

The metaphors James uses give simple, yet horribly difficult advice. In a word, he says "Stop it." We need to treat our tongue as a runaway horse or a rudderless ship: We need to rein in the horse or put a rudder in the ship.

James does not give us any techniques by which to stop our tongues. Instead, he asks us to develop a sense of horror over the damage that we do. He asks us to sit in a burned-out forest, seeing the death and destruction that one small match can bring and see that same destructive power in the words we use. Coming face-to-face with that destruction leaves us in a position either to struggle to heal or to join the Author of Chaos.

The Colts Praying

Here is a cool pic. I know that many sports teams pray together, (maybe as a kind of superstitious, "good-luck charm") but knowing what we know about Tony Dungy's faith, I think this photo can be meaningful. Click on the image if you want to see an enlarged version.

While on this topic, you can click here to read Anthony Bradley's commentary on the Super Bowl from the perspective of moral character of the coaches, as opposed to the color of their skin. . It's a good read.

Communication in Marriage

My wife and I are in week three of a class we are teaching for married couples in their 20's. Tomorrow night's topic is "communication". Big topic, I know. Any of your married people out there have any thoughts on what you would be essentials for good communication between husband and wife?

The Bible speaks a ton about communication and as creatures created in the image of God, we communicate because God is a communicating God. Since this is an essential part of our nature as humans it seems that we must pay a great deal of attention to it in our communities of which marriage is the most intimate.

Let me know if you have thoughts on what it means to have good communication in marriage.

Ben speaks about Rob

Ben Witherington has a good review of Rob Bell's book "Velvet Elvis". I think this is fair treatment of Rob's work. He doesn't touch on everything that was a problem for me, but he does highlight some very good things about the book and brings up a couple points of concern.

"Me" Worship

(HT: ThinkChristian.net)

Broussard on Amaechi

Chris Broussard, writing for an ESPN.com blog has a pretty insightful commentary on the whole John Amaechi "coming out" story. For those of you who have not heard, John Amaechi is a former stand out player for the Penn State basketball team and 4 year player in the NBA. He is one of a very small number of professional athletes from a major franchise to publicly affirm his homosexuality.

Broussard says,

For the record, I covered Amaechi as a beat writer for the Akron Beacon Journal when he was a rookie playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I like John. He's intelligent, nice and you can have a good conversation with him. I haven't seen him in several years but if I saw him today, I'd smile and give him a hug. I think dinner with him would be a blast, with lots of great discussion/debate about race, politics, religion, Africa and yes, sexuality.

Since Amaechi came out, I've read lots of columns about being "progressive." The implication -- or outright assertion -- is that anyone who believes homosexuality is wrong is not progressive or enlightened.

That's where this thing becomes problematic, because those who hold to that view are saying I must change my entire belief system/religion because of your belief system.

Where's the diversity in that?

Those folks don't want diversity. They want everyone to agree with their "enlightened" opinion.

(HT: Spotalicious, Lew)

Movies and Church

"What has happened in the wake of The Passion of the Christ? Has the Church just become an easy whore for Babylon West?"

Greg from ThinkChristian.net has an interesting post here entitled, "Ethics, Hollywood and the Church: Who Cares?"

Comments on Tim's Comments

iMonk chimes in on the firestorm surrounding Tim Hardaway's comments a few days ago. He says,

Everything about Jesus is the opposite of Hardaway’s comments, right down to “I don’t want them in my locker room,” or table, or house, or wherever sexual sinners are to be found in your world. Associating with Jesus, but finding some way to cozy up to Hardaway’s disapproval of homosexuality doesn’t amount to a statement of your strong disapproval of sexual sin. It reveals your profound disconnection and ignorance of what Jesus was all about.

