But I saw this and kept it 😉
Blogging Events
lunes linkage – 1/12/2015
From the Acton Institute Power Blog -
Persecution Of Christians: Will It Get Worse?
Even Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence. The 2015 World Watch List reveals that a staggering number of Christians are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith. They are being forced to be more secretive about their faith.
~~~
SWEDEN: Surging Scandinavian Rape Wave Attributed to Who?
According to 1onews.com, “A woman’s chance of being raped in Sweden during her lifetime is about one in four which is about the same as the chance of being raped in a war torn country such as Syria or Iraq. When it comes to rape, Islamized Sweden is already in a state of war. Sweden does not publish statistics on immigrant crime. If we want a clue about who is committing these tens of thousands of rapes and other types of sexual assaults, we can look at to another Scandinavian country, Sweden’s neighbor Norway. In Norway nearly 100 percent of all Oslo attack-rapes (where the attacker and the victim did not know each other) in the last five years were committed by immigrants from “non-Western” countries. In the Norwegian city of Stavanger, 90 percent of rapes are committed by “immigrants.”
~~~
Girl Meets God in the Classroom, Part 1
I had used Lauren Winner’s Girl Meets God once before in class, an honors freshman colloquium on the theme of metamorphosis of body, heart, mind, and spirit. On the first or second day of discussing the book, comments made by a few students surprised, stunned, and, ultimately, silenced me.
“I wasn’t raised with any religion,” one student said, “so I can’t relate at all to this book.” A couple other students agreed.
And Part 2:
This one.
Dear Mom and Dad (and whomever else I made a hypocrite in the eyes of God), the letter-essay begins.
I suppose all the baptismal water has evaporated out of my pores by now. Every inch of my body must scream sin to you. I wonder what happened. When did I make you feel that you failed as a disciple of Christ? I am sorry that I made it impossible to keep the promises you made twenty years ago while I was crying in your arms in a gown of white. I feel guilty knowing that even though you believe in the existence of heaven, you do not have the reassurance that you will meet me there one day. I am sorry I do not believe in what you do.
~~~
- Observation – what does it say?
- Interpretation – what does it mean?
- Application – how do I need to change?
I'll be referring to this often, I think.
~~~
I feel exactly this way about a "Christian book" that I'm reading.
Wordless Wednesday
Lunes Linkage – January 5, 2015
"Change Your Thinking on the Role of Government"will make you think - it made me think again.
The media is completely missing the most important point of the Eric Garner story. A precious life was ended and the entire City of NY is in disarray because of overreach of government. The problem here is that there was a law against selling a single cigarette. Why? The law was passed because taxes would not be collected on that cigarette transaction. The police are therefore overburdened and over-empowered. They can’t possibly be operating on a “right v. wrong” mindset. There was nothing immoral about what Mr. Garner was doing; he was simply not complying with man’s law to control – or enslave – its citizens.
~~~
Seriously.
~~~
“Black lives matter.” “All lives matter.” These slogans may forever summarize the deeptensions in American life in 2014. Catalyzed by the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and two New York Police officers who were murdered while sitting in a police car, Americans are in the midst of a crisis of human dignity. Are we still able to articulate why anyone’s life matters? We can loudly protest that “Black lives matter” but it will mean nothing in the long run if we cannot explain why black lives matter.
(...)
Black lives matter not simply because they are black but because blacks are persons—persons who are a necessary variable to the flourishing of others so that we all may attain the end for which we were created.
~~~
Gay Weddings and the Shopkeeper's Dillema -
One option for pro-marriage business owners: obey the law and serve gay weddings, but make it known publicly that you believe that the law forcing you to do this is unjust, needs to be changed, and is obeyed only out of your respect for law and the democratic process.
But the small, mom-and-pop shops have always been something more than a means for their proprietors to escape poverty and participate in the American Dream. They have also been family businesses, employing aunts, uncles, in-laws, and older children. Thus, they have generally reflected the attitudes, values, faith, and hopes of a small, tightly knit family group within an intimate work setting.
~~~
and in the "I need to go shopping" category...
Ten Best Houseplants for Cleaning the Air...
And the larger, NASA version...
Relaunch!
Life has been busy and this blog has (again) gone quiet. But MzEllen has been a great way for me to work out a few things, share a few things, vent about a few things.
I live with a new husband, live in a new state, go to a new church, hang out in new places. These are all good changes and I want to - I don't know - write, for one thing. I like to write.
I do keep track of politics, so that will show up here, but from a conservative Christian view (some might criticize putting "conservative" first, but "Christian" is the descriptor, "conservative" modifies.)
