Newsflash!!

Sunday Schools Teach Children Creationism

Seriously, is this really news? Next thing you know, Mr. Baker will be leading off with a story that many evangelical churches pray, and at most the church leader (called the "pastor" by the congregation) ends the service with a half-hour speach based on a selected Biblical text. Some parishoners call this speach a "sermon," and it is often followed by an "altar call" or a "benediction" in some churches.

This would be in the running for a Clewie award, but I'm not sure this guy can get a clue. He sure shouldn't be covering religion news if he thinks that teaching creation in Sunday School is news.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 05:03 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I admit that I was outraged when I first heard the story about intentional desecrations of the Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay. I'm not 100% sure why I didn't blog about it, though. Maybe I had a gut instinct that we weren't getting the whole story, maybe I was nervous because I hadn't heard much about the story from other outlets (and it gets a small mention in the Newsweek article. If you blink, you might miss it). But I held off, and I'm glad I did.
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One of the things that I was hoping to gain from this book is an explanation of Lewis' alleged heterodoxy. I've heard him accused of universalism. I've heard that he believed in Purgatory. From reading Mere Christianity, I can tell he was fairly ecumenical. Martindale defends Lewis from the first two charges in this work.
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I need to interject a definition here, because without it many people will miss the point, or assume something that is not the case. It concerns the use of the word "myth" and how it's used and misunderstood.

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Chan Chandler, the pastor of the now-famous East Waynesville Baptist Church, has resigned after a closed-door meeting with the church last night.

"I am resigning with gratitude in my heart for all of you, particularly those of you who love me and my family," Chandler said, adding that the dispute was rooted in his strong feelings about abortion.

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In the next section I want to discuss (though it's chapter 8 in the book), Martindale (and C.S. Lewis) take on the various myths that we have constructed concerning Hell. We don't like to think about Hell. We don't like to talk about it. It's politically incorrect to tell other people that they might be going there (unless you're using profanity). But the fact is that Hell is a reality, and it is a severe, final punishment to all who persist in their rebellion against God. Lewis once said that there are two people in the world: those who say to God, "Thy will be done" and those to whom God says, "Thy will be done." more...

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I'm sure that the Post intended this as a nice story -- everyone knows how much they love Liberty University and Jerry Falwell. But they can't help but be critical of Caner -- he's not politically correct, the way he's supposed to be.
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Head over the The Owner's Manual for this week's edition of The Best of Me Symphony!

This week's theme is Monty Python, so you KNOW I had to get in on it. I entered my old post about my dear friend Nicholas Kristof and his total buy-in to the idea of the God gene -- a proposition that has been roundly refuted by both theologians and competent geneticists.

There is a boat-load of great posts over there -- so go over and check it out!!!

{EDIT} OK, so I forgot to actually put a LINK to the BOMS. So shoot me. At least I remembered a trackback!!

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You are Proverbs.


Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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I was memed a while ago, and haven't responded yet. I'm sure that Songstress thinks I've forgotten, but I haven't.

You have to pick out 5 different things that you could be from the list below. So here goes:
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Posted by: Warren Kelly at 05:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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{This is the first part of the actual review. The introduction can be found here. I plan on at least four parts to this review, because of the nature of the book.}
In the first part of the book, Martindale deal with seven common myths concerning heaven. He shows that these are misconceptions based on a LOT of factors, including an attitude that any physical pleasure is inherantly sinful, so we won't have any fun in heaven. more...

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1 Ambient Irony wins one, loses one, ties one.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 08, 2005 07:15 AM (+S1Ft)

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Obviously, this is about Thom Rainer's newest report on the status of evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Rainer has found, through interviews with local Southern Baptist churches, that while the conservative resurgence has had great success, especially in changing the course of the SBC's seminaries, the expected evangelistic growth has not happened.

The full article is published in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology for Spring 2005, and I got my free copy today. Unfortunately, it's not available on Southern's web site yet, so you can't actually go there and read it -- and I'm not sure about copyright restrictions, or I'd offer to send anyone who wants it a copy. It is a rather revealing look at the Southern Baptist Convention -- and not a very flattering one.
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{NOTE: This is the first part of my blogging review of the book Beyond the Shadowlands: C.S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell by Dr. Wayne Martindale. I received this book through Mind and Media as a gift from the publisher (Crossway), who donated the books for the reviewers.}

This post originally appeared at the old site on 4/10/2005. I am including it here so that the entire review will be on one site.

I am looking forward to this book, just from reading the author's Introduction. This quote will give you an idea why: "Somewhere in the back of my mind, quite unconsciously, Heaven was an extended, boring church service like those I had not yet learned to appreciate on earth -- with this exception: You never got to go home to the roast beef dinner."
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I'm changing the blogroll. Some entries are going to be leaving -- NOT because I don't read the blog anymore, not because I don't like them, but because my blogroll is too darn big. The only blogs that will stay on there are blogs that I read every single day, either through RSS feed or by visiting the site itself.

Some blogs that aren't there may show up. I'm going to TRY to limit myself to ten to twenty blogs that are listed there -- right now, there are 51 blogs in my blogroll.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 03:12 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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BIG thank yous going out to Amy from Prochein Amy for her work on the new graphics for the new site. She sent me a bunch of potential title graphics, and I picked the one you now see at the top of the page.

She's also working on some sidebar graphics that will replace the titles that are there right now -- I'll be getting those up later on. So head over to her blog and tell her how much these new graphics rock!

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I've been given some GREAT looking graphics for use on the site. I'm going to start testing them out tomorrow. I was GOING to do it tonight, but I have a boatload of reading to do for Friday.

Regular blogging will begin here this weekend, once I'm done my finals. Mark study, the ecumenical councils study, and more. So stick around! It will be worth it -- promise.

{edit} I'm trying to decide whether to move the archives over or leave them at the old site. There are some posts I will move regardless -- the Mark study and the councils of the church posts for starters, plus a few of the old ones. There are some that I'd sooner forget ....

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