Trueman on generalizations of postmodernism

Carl Trueman with some great reflections on the notion of postmodernity. He says:

1. Again I’m told that postmodernism has rejected the optimistic belief in human reason and progress that characterized modernity. Questions that come to mind: If `moderns’ had so much confidence in reason, how does one explain great chunks of the literary canon of modernity: the plays of Ibsen and Strindberg; the novels of Joseph Conrad; also, the accounts of poverty and slavery etc one finds in the nineteenth and early twentieth century – how many poor and oppressed people were optimistic about human reason? And the effects of industrialization were criticized virtually from the start (Engels, Carlyle etc).
2. Again I’m told of the crisis in confidence in science. Questions that come to mind: how come Richard Dawkins’ latest book is such a runaway bestseller? Why are medical dramas so popular on television? Science seems pretty marketable, considering that nobody's meant to trust it any more. Why is it that so many conditions in the past that were put down to character traits or defects are now medicated, controlled by the scientific paradigm? And isn’t it odd to pen yet another tirade against science on a word processor (not to mention using the systems of mass transport and marketing to sell it)? Isn't that rather like those ads by tobacco companies warning of the evils of – ummm – tobacco?
3. Again, I find a middle aged bloke (a bit like me) telling me about youth culture and what young people will and will not believe. Well, first of all, young people certainly won’t believe anything a middle aged bloke tells them (and that’s not changed in the last 3 or 4 millennia if the laws of the Old Testament are anything to go by). Second, the concept of `youth culture’ is so often blithely trotted out without any socio-economic criticism being offered. I wonder, if `youth culture’ was not so economically important in the way consumer society is structured, would we have heard of the concept? If ferret-breeders accounted for significant chunks of GDP, would we not rather be reading primers on how to reach the ferret breeding community rather than `yoofs’? It's mischievous to think of it this way, but one student did suggest to me recently that postmodern evangelical theology is pretty much all written by such middle aged blokes and so perhaps is representative as much of mid-life crisis as anything.
4. Again, I’m told that stories, not propositions, are what make people tick today. Yet stories have surely been the dominant medium of cultural communication throughout the ages, from Homer through Robin Hood to Shakespeare to Friends. And any member of the youth culture who wants to get a credit card or loan to buy a laptop to surf the postmodern web, moan about modernity and blog his story, had better understand propositions or the bank manager isn’t going to play ball.

On Faith - Topic today - Sex

Al Mohler has been interacting in a Christian and non-Christian on-line discussion called "On Faith". The topic he is discussing today is sex. Read his general comments and then read comments from readers below. It's quite the diverse commentary and will help us understand the common assumptions about sex from non-believers.

Church Architecture

(I have no idea why this font is so huge... It won't let me change it. Weird)

This is Hallgrímskirkja. It's an amazing church in Iceland. ThinkChristian.net has some great commentary on the related issues of church architecture. I couldn't agree more with these sentiments:

I’ll confess that viewing the magnificent churches and cathedrals of Europe sometimes make me wonder uncomfortably about the wealth that went into their creation. But there’s something to be said about gathering to worship in a place of such stunning architectural beauty—and I find myself wishing that a stronger aesthetic streak ran in American Protestant circles.

Please, please, please! Why can't new American churches look cool again like they used to? Are we too impatient? My hunch would be that this plays into the appearance of our church buildings more than anything.

Interesting New Book

The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On
From Amazon.com:

New York Daily News columnist and blogger Dawn Eden offers a Christian apologetic for premarital chastity, aimed at "marriage-minded single women who'd had enough of the Sex and the City lifestyle." Eden herself is a convert to both Christianity and chastity, and now an unmarried 30-something, she's persuaded that chastity is more "hope-filled" and "vibrant" than sex outside of marriage. She draws on John Paul II's theology of the body to explain why Christians should reserve sex for marriage; "our bodies are living metaphors of God's loving nature," she argues, and to have sex casually is to make a false promise of total commitment. Eden doesn't just theologize—she gives practical advice about how women should relate to their parents (if yours are divorced, as Eden's are, you should resist the temptation to blame them for bad sexual choices you've made) and masturbation (avoid it—you'll just feel lonely afterward). But trading on familiar (and tired) gender stereotypes, she notes that men lose interest in women who pursue them. In a sea of evangelical books on chastity that read like they were written for college students, Eden's will stand out as a book for grownups and should be popular with more mature Christian women.

