Jesus Creed
Life lessons from Winston. Life lessons from Rick.
Jamie plumbs how a movie shines its light on Christians. Chaplain Mike plumbs spiritual disciplines — very, very good ideas. J.R. Briggs plumbs lessons for young pastors.
That’s what you call a good book review.
Major public spectacles often have a story not told, but Wendy told this one.
Very interesting post by Brandon O’Brien: “Either way, I’m curious to hear what y’all think about celebrity conversions. Any thoughts? Let’s hear them.”
Brett: “In the end, very little knowledge in this world is ironclad. Very little is absolutely proved or exhaustively understood. Vast mystery inheres in every moment of our lives, in all the minutia. But that doesn’t debilitate us; we have faith in the functioning of the world. Faith is inescapable, even if we don’t often recognize it as such.”
Wade Hodges: “The problem with our old church is that we weren’t being exercised. We’re looking for a church where we can work, serve, and maybe even suffer. We want to pay a price for something other than adding a new education wing to our building. We want to put it all on the line and do something crazy for God. We’re tired of being fed. We’ve been fed so much, for so long, that we’ve gotten fat. We’re spiritually obese and we can’t take it anymore. We want to be exercised!”
Now there’s an Eastern protest of the Pope:
Meanderings in the News
1. The Pope’s ten central ideas in biblical theology (and interpretation). [HT: TW]
2. Adam McHugh at WaPo — a very good piece.
3. Beware: “The rituals of college — making new friends, studying until dawn, excessive partying — can stress out any young adult. But students with bipolar disorder, or those at risk for the condition, are even more vulnerable in a college environment. Academic pressures, social concerns, and sleep disruptions can lead to bouts of depression as well as mania, the euphoric, revved-up state characteristic of bipolar disorder. Without the right treatment and support, bipolar college students face higher dropout rates, drug and alcohol abuse, and even suicide.”
4. Where the sea opened — the horse and his rider.
5. Children of divorce…”The effect of divorce on children can be very different, says Bradford Wilcox, director of The National Marriage Project, a research group that examines marriages. Some adult children of divorced parents avoid long-term relationships and marriages, while others become determined to make their own marriage last.”
6. Ed Rollins is right: ” The oldest rule in politics is to control your story. What that means is that, if there are five weeks to go in an election, and your party — meaning the Democrats — is in big trouble, the narrative you want to tell voters is: “Why you should re-elect Democratic majorities.” I have been amazed over the past several weeks by how the White House has lost control of the story.
7. From M Kruse: “Does culture affect long-run growth? This column argues that countries with a more individualist culture have enjoyed higher long-run growth than countries with a more collectivist culture. Individualist culture attaches social status rewards to personal achievements and thus provides not only monetary incentives for innovation but also social status rewards. …”
8. Thomas Friedman: “Studying China’s ability to invest for the future doesn’t make me feel we have the wrong system. It makes me feel that we are abusing our right system. There is absolutely no reason our democracy should not be able to generate the kind of focus, legitimacy, unity and stick-to-it-iveness to do big things — democratically — that China does autocratically. We’ve done it before. But we’re not doing it now because too many of our poll-driven, toxically partisan, cable-TV-addicted, money-corrupted political class are more interested in what keeps them in power than what would again make America powerful, more interested in defeating each other than saving the country.”
9. Elizabeth Scalia, on why she remains a Catholic — with a heavy dose of Augustinian realism in her anthropology.
10. The Republican Pledge. … which begins with this: [link]
America is more than a country.
America is an idea – an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government’s powers are derived from the consent of the governed, that each of us is endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families, and the common good.
Meanderings in Sports
It’s not a good time to be a Cubs fan; it is a good time to be a Bears fan (for another two days at least).
Here’s my prediction for the World Series: The Yankees in 5 games. (Not that I want them to win; in fact, I don’t want them to win — or even to be.)
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