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<\/a>Jeff K. Clarke<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cThat message sounds very different from the de-storified, don\u2019t-go-to-hell, ask-Jesus-into-your-heart-message that has permeated much of Western Evangelicalism. Maybe we need to re-capture Jesus\u2019 discipleship message if we truly desire people (and ourselves) to follow him along the path of discipleship. Maybe we need to begin creating a gospel\u00a0culture of discipleship<\/em>\u00a0that sets people up for a lifetime of loving devotion to Christ and his church, rather than a short-lived, saved-from-our-sins, get-out-of-hell-free-card, system of salvation.\u00a0Maybe we need to re-consider the cost.\u201d<\/p>\nJosh Graves<\/strong> <\/a>sketches a young pastor\u2019s fresh theology thinking about funerals. \u201cThe Christian funeral is a sacred moment when people of faith (because all people are technically people of some sort of faith) come together to make sense of their lives, God, and perhaps what remains beyond death (all that we can\u2019t leave behind). Some practical theological observations for the minister and leader serving the role of pastor or officiate. Jonathan asked me to frame the theology, so I\u2019ll refrain from chasing other paths.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of you know about the Jesus Creed project, which stands and falls with our daily recitation of the Jesus Creed, and some of you have written stories how that simply formative action has helped you in your journey. This is that kind of story from Ted<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cAlthough I\u2019ve found this practice helpful most every day, or at least many days, yesterday was kind of revelatory to me, as I found out that this love from God through Jesus by the Spirit is what helps us love God in return as well as loving others. Something I knew in my head and somewhat in my experience, but became especially palpable and real yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n Casey Tygrett<\/strong> <\/a>asks a great question about election and debates: \u201cDoes anyone else see something wrong with a debate format where the winner and the loser are both lying (opposite of truth telling) and the prize for winning is leadership of a country and the \u201chope\u201d of a people for the future?\u201d<\/p>\n Roger Olson\u2019s personal confession of faith<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Wow, this is a lot of stuff\u2026 but Michael Hyatt<\/strong><\/a> has collected everything for communicating and its business.<\/p>\n Meanderings in the News<\/p>\n This chart at Slate<\/strong><\/a> on presidential election gaffes and wounds etc is interesting.<\/p>\n New book for introverts<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cIntroverts certainly are having a moment \u2014 Susan Cain\u2019s\u00a0Quiet<\/em>\u00a0landed on the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0<\/em>Bestseller List as soon as it came out in January 2012 \u2014 and it\u2019s about time. \u00a0The Introvert\u2019s Way<\/em>\u00a0by Psych Central\u2019s own\u00a0Sophia Dembling<\/a>\u00a0continues this trend.\u00a0 Unlike\u00a0Quiet<\/em>, it not only provides scientific and cultural background but also practical tips and a thorough-note of complete understanding of the introvert\u2019s nature.\u00a0 An introvert myself, I have never read a book that I have so truly felt myself in.\u00a0 This is a tribute to Ms. Dembling\u2019s writing as well as to relief that introversion is slowly becoming recognized as something other than a personality flaw.\u00a0The Introvert\u2019s Way<\/em>\u00a0begins with a summary of our current state\u2014America is a \u201cnation of extroverts (p. 2).\u201d\u00a0 The volume is turned up, everything is public, and we are told that the more outgoing and social you are, the better.\u00a0 Open cubicles are the most popular work environment, and kids who like to read alone concern their teachers.\u00a0 Ms. Dembling examines how these views came to be through a review of scientific literature and theories of introversion.\u00a0 Sigmund Freud considered it pathological (something to do with sexual repression, of course), and Carl Jung posited that it was negative psychic energy flow.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet more on the New Dorp proposal for education<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Eric C. Sinoway<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cIn my upcoming book,\u00a0Howard\u2019s Gift: Uncommon Wisdom to Inspire Your Life\u2019s Work<\/em>, Harvard Business School professor Howard Stevenson and I coin a phrase called \u201ccheating at solitaire\u201d to describe the all-too-common occurrence of men and women telling themselves that they have the skills they wished they possessed to achieve certain professional goals \u2014 as opposed to objectively considering whether they actually do or do not.\u00a0The hard reality is most of us have few areas in which we really, truly excel. The key, Howard and I argue, is to identify those areas \u2014 and then to search for professional opportunities where our strongest capacities are most often needed and utilized. The earlier in your career that you identify these, the easier it is for you to take control over your own professional trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n The bin Laden training center pictures<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n What I want to know is those tasteless sorts that are picked too soon have the same chemical properties that prevent strokes<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cA study of 1,031 men, published in the journal Neurology, showed those with the most lycopene in their bloodstream were the least likely to have a stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n An eschatology that has taken roots \u2014 and new life: Darby, though dead, yet speaketh!<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cJERUSALEM<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 If the Messiah descends from the Mount of Olives as foretold in the Bible, America\u2019s two biggest Christian broadcasters are well-positioned to cover it live thanks to recent acquisitions of adjacent Jerusalem studios on a hill overlooking the Old City.\u00a0Texas-based Daystar\u00a0Television Network<\/a>\u00a0already beams a 24-hour-a-day live webcam from its terrace. Not to be outdone, Costa Mesa-based\u00a0Trinity Broadcasting Network<\/a>\u00a0last month bought the building next door.\u00a0The dueling studios are part of an aggressive push by U.S. evangelical broadcasters seeking to gain a stronger foothold in the holy city. Their presence not only offers boasting rights with American viewers and contributors, but also \u2014 and more controversially \u2014 a platform for spreading the gospel of\u00a0Jesus Christ<\/a>\u00a0to Jews in\u00a0Israel<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Growing the brain, learning languages<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Sports<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/40\/2012\/10\/Screen-Shot-2012-10-06-at-11.48.45-AM.png\" "\\"Screen")
<\/a>Scott Dodd suggests it was not the mile-high air but the President\u2019s introversion<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cMisunderstandings between introverts and the extroverts who love them can even be hard on marriages. In his book\u00a0The Audacity of Hope<\/em><\/a>, Obama describes the adjustments that he and Michelle went through early in their life together. In addition to leaving the butter out after breakfast and forgetting to \u201ctwist the little tie around the bread bag,\u201d the future president liked time alone to work and think\u2014to the point that he left his new wife feeling neglected. Obama would \u201coften spend the evening holed up in my office in the back of our railroad apartment; what I considered normal often left Michelle feeling lonely.\u201dAccounts like that are what lead journalists and armchair psychologists to speculate on Obama\u2019s introversion. Michael Lewis\u2019\u00a0recent\u00a0Vanity Fair<\/em>\u00a0profile<\/a>\u00a0of the president, while largely flattering, also helped paint a picture of an introvert hurting from his loss of privacy. (Obama enjoys being in the Oval Office on the weekends, for instance, when his aides aren\u2019t there.)\u00a0Wednesday night\u2019s lackluster debate performance added to the impression that the president\u2019s personality may get in the way of his political prowess. \u201cObama behaved like an\u00a0introvert, and he got steamrolled by the extroverted\u00a0energy of Mitt Romney,\u201d\u00a0writes Sophia Dembling<\/a>, whose book\u00a0The Introvert\u2019s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is due out in December.\u201d<\/p>\n