"Lost" Fans Have To Check This Out

This scene is played backwards. Wild. This show is so deep, it freaks me out.

Blogger Ethics

From Dan Edelen's post today:

So I was thinking, what if we consider a better response the next time we want to drop explosive missives just to teach some minor heretic bloggers a point or two about a divisive issue (that hasn’t been resolved in 2,000 of Church history by holier people than us). Instead of leaving a steaming, radioactive crater in their comment sections, we could e-mail them and request three specific needs in their lives we could pray for.

I suspect that if we all did this for four months, not only would the Godblogosphere be a much healthier place, our own souls might grow as well. Who knows what precious truth might come out of the experience?

Intimate Allies

In my preparation for the marriage class my wife and I are teaching I have been diving into a book called "Intimate Allies" by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman. Thus far I have been very impressed with it. I would highly recommend it for all married couples seeking to glorify God with their lives together.

J.I. Packer (who seems to read every Christian book ever written) says of it, "In the midst of confusion and clamor about marriage, this book is something of a landmark". (From the back cover)

Happy Valentines Day

(HT: Timmy B)

Baptism - The Way It Should Be Done

We had a baptism service at our church on Sunday night. It is always a very moving and precious time to see believers embrace the physical symbol of our union with Christ. I just wish that our baptism services had more of this type of behavior:

Toby Mac - New Record

Toby Mac has a new CD coming out on the 20th of this month. I can tell you from first hand experience that Toby is one of the best in Christian music today in terms of his passion for Christ and his creativity. You can go to his myspace page to check out a couple new songs from the record.

Sobering Stats from Scooter

• Churches all across America are struggling. Approximately four out of five are at a plateau or declining.
• The number of people who have any kind of churched experience is declining (churched: meaning have attended a church within 6 months). Gallop said only 40 percent of Americans are churched. Another study said only 20 percent are churched and a more recent study by David Olson said in 2003 only 17.8 percent are churched.
• 72 percent of people born from 1964-1981 are not involved in a Christian community.
• The new upcoming generation is the most widely unchurched demographic in our nations history.
• According to Barna the following is the percentage of people who are churched or have a churched experience:
• Builders – born pre-1946 – 51 percent
• Boomers – born 1946-1964 – 51 percent
• Busters – born 1965-1979 – 34 percent
• Bridgers – born 1977-1994 – 29 percent
• As low as 8 percent of those under the age of 24 attend a church.
• 75-88 percent of students going through youth ministry now, will check out of church during their freshmen year of college.
• The Mormon church has tripled its population since 1965. Then it had 1,789,175 members and now it has 5,113,409.
• More Muslims attend a mosque in England than Anglicans attend a church.

Read the whole post here.

V-Day Ideas

Money saving tips for a fun Valentines Day. Read about it here.

Review of "Listening to the Beliefs of the Emerging Church"

Tall Skinny Kiwi reviews this new book. It's a interesting review. I am adding the book to my list!

Police Reunion

This is cool.

A New "Moral" Crusade

Al Mohler has an alarming piece today from his blog where he quotes at length from Theo Hobson concerning the nature of the debate about homosexuality in our culture. He says,

It is refreshing to see Hobson point to the "either/or" character of this controversy. He is precisely right -- there is no middle ground -- no third way. Homosexuality will be seen as either normal or sinful. Everything hinges on that assessment. If it is accepted as normal, those who consider it sinful will be seen as repressive, hateful, and dangerous to the good of society. This, he argues, is where the church now stands.

Hobson's depiction of this moral transformation in the society is chilling, but seemingly impossible to refute. The trends seem all too clear. Can we argue that traditionalist sexual morality is not losing the moral high ground in the larger culture?

