Tag Archives: Barak Obama

Jan 29 2013

this went thru my mind

 

Daily risks, health, life expectancy & situational awareness: That Daily Shower Can Be a Killer by Jared Diamond

“The other morning, I escaped unscathed from a dangerous situation. No, an armed robber didn’t break into my house, nor did I find myself face to face with a mountain lion during my bird walk. What I survived was my daily shower. … This calculation illustrates the biggest single lesson that I’ve learned from 50 years of field work on the island of New Guinea: the importance of being attentive to hazards that carry a low risk each time but are encountered frequently.”

False teaching & heresy: 7 Steps to Becoming a Heretic by Mike Leake

“Heretics usually start by staring in the mirror and saying, ‘Today, thou shalt be a difference maker.’”

God & suffering: How Could a Good God Allow Suffering? [93 min. video link]

“… a Veritas Forum discussion held at MIT in 2011. This presentation features four MIT professors, two Christian and two non-Christian. The forum begins with a ten minute presentation by each person presenting their world view or their story.  The last half of the video is a question answer panel session.”

God & politics: Divine Rhetoric: God In The Inaugural Address by Scott Neuman

“President Obama mentioned him five times in Monday’s inaugural address — God, that is. In modern times, religion has become so intertwined in our political rhetoric that the failure of any president to invoke God in a speech as important as the inaugural could hardly escape notice. … But the inaugural references to a Supreme Being have evolved over time.”

Guests, greeting & welcoming: Making Visitors Feel Welcome (Part 1): The Greeters by Sarah Bowler

“How can we make the people in our church feel welcomed?”

Immigration & injustice: The Truth About Immigrant Detention Facilities by Matthew Soerens

“Last week, I read the following passage in Amos, speaking of God’s judgment on the people (and, in particular, the rulers) of Israel: ‘They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed (Amos 2:6-7). … Because their profits increase the more people that they detain, companies like GEO have a strong incentive to encourage the federal government to detain more people.”

Short-term missions: Musings on Missions and Evangelism: Are Short-Term Missions For Us or Them?

” …  I have begun to change my feelings about who STMs are about.”

Work: God at Work: The Priesthood of Burger-Flippers by Jonathan Storment

“On average, most of us will work 100,000 hours in our lives, the majority of our lives will be spent doing our job. And if the only thing you ever hear from church is about how you should work/serve/volunteer more inside the building, there’s a chance that you might miss out on how important God thinks your job is.”

Dec 17 2012

this went thru my mind

 

Evil, gun control, mental illness & violence: * Violence: The Issue We Must Face by K. Rex Butts; * I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother by Liza Long; * [required reading]; * The Slaughtering of the Innocents—- Again by Ben Witherington

“… I’m angry because violence has in many ways become our way of life.  What I want to know is why are we so violent?  Yet this seems to be a question that people want to evade.”

“I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.”

“I was watching an interview this week after the massacre in Newtown and the inevitable question was asked— ‘What could we do to prevent this from happening again?’ The candid answer given by a former head of various FBI operations was as follows— ‘absolutely nothing unless we are prepared to significantly change our gun laws and also change what we do with the mentally ill’. But even that would not be enough because some mass murderers are not technically deranged, they are simply wicked. There is a difference.”

Ministry, preaching & tragedy: * Tim Keller on the Connecticut School Shooting…Final Thoughts before Preaching Today; * Christmas in Connecticut: Touching the Pain of the World; * President Obama’s Homily in Newtown— 2 Cor. 4.7-18 [required viewing; 18 min. video clip]

“As a minister, of course, I’ve spent countless hours with people who are struggling and wrestling with the biggest question – the WHY question in the face of relentless tragedies and injustices. And like all ministers or any spiritual guides of any sort, I scramble to try to say something to respond and I always come away feeling inadequate and that’s not going to be any different today. But we can’t shrink from the task of responding to that question.”

“Christmas is touching the pain of the world, experiencing it as real…and then choosing to have hope.”

“It is indeed a rare thing to see a President offer a homily on national TV broadcast to the whole nation. Here is the 18 minute eulogy and homily he offered in Newtown …”

Dec 4 2012

this went thru my mind

 

Archaeology: Road Found at Bethsaida from Time of Jesus by Todd Bolen

“We uncovered a paved street from the time of Jesus’s disciples, which runs westward through the residential area from the corner of the Fisherman’s House down toward the Jordan valley. … I tell people that Andrew, Peter and Phillip almost certainly walked on it because they would have had to have gone out of their way to avoid it!”

