I had a conversation today with Lukas, my son, about polls. I have only one principle: use the most reliable or accurate poll in the previous elections. As a result, from what I’ve seen, the Rasmussen and Pew polls have been the most accurate. So I tend to look to see where they are on the swing states. Which informs us that the election is up for grabs. My son has another principle, or poll: Nate Silver. Now I’m aware... Read more
I’ve been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s magisterial, moving Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works). It is, so I think, his best book. No need, however, to debate what is neither provable nor non-falsifiable. What is worth discussing is his incredible set of statements about the expectations we bring to the church and that we expect of the church and how our expectations, when they encounter the realities, are dashed to the ground. In my classes at Northern... Read more
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Revelation 7:9-17 Rev. 7:9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe,... Read more
More and more companies recognize the value of working from home. What do you think? #2 is the big one for me. Working from home still gets a bad rap, even though it’s grown by 41 percent over the last decade, according to a Sept. 2012 U.S. Census Bureau report. We just can’t seem to shake the image of slackers in their pajamas eating chocolates and watching movies while they pretend to work from their couch. But the truth of... Read more
Politics, America, and the Christian Faith…Struggling to Find the Proper Order A Review of One Nation Without God? by David Aikman, A Free People’s Suicide by Os Guinness, and Between Babel and Beast by Peter J. Leithart. Dave Moore (www.twocities.org) Three books on issues roughly related to how Christians ought to think about America crossed my radar recently. Since I am familiar with all three authors and continue to have an interest in this area, I decided to write a brief... Read more
Sandy’s fury Becky Hsu distinguishes satisfaction and happiness. “Can we say, then, that life satisfaction is more like taking an exam (where 100% is the highest you could get), whereas happiness should be scored more like an essay (upon which there are no constraints in how excellent, thoughtful, or thought-provoking it could be)? Or, maybe we can say that asking whether you’re satisfied with life is like asking whether you finished your scoop of ice cream, whereas asking about happiness is more... Read more
From WSJ: Where does such perfectionism come from? Experts have long blamed parents who overemphasized achievement or made their love conditional on meeting certain goals. But recent research suggests that the genes that parents pass along may play an ever bigger role. Researchers at the Michigan State University Twin Registry have been examining aspects of perfectionism in female twins, ages 12 to 22. Identical twins share 100% of their genetic makeup; fraternal twins share 50%; all the twin-pairs in the... Read more
From Jeff Cook: We know God exists because of great beer. Don’t discount the Ontological argument just because you think you can imagine the perfect island. The ontological argument has real bite when you marry it with fine ales. Open your mind for a moment, and you may reply as Bertrand Russell once did, “Great God in boots!—the ontological argument is sound!” Behold… Beers that exist are greater than beers that do not exist, and as such existence is a... Read more
This post is by John Frye. Many pastors like myself were given “tools” in seminary to help us in the craft of being a pastor. Tools of the trade are good things and, yet, can be used in a bad way. What I discovered about half way through my life as a pastor was that a lot of smart people were using the tools for doing theology and pastoral work to flatten out everything given by God in holy revelation.... Read more
John Walton and Tremper Longman III have slightly different takes on the book of Job as outlined in the introductions to their new commentaries (Job (The NIV Application Commentary)) and Job (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms)). Both the areas of agreement and the areas of disagreement are informative. This is not a simple book with a single straightforward interpretation. Longman emphasizes the fact that Job is wisdom literature. He concludes that the book of Job as... Read more
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