The most interesting section of Hobson's article is his explanation that the shift on homosexuality in the culture is "taking the form of a moral crusade," so that those who were once seen as upholding the high moral position are now seen as immoral, with the reverse also true -- those just recently seen as engaged in sexual immorality are seen as morally superior to those who believe homosexuality to be sinful.

As Hobson explains, this seems to represent "the church's perfect storm." In his words: "So the issue of homosexuality has the strange power to turn the moral tables. The traditional moralist is subject to accusations of immorality. And this inversion is doing terrible damage to the Christian churches."

To me, (and I could be wrong here) I feel as though this might be a bit of an alarmist view of the issue. Just based on pure biology and sociology, could our culture get to the point where homosexuality is so embraced that it would get to the point that he describes above? Maybe so, but at that point I believe the civilization of the United States as we know it today would completely crumble. This is simply because it takes a man and woman to reproduce. This reproduction sustains a civilization over the course of centuries. From a raw practical sense, if homosexuality comes to dominate our culture, our culture will cease to exist. Some historical theorists claim this embracing of a different sexuality contributed to the fall of the Roman empire. If they are right, there is nothing that says it couldn't happen here, but from my point of view it seems that humans have an innate desire to be self sustaining. But perhaps sin runs deeper than this desire. Time will only tell.

Michael Williams on Foreknowledge

Surely there’s a different between God’s determining of the future and his knowing it isn’t there? No. There is not. Biblically there is no difference. In fact, merely knowing the future at least from a theological point of view is irrelevant. When scripture affirms that God knows what the future will be it means nothing less than He has decided, ordered, and ordained the future. God’s knowledge of the future, means that the future is sure. If that weren’t the case, that he knows the future in the sense that it’s sure, no one would care if God knew the future or not. Does that make sense? I know I am kind of arguing with the Arminian tradition here but that tradition will affirm just at strongly as I will that God knows the future. Ok, why do you care if it’s not that he secures the future, that he promises the future? It really doesn’t matter if God knows it or not. So I agree with Pinnock that God’s knowing the future makes the future absolutely certain.

-Dr. Michael Williams, Professor, Covenant Theological Seminary
From his lecture #16 of the class, God and His Word

Prince and The Foo

I a recent blogpost about Prince's halftime show of the Super Bowl, I was rather perplexed as to why he covered a Foo Fighters song. Here is a potential answer, or at least more info on the situation. I think the answer lies in the fact that Prince is just plain weird.

The Secret

"It is you just placing your order with The Universe. It's really that easy."

How you heard about The Secret? You can read about it from Oprah's website here. An excerpt:

People around the world have been talking about a movie so powerful that it can change the course of your life. This movie, The Secret, was created by Australian Rhonda Byrne, and she says that if you follow its philosophy, you can create the life you want—whether that means getting out of debt, finding a more fulfilling job or even falling in love.

You can then watch the trailer for the movie here:


My take:
This is health and wealth gospel for unbelievers along with classic pantheism (drawing no real lines between the creation - in this case "The universe" - and the Creator) and secular hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence). It's probably helpful for the Church to be aware philosophies like this that are permeating our culture through huge mediums of communication like Oprah. This framework of thinking is extremely destructive as it does not touch on people's real needs, i.e., spiritual ones and is simply a symptom of our culture of instant gratification and ease. Good ole' fashion idolatry here folks; exchanging the creation for the Creator.

Another huge problem with this is that it assumes that our desires are good. Here is the problem: What if someone is a pedophile and what they want to "claim" is a little girl under the age of ten to have sex with? How does that fit in with The Universe's power and desire to give me what I want? At least Christian "name it and claim it" thinking has some very loose Biblical boundaries. What boundaries does the The Universe have and who decides what they are?