Grief & mourning: When We Don’t Give a Pause: Javon Belcher and the NFL by Caleb Wilde

“We’re too busy with school to give a pause.  Too busy with work to give a pause.  Too busy with our Facebook feed to give a pause.  Too busy with OUR lives that we forget about the lives of others.”

Hope & hopelessness: Salvation By Port-A-Potty by Wade Hodges

“My favorite scene from the movie Castaway … [is] is the pivotal scene after Tom Hanks’s character has acclimated to life on the island. He’s given up trying escape. He’s tried to kill himself and failed. He has no hope of being rescued. His life has come to a dead end. He’s exhausted all of his options. Then one day he wakes up and finds a surprise on the beach. A piece of a port-a-potty has washed ashore.”

Jesus: 7 Things You May Not Know About Jesus by Frank Viola

“Jesus envelops time. … Jesus sung on the cross. … Jesus’ twelve disciples were teenagers. … Jesus was fragrant when He rose from the dead. … Jesus had a keen sense of humor. Jesus completed and replayed the story of Israel. … Jesus was regarded as a political figure.”

Politics, terrorism & war: Stop Supporting the “War” on Terrorism by Tim Archer

“There is no defined end to this war. … There is no clear definition of who the opponents are. … Christians who believe in just war need to stop supporting the so-called war on terrorism. There is nothing just about it. It’s just war, plain and simple.”

Racism: Racism and American Politics by Roger E. Olson [required reading]

“…  I believe I have detected an underlying current of racism at work in MUCH of the hateful criticism aimed at Obama personally.”

Nov 8 2012

this went thru my mind

 

Bible, inerrancy & inspiration: Inerrancy: I Think Someone Forgot to Tell the Bible by Peter Enns

“‘Inerrancy,’ regardless of how the term is defined, does not capture the Bible’s character complex dynamics. Inerrancy sells the Bible—and God—short.”

Bookstores: United Methodists’ Cokesbury Retail Stores to Close [Translation: the last brick-and-mortar Christian bookstore I enjoy going into that is located anywhere near me and that always has great resources in stock will soon be no more. No, neither Family Christian, Lifeway, or Mardel does it for me. Sigh. Bang the drum slowly.]

“The United Methodist Publishing House plans to close its Cokesbury retail bookstores nationwide … to focus on selling online and through its call center. … From January through April, all 38 standalone retail stores … across the country will close.”

Churches of Christ today, politic & the Republican party: * Have Christians Become Too Identified With a Political Party? [required reading]; * Are Churches of Christ in the U.S. a Red State Movement? [required reading]

* “Have Christians become too identified with a political party?”

* “Three out of four members of Churches of Christ in the U.S. reside in a state that supported Republican Mitt Romney for president.”

Government & politics: Why Christians Should Not All Respond to Government Alike by Dan Bouchelle

“As I read scripture, I see several models of how God’s people can interact with the governments of this world with honor as God’s faithful servants.”

Leadership: Why the Jesus-Model of Leadership is Rejected by Terry Rush

“Only by His grace did enough good friends surround me, that I could hang on to get to see merely a glimpse of the Jesus-style which is ever freeing and always right.”

Presidential election: How Obama Won Re-election [interactive maps]

“Most of the nation shifted to the right in Tuesday’s vote, but not far enough to secure a win for Mitt Romney.”

Small groups: 10 Ways to Keep the Passion In Your Small Group Ministry by Rick Warren

“I have learned passion is the common trait that keeps you pressing on through the hard times and sparking your imagination to dream about risking for God in the good times. Passion can’t be faked; it must be born out of the soul. So where is your passion?”

Overseas travel: 10 Things I Learned While in the Middle East by John Huckins

“Over the past four years I have had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time in the Middle East.  I no longer approach the time as a tourist, but instead seek out relationships and experiences as a listener who has much to learn about the way God is at work in contexts much different than my own.  In that posture, it has been remarkable how much I have learned and begun to integrate into the way I live, love and lead back in my neighborhood.”