I'm not an authority on pretty much anything, but I know a little bit about lots of stuff! So if I can get anybody to think about some of the things, that's good.
So, as of the January 1, consider it sort of a "relaunch"
On My Kindle App
I think I need to reduce "Currently Reading" (which means finishing a Christian book and a secular book quickly 😉
Currently Reading:
- Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (Francis Beckwith and Greg Koukl)
- The Days of Noah (Fiction, Mark Goodwin)
- A High View of Scripture (Craig D. Allert)
- After the Event (Fiction, T.A. Williams)
- Seven Days that divide the World (John C. Lennox)
- Citizen Soldiers (History, Stephen E. Ambrose)
- The Dangers of a Shallow Faith (A.W. Tozer)
- The Sacrifice Game (Fiction, Brian D'Amato
Reading With a Group:
- On Christian Doctrine (Augustine)
Finished and waiting to Review:
- The Lost World of Genesis One (John H. Walton)
- The Splendour Falls (Fiction, not reviewing)
- 47 Ronin
- Everyday Prayers (Scotty Smith)
Bonhoeffer: A Biography(Eric Metaxas) - review scheduled- God and the Gay Christian: A Response to Matthew Vines
- The Formation of the Canon of the New Testament (B.B.Warfield)
Devotional On Deck (I don't use all of these all the time, sooo...just that.)
- Lifting Up Our Hearts
- Milk and Honey
- New Morning Mercies (Paul David Tripp)
- Joy: A Godly Woman's Adornment (Lydia Brownback)
- Praying for your Husband from Head to Toe (Sharon Jaynes - this might be moved from "Devotionals" since it's not set up very well)
- Couples of the Bible (Robert and Bobbie Wolgemuth)
- Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars (Stephen Miller)
- Keeping the Ten Commandments (J.I. Packer)
Coming up Soon:
- Biblical Inerrancy: the Historical Evidence
- My Battle Against Hitler
- Ten Myths About Calvinism
Working through a study
- The Good News We Almost Forgot (dropped part way through, will pick up again)
- Taking God at His Word (ditto)
- New Testament Documents, Are They Reliable? (For a study
- Jesus and the Eye Witnesses
Fit Friday – 1/2/15
My allergies might be out of control...or I have a continual respiratory infection (but I've done the antibiotic run) - so after this weekend it's back to hard core diet stuff.
There are many facets to health and fitness, some are spiritual. Is Christ honored in my body? Keep that in the front of my mind...
This recipe wins out as a favorite - easy, healthy and (except for the rice) pretty paleo. (This is a photo I took myself, no staging, etc. So this is what "my version" looked like.)
* Exported from MasterCook *
LIGHTER ORANGE CHICKEN
Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts -- pounded to 3/4 inch thickness and cut into bite sized pieces + salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar -- (may sub white vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon cornstarch -- mixed with 1 T water and whisked until dissolved
1/4 cup green onion -- sliced
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
3 cups cooked white rice
Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Spray a large pan or non stick skillet generously with cooking spray. Cook chicken 5-6 minutes, stirring through out for even cooking, until cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken to a paper-towel lined bowl. Drain and wipe out the pan.
In a medium bowl whisk together orange juice and zest, honey, vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flacked, and garlic. Add mixture to pan and bring to a slight boil. Add water-corn starch mixture and stir until thickened. Add chicken and stir to coat.
Serve chicken with cooked rice and garnish with optional sesame seeds and green onions if desired.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 471 Calories; 4g Fat (7.4% calories from fat); 46g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 103mg Cholesterol; 892mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain(Starch); 5 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 0 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.
Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
lunes linkage – 4/28/2014
It's been a couple of weeks (TWO trips to California - one northern, one southern)
From Good Friday - Ordinary Pastor -
How would you like to be a liberal “preacher” tomorrow? Some of these guys will moralize, emotionalize, sensationalize, or trivialize the work of Christ. They gloss over the wrath, sacrifice, blood, sin and guilt. Instead the focus is on us and the hopefulness of humanity.
~~~
Well, here's one of my own! I highlighted this in my Kindle book, "Fierce Women."
“It was as if they were not making marriage, but being made by it, and, while it held them, time and their lives flowed over them, like swift water over stones, rubbing them together, grinding off their edges, making them fit together, fit to be together, in the only way that fragments can be rejoined.” —WENDELL BARRY1
~~~
This is timely for me, from Resurgence
Jesus has been building his church, is building his church, and will continue to build his church (Matt. 16:18) until he returns in glory to redeem his bride. And absolutely nothing and no one can get in his way.