Another huge problem: Can you imagine trying to apply this philosophy to someone who is suffering horrible atrocities in the Sudan? Unthinkable. Any theology or system of philosophy that does not deal with the problem of suffering is to be seen with suspicion from the outset as suffering is universal to our human condition.

Finally, you can be sure that the creators of this system are going to make a truck load of money preying upon the idolatry of our culture. Notice the clever marketing of calling it "The Secret". Who doesn't want to be in on a secret? Does this sound familiar?
2 Tim 3:1-7 -

3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

Piper on TV Watching

This is great stuff. Please watch it. Oh how we need to be reminded of these truths...

Lewis on Progress

"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive"

-C.S. Lewis

Carl on Coolness, Culture and the Spiritual Oedipus Syndrome

The more I read from Carl Trueman the more I like him. Writing here for Reformation 21, he says,

D A Carson comments in The Gagging of God that much of the trendy theology which characterized the neo-evangelicalism of the eighties and nineties had more than a whiff of the kind of rebellion exhibited by spoiled children whose immature self-image depends on their vocal repudiation of everything which their parents held dear. What is theologically true of the trendy evangelical left seems to be practically true of the trendy Reformed right. Here, legitimate criticism of a legalistic pietism too frequently degenerates into illegitimate rubbishing of appropriate piety. Thus, the F-bomb and other casual obscenities and profanities have become for some the trendy hallmarks of mature Christianity. Strange to tell, talking like sexually insecure thirteen years olds has become the way we Christians show how grown up we are. We embrace what the older generation rejected in order to show that we have come of age and to show the world that, hey, we’re not as weird as we used to be; we can be as rough ‘n’ tumble, as hip, savvy, cool and gritty as the rest.

Yet there are several problems with this. First, Christianity just isn’t cool, savvy or hip. As my sons repeatedly tell me, `Dad, you’re a balding middle aged guy; you listen to rock dinosaurs from the land that time forgot; you still call male hairdressers “barbers;” and you’re a member of the OPC; you can never, ever be cool; and the more you try to be so, the more embarrassing you become.’ And the same applies to evangelical Christianity – evangelicalism just isn’t cool or hip or avant-garde, and attempts to make it appear so, whether theologically or culturally, always end up as self-defeating, rather sad and pitiful. It doesn’t matter whether you sport a ponytail, spout postmodern gobbledygook, wear a Kurt Cobain teeshirt, or have a strong opinion on which U2 album is the best – if you’re an evangelical Christian, there’s something ineradicably uncool about you. Anyone out there remember `The Rock Gospel Show’ from the mid-eighties? I rest my case.

Read the whole post, it's pretty good.

Fittest City

Yeah baby! My new hometown of Albucracky, NM is reported as the "fittest" city in the U.S. They moved up 12 spots from #13 last year. The huge increase in rank must be due to the fact that I moved here a few months ago.

I guess that high view of myself doesn't really fit with the remark my sister made to me one crushing day in the late 90's. She looked at me and calmly stated with sinister confidence, "You look like a holocaust surviver".

It was a crushing blow.

Church Marketing Gone Bad

This story is crazy! What were these people thinking? Wild.

(HT: Think Christian)

MuteMath News

Click here for their new web page showcasing their spring tour.

Also (I am very excited about this) click here to pre-order their new live DVD coming out on March 20th.

Christians and Movies

Here is an interesting review of a new book that just came out called "Through a Screen Darkly: Looking Closer at Beauty, Truth, and Evil in the Movies" by Jeffrey Overstreet. Overstreet is a film critic for Christianity Today magazine.

From the review:

Rather than take the typical “Christian film book” route and highlight the obvious films ( The Shawshank Redemption, Braveheart, The Matrix, Star Wars, etc) with spiritual “applicability” (whatever that means), Overstreet takes a more holistic look at cinema itself. He structures his comprehensive discussion by genre, covering happy adventure film (Indiana Jones), bleak art-house cinema, violent westerns (Unforgiven), social justice fare (Born Into Brothels, The Motorcycle Diaries), comedy, horror, fantasy and everything in between. Each section is peppered with tidbits from Overstreet’s many interviews with filmmakers (everyone from Charlie Kaufman to Kevin Smith), as well as quotes from wise authors and thinkers like Frederick Buechner, C.S. Lewis, Shakespeare, Annie Dillard and Flannery O’Connor.

