Pastor Dan on the theological implications of the Prisoner’s Dilemma:
… the message here is clear: God stands on the side of those who have been sold out time and again by the defectors. He will protect those who cooperate in good faith, and at the right moment, step in to settle the score and [...]
For all those who face a new week with fear, or dread, or hopelessness.
For those who live with illness or pain, physical or emotional.
For the lonely, and anxious, and worried.
For those who must don a veil of cheerfulness, respectfulness, or energy to get through the day.
God, please give us courage.
I’ve never known what to think about Richard Dawkins, except for the fact that he and PZ Myers are objects of profound veneration among the online atheist community. I know I should dig past all that and try to figure out what they’re actually saying and why they’re saying it, but I get enough [...]
Sara Miles on Progressive Revival, reflecting on her experience of voting today:
It’s dangerous to conflate Scripture and politics, but I have to say that something about this lived experience of democracy felt fundamentally Gospel to me today. Here we were, from every tribe and language and people and nation; here we were, with the lowly [...]
If you haven’t yet had a chance to watch the RLP videos on the topic of hell, let me heartily encourage you to do so. The last video in particular was, for me, utter balm on a very sore theological place, and I am eagerly anticipating the concluding video.
No. 1: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3516592055241481504&hl=en
No. 2: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7395269167502764061&hl=en
No. 3: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7813142007572147762&hl=en
This is very nice. The question of God’s vs. human will is always a sticky one, but I like the suggestion that we have responsibilities other than just asking God to fix it all right now, please. From polisigh at Street Prophets, who credits Pam34 at beliefnet.
We Can Not Merely Pray
We cannot merely [...]
It continues to astonish me how people reflexively dart for corners:
The Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon, has urged churches to use hits by bands such as U2 and the Beatles in their services.
In a book backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, he argues that pop music writers can convey deep [...]
… let’s not forget what’s really important, says Paul Raushenbush:
The economic crisis reminds us we are not spiritually or materially alone in this world - and we never were. We have responsibility to and with one another. We must abandon our personal fiefdoms for our communal dwelling place in the kingdom of God. [...]
PeaceBang belts one out of the park:
… we go through life thinking we’re being regarded through critical eyes and that it is for our gaffes that we are likely to earn the most attention and generate the most energy. Meanwhile, God and people who look through the eyes of love are watching us when [...]
… here’s a little twist from Diana Butler Bass over at Progressive Revival:
For most of the twentieth century, American evangelicals and Pentecostals believed that the Anti-Christ would, most likely, come from Russia–as would the army to lead the Anti-Christ’s legions at the Battle of Armageddon. With great regularity, fundamentalist and Pentecostal pastors identified Soviet [...]