~~~
Why I Will Keep Talking About Biblical Womanhood -
2 excellent takeways:
Because as long as the culture feeds us an image of women that is contrary to God’s word, I will keep talking about biblical womanhood.
and
Because at the end of the day it’s not about biblical womanhood at all. It is about the authority of God’s word. Do we believe it to be true? Do we believe God has really spoken and we can take him at his word? Or do we need a new interpretation or a new vision for a new day?
~~~
Friday I linked to a blog post by Karen Campbell on "Patriarchy on Trial" - which included
At one time I can remember reading articles from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood that were edifying; now their website is a scary place if you are a woman.
Scary.
I read Manhood Marred: Is Male Supremacy Biblical?
Unfortunately, all too many Christian men act or behave in a male chauvinistic fashion. Some would even go so far as to say that the bible speaks to the supremacy of the male gender. This, of course, requires scriptural ignorance or an intentional twisting of biblical manhood from a position of self-sacrificial authority into a mechanism for the diminishing of women and the magnification of men. Frankly, the Lord has not instituted a gender bias. Using scripture to justify a sense of male supremacy is exploiting or confusing position for power.
Is that so scary?
~~~
Long, but useful - Al Mohler's "God and the Gay Christian?"It's a PDF, and it's easier for you all just to read it.~~~Rethinking Spiritual Growth -
For me, the elusiveness of measuring spiritual growth occurs because the focus has always been on the individual Christian in the individual church. It’s a bedrock principle that what we’re measuring is how a lone Christian in a lone Church grows.
But I wonder if we’re getting this all wrong from the first step.
~~~
lunes linkage – 3/31/2014
A mash of links to articles I found interesting:
~~~
Why it is so Easy to Doubt Christianity:
Following my God is not easy. He calls on us to have a holistic faith. He does not want a trivial relationship that fails to get into quite a few wrestling matches. Previously, I said that Christianity is the most falsifiable religion there is. Of course, this does not mean that Christianity is not true. It just means that it exposes itself to the possibility of being wrong, precisely because it is right.
~~~
"A Christian End to My Life"
This post is going to come off so tacky and unsentimental that I think it will bother some people. I’m not insensitive to that, but I can’t get to a larger point without saying something that may seem kind of rude. Make sense? Hope that helps, for those who decide to keep reading.
It worked for me...I've been there and one that; said my share of tacky and rude things...
~~~
Here’s how it works. If you are a Christian then you must daily give yourself to reading the Bible, contemplating it, delighting in it, and studying it (Ps. 1
). Like tea leaves in steeping in the water so too the Christian just steeps in the Word. They are just absorbed with the truth and it begins to seep into every crevice of the soul.
~~~
Having watched, and lived through, a chronic pain, these words sunk in:
Stewarding our pain well can only be done with the future in view. If we merely looked at the present we would grow weary rather quickly. Instead, like so many who have gone before us, we must look to the eternal home, healing, and rest that awaits us with our Lord. It is impossible to steward our pain well on our own and with tunnel vision. We need God to give us an eternal perspective and the hope that Christ will reign victorious over even the most excruciating pain we face.
along with "Ten Things to do During Suffering" (by way of Challies.com)
~~~
Here's a few on the Hobby Lobby/Obamacare.
"On Hobby Lobby, how does the Supreme Court measure up?"
"Babara Boxer Compares Viagra to Birth Control. Wait What?"
"Care that Liberty Cannot Afford"
A link to more links from The Achoress
~~~
"50 Crucial Questions: Slavery and Gender" - since these arguments are also being used to promote gay "marriage," this is worth a read, as are the rest of the 50.
~~~
and the "gay thing"
Fit Friday – what do I owe God?
It's interesting how my mind goes about "weight loss" and fitness.
If my goal is weight loss, it becomes about what my body owes me. If I do the right things, eat the right things, my body owes me weight loss.
But there's a problem with that thinking (with me, anyway) when I also deal with hidden thyroid problems, PCOS, insulin resistance. My body is not for me, it's against me in this goal.
There's a subtle change in my eating and exercise habits when my thoughts shift from what my body owes me (which leads to frustration = temptation => consumption) to what I owe God with my body.
When eating and exercising right becomes about worshiping Christ with the body that He purchased on the cross, it becomes a positive act of worship, rather than an act of deprivation or hardship.
Next week I'm heading to California, where I'll have the opportunity to hike in one of my favorite places. As I hike, for the first time in a while, it will be in my mind that taking care of my health is my reasonable act of worship.