Interesting Duet

This is pretty funny. Poking fun for sure, but still pretty funny. All in good fun I assume.


(HT: The Tractor)

Cure for AIDS?

Iran's president Ahmadinejad is slated to announce that his country has found an herbal cure or AIDS. Interesting... I hope he is right, but I have to admit that I am skeptical. He'll probably broker a deal with the US where he gives us the cure as long as we commit to nuking Israel.

What Are Your Kids Seeing?

Here is a very disturbing story about the number of children being exposed to porn in our society. Churches need to be realistic about these things and confront it with direct honesty and a much more attractive Biblical picture of sex.

Dealing with Growth in Your Church

Scooter with some interesting thoughts on the strategy of multiple sites for big churches. I'm not sure I agree, but I'm also not sure how to deal with the good problem of growth in some of our churches.

More reasons to hate your PC

Relevant Mag Blog reports:

Apple is warning PC users that its iPods could be damaged if they are used with Microsoft's new Vista software. The iPod maker says that until Microsoft comes up with a compatible version of the program, don't mix the two. Microsoft claims to have people working on a solution to the problem

"Lost" in the classroom

For all you dorks (like me) who are addicted to LOST, you can now take a class on the show from Tufts University. Read about it here.

(HT: Relevant Mag)

Dungy Quote

"I'm proud to be the first African-American coach to win this," said Dungy during the trophy ceremony Sunday night, according to the Associated Press. "But again, more than anything, Lovie Smith and I are not only African-American but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord's way. We're more proud of that.

- Tony Dungy after winning the Super Bowl.

Fun in Worship?

Bob Kauflin writes wisely on the issue of "fun" in worship. He says,

Should worship be fun? If we take the exhaustive testimony of Scripture, the answer would have to be a resounding NO. "Fun" doesn't seem to characterize many of the scenes where people encounter God in the Bible. We're told to worship God with reverence and awe, for he is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29). To have "fun" should never be our primary motive as we gather. Our goal is to remember God's greatness, present our petitions before him, and thank him for his abundant mercies in Jesus Christ. Celebration should certainly be included in that, but there are also times when worshipping God can produce awe, tears of repentance, or a profound silence.

and...

If "fun" is defined as a lighthearted activity with no purpose or meaning, strictly meant to amuse, then the answer to "can worship be fun?" must surely be no. When we worship God together, we are not looking to be merely entertained or momentarily distracted from the cares of this world. Diversion is not the same as worship. Our joy and gladness are always grounded in and informed by God's character, nature, and acts.

and...

When my children were growing up, I wanted them to look forward to singing worship songs, and not see a relationship with God as something that was only serious, sober, and solemn. After all, singing to God is meant to be pleasant (Ps. 135:3; Ps. 147:1). David danced before the Lord with all his might as he brought the ark back to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:12-15). The Psalmist was glad when they said to him, "Let us go up to the house of the Lord" (Ps. 122:1). So yes, when defined as enjoyment and not seen as the only aspect of worship, worshipping God can be very "fun." People shouldn't find our meetings dull or dour. Smiles and even laughter should abound as we consider how kind, merciful, and gracious God has been to us (Ps. 126:2)!

But let me rephrase the question one more time, to broaden the application. "Should our fun be worship?" Well now the answer must surely be "yes." We're told in 1 Cor. 10:31 that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we're do do it all for the glory of God. Rather than focusing on making our corporate worship fun, maybe we should spend more time making sure our "fun" is worship.

I Hate Macs

Here comes some hyperbole: This article entitled, "I Hate Macs" is about the dumbest thing I have ever read in print to date. The author says,

PCs are the ramshackle computers of the people. You can build your own from scratch, then customise it into oblivion. Sometimes you have to slap it to make it work properly, just like the Tardis (Doctor Who, incidentally, would definitely use a PC). PCs have charm; Macs ooze pretension. When I sit down to use a Mac, the first thing I think is, "I hate Macs", and then I think, "Why has this rubbish aspirational ornament only got one mouse button?" Losing that second mouse button feels like losing a limb. If the ads were really honest, Webb would be standing there with one arm, struggling to open a packet of peanuts while Mitchell effortlessly tore his apart with both hands. But then, if the ads were really honest, Webb would be dressed in unbelievably po-faced avant-garde clothing with a gigantic glowing apple on his back. And instead of conducting a proper conversation, he would be repeatedly congratulating himself for looking so cool, and banging on about how he was going to use his new laptop to write a novel, without ever getting round to doing it, like a mediocre idiot.

Here is a little experiment for all you PC users who think your computer is better:

1. Find ten PC users
2. Find ten mac users

Then ask them the following questions:

1. How many times did you computer freeze up causing a restart in the last month?
2. Have you ever gotten even the smallest of viruses?
3. How easy is it for you to set up a super fast file sharing network from computer to computer?
4. How much did you spend on video editing software, picture software, and music editing software?
5. How easy is it to search out files on your computer? Do you usually find what you are looking for?
6. Where do you go to get your computer questions answered? Is there even any place that you can go? How was the experience?
7. How long did it take you to find and install all the drivers you needed for things such as your printer, digital camera, sound card, video camera, etc
8. How easy is it for you to make a podcast?
9. Which computer can run Windows and Mac OS on the same computer?
10. How easy is it for you to do video chat?

For no extra charge... How many people do you know that have switched from PC to Mac? How many do you know that have gone the other way around?

Based on the results the evidence will be clear which is superior. It really isn't even worth the discussion.

(HT: Denny Burk)

Reflections on an Evening with Joel

Melton Duncan spent an evening attending the Joel Osteen show that is currently on tour. (It's not really called that). He posts some interesting reflections here. He sums up by saying,

What took place at Osteen’s erstwhile crusade in my city can only be described as the next step in Post Modern Pentecostalism. It is the health and wealth gospel for healthy and wealthy people. If the Christian religion is medicine for souls that are poor and needy than Osteen is a bottle of vitamins in an operating room.

(HT: Challies)

Screwtape on Screen

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is being made into a movie. You can read about it here.

Europe is Getting Islamified

Al Mohler says in his post today,

The sight is disconcerting at best -- beautiful buildings that once housed Christian worship now transformed into bars, restaurants, entertainment clubs . . . and mosques. The cityscapes of Europe are increasingly dotted with church buildings transformed into secular or explicitly non-Christian uses. The abandonment of these buildings is a sign of a much more fundamental abandonment -- the abandonment of Christianity itself.

My hunch is that the exodus of real Christianity happened a long time ago, but it's just take a while for the physical structures to catch up with what had already taken place in the hearts of the majority of people.

More Comments on "Jesus Camp"

Joe Carter says,

Indeed, it makes you wonder about the political judgment of those who are threatened by the people—especially the charming kids—in this film. The main character of the documentary is, after all, a Pentecostal children's pastor who runs a church camp in North Dakota. In case you missed that let me point it out again. A Pentecostal children’s pastor. Who runs a church camp. In North Dakota. If this is the biggest threat to secularism that we can come up with, then I hereby renounce my membership in the Religious Right.

Read his whole post here.

Pachelbel Rant

This is really funny.

Chapell on Biblical Headship in Marriage

"The example the husband sets has eternal consequences. This means headship is more about controlling one's character than controlling one's wife. The man who is more concerned with how his wife should obey him than with how he should obey God fails the kindergarten of Biblical headship".

-Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary
From his book, Each For The Other, p. 78.

Prince at Halftime

Ok, so we all know that Prince is a freak. I say he is a freak on the guitar. He is crazy good and I thought that last night's Super Bowl halftime was one of the best ever. Prince playing the classics in the pouring rain (or what is purple rain?) was pretty cool. Your take?

A few questions:

1. How old is that guy? At our party we were saying that he had to be at least 50, and if that is the case then he has to have had some work done. He looks like he is 25 still.

2. Dude is small, how tall is he? 5'2"?

3. What is up with the Foo Fighters cover? I think the Foo Fighters are one of the best rock bands ever, but it was pretty unexpected and seemed a bit out of place. Where did that one come from?

4. How does all that heavy gear that they use for the halftime show not completely mangle the field, especially when it's raining hard like that?

My comment on the game: Rex needs to put his house on the market. Chi Town ain't down with Rex after that game he played. He completely lived up to all the negative hype. It was tough to watch.

Josh's Preaching

Joshua Harris posts an interesting approach that he has for refining his preaching. His comments are a great example of humility.

Church Super Bowl Parties

Your church better not have a Super Bowl Party. You want to know why? Read here.

Gifted?

16,000 contestants. 8 finalists. 3 judges. 1 winner. GIFTED. On January 26, 2007, on prime-time television, the first season of Gifted is televised to over 49 million households on TBN (95 million total U.S. reach). The 2-hour show hosted by Brian Littrell (formerly of the Backstreet Boys) showcases eight finalists singing some of the most well-known songs in Christian Music in styles ranging from Praise & Worship, Gospel, and CCM. The winner receives a recording contract with EMI Christian Music Group. Anticipation for the show has been enormous as the auditions were held all over the country for the past year in the most influential mega-churches in large markets.

Uh...I know I tend to complain about stuff like this quite a bit, but do we really need another copycat "Christians wanting to be cool like the people on TV" version of something that is working well in secular culture? What is the point? Pagan people must just assume that Christians are not very creative or imaginative. Since they are Christians, notice how they can't have the word "Idol" in the title. What if they called it Christian Idol? That would be awesome.

I'm sorry... I'll try to be more positive in the future...

Scooter on Satan's Limited Power

Scooter has a good post entitled, "Satan’s Reign on Earth" giving some reflections on the class, "Perspectives" that he is taking. Good thoughts and good links.

U2 Flashback

From Relevant Mag Blog:

CCM magazine has posted an article that was originally published back in 1982, when Bono was just 20 years old. The interview is with a young U2, who speak about their faith and how Christianity influences their music for the first time

Kevin

Did you watch The Office last night? It was pretty funny. One of the most awkward (and that's a good thing for this show) episodes yet. Here is a pretty funny interview with "Kevin". Kevin is the drummer for his awesome band, Scrantonicity and is the big likeable guy in the the office.

I.D. vs. Evolution Board Game

Uh....Ok...I'm all about believing that the God of the Bible is the creator of all that is, but this seems a bit over the line. Can you imagine inviting your pagan friends over for dinner and then asking them if they'd like to go for a few rounds of rousing fun with the Intelligent Design vs. Evolution board game!

Come on people!!! Who thinks this stuff up and what Christian in their right mind thinks this is a good idea? I think I need to take a few deep breaths and calm down.

This is just plain insane in the membrane

HT: Scooter

MuteMath New Dates

MuteMath has added 2 months of new dates to their tour schedule for the Spring. Check their myspace page for a show in your area and watch some cool videos too.

Justice for the Unborn

Joe Carter writes well on why he believes a candidate's stance on abortion should be the trump card when considering who gets your vote.

McPhee

Uh... Can someone say white Beyonce Knowles? It's to bad... Completely lack of originality.

Brian Eno and Coldplay

Sounds like Coldplay may be taking a different direction for their next record by enlisting the producing talents of Brian Eno (U2). Check it out here.