Two things caught my eye this week related to the way discussions seem to go online:
The "straw that broke the camel's back" for this post was this comment over at Common Sense Atheism:
Hey don’t you know Bill Craig and Plantinga have proven Christian theism?Now, I love those guys; and I fashion myself as a Christian apologist. However, do I think I can prove Christian theism?
I am not going to continue blogging on the exchange as it continues. I will continue to post the links to the new letters on the original post as I see them. I was fascinated by the discussion, which is why I condensed the first 6 letters into one post. I had originally peppered that post with my own editorial comments, but then deleted them all. There are some things I want to say about the discussion and the topics raised:
Wherein I look around the web - hopefully once a week - and draw some attention to things I see there that interest me.
If you want to know where I go, look at the links on the left of my blog under "Places I Frequent". From there, I will go places those places may point me. Typically, I will also list up to three of my favorite posts from the current Christian Carnival - and may go somewhere those blogs take me.
Sometimes they will be topically organized, and sometimes just in order of the links I visited. Enjoy:
Wherein I look around the web - hopefully once a week - and draw some attention to things I see there that interest me.
If you want to know where I go, look at the links on the left of my blog under "Places I Frequent". From there, I will go places those places may point me. Typically, I will also list up to three of my favorite posts from the current Christian Carnival - and may go somewhere those blogs take me.
Sometimes they will be topically organized, and sometimes just in order of the links I visited. Enjoy:
I recently discovered a blog called Fundamentally Changed which has fundamentally changed my view of the word "fundamentalist", and being called a "Fundamentalist". I am not sure the word (like "Evangelical") can be resurrected from what secular society has done to it, but at least I do not need to feel insulted anymore when someone calls me one.
Jason, one of the bloggers at Fundamentally Changed, noticed that I was beginning to link them in some of my stuff and put them on my reading list on my sideboard. He did something that really hasn't happened to me up to now (and is, in my opinion, really cool) - he sent me an email:
I miss this place - and have perhaps carved out the time to come back and chat about some things that matter to me.
In the near term, I am going to blog on a series by the pastor at my old, and now my new, church on the book of Romans.
Also, a look at consent vs. Biblical obediance/submission is coming - I do not really think there should be a "vs" in that statement. I plan to get back to two or three posts a week; and hopefully say something useful for the Kingdom.
Hope the three people who read me in the past find me again.
[This is a repost from October 26, 2006 (actually an update). It seems fitting for this time of the political season as we are about to enter the primary season.]
Laura from Pursuing Holiness
The internet, as much as I enjoy it, has helped lower the level of political discourse because it is far easier to type something directed at a stranger that you'd never dream of saying to the face of someone with whom you're acquainted. It even affects the Christian blogosphere. I'm not alone in occasionally wanting "to not just debate the point, but to crush [someone's] argument into oblivion." I also know that feeling is not consistent with 1 Peter 3:15-16:Laura again:But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you.
If we are called to make our defense of our faith with gentleness and respect, how much more should we do so with respect to minor issues like the politics of our nation or any of the temporary governments of this world? Those things may feel quite important right now, but in the light of eternity, our perspective on them will be very different. By and large I think Christians do an excellent job of keeping debate civil, and that is why I'm joining Henry Neufeld, a liberal blogger (Threads from Henry's Web) to make a rather bold challenge that we're calling Philophronos Blogging.Laura's and Henry's rules for "Philophronos Blogging":philóphrōn: to think, have a mindset. Friendly, courteous, benign (1 Peter 3:8). Deriv.: philophrónōs (G5390), in a friendly or kind manner.
We're challenging Christian bloggers who write about politics to write at least one post a week until the election - and hopefully after it - that adheres to the following guidelines:I will not be putting myself on this blogroll because I will not be posting an article a week about politics on my blog probably ever.Imagine what the political tone in the country would be like if all political debate adhered to those guidelines!
- Consistent with 1 Corinthians 13:1-7
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.and Ephesians 4:15
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.- Assume goodwill and good intentions for our political opponents
- Wherever possible list supporting reasons why they have good intentions
- Negative statements are not personal and are factual
- If negative statements are conclusions, the facts that led to the conclusion are referenced
- Negative statements support the argument and are not gratuitous
Thanks for being patient with me in getting comments/trackbacks moderated. My Lovely Valentine dropped me off in the snow at 02:30 a.m yesterday to catch up with my boss. We dealt wtih pretty heavy freezing rain and snow to get to Boston-Logan (Providence cancelled all its flights), and flew from there to Honolulu via San Fran for a Navy conference here at Naval Base Pearl Harbor.
1. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your blog, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs. (Eph 4:29)
Is what comes from our blogs wholesome? Is what we are writing helpful for building others up? Or does it tear them down?
Christianity today is not a western religion. It is Middle Eastern in origin, but is now found in every country in the world. It is strongest in Africa, South America, and parts of Asia, where it continues to grow, not through the influence of western missionaries, but through local communities of believers in Christ. Missionaries are going from Africa to Europe as well as the other way around, and this is healthy, and much-needed. We as the church in the west are still faced with this vital challenge to recognise that our western forms of Christianity are at best culturally-bound, and at worst compromised. We need to recognise the validity of other cultures and different cultural expressions of faith in Christ. While holding fast to the good news of the kingdom of God, we need to allow Christ and his church to incarnate into local culture. What is not needed is the exporting of the worst of western individualist, consumerist, and success-orientated culture with its accompanying depression, suicide, isolation, community breakdown, self-indulgence, and injustice.
So, if you have a post in this framework - go here to find out more: Christian Carnival Participation Instructions. Read more!Contributing a Post to the Christian CarnivalThe Christian Carnival is open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions. One of the goals of this Carnival is to offer our readers to a broad range of Christian thought.
Posts need not be of a theological topic. Posts about home life, politics, or current events, for example, written from a Christian worldview are welcome.
Update: As the goal of this Carnival is to highlight Christian thought in the blogosphere, entries will be limited to blogs that share that goal. Blogs with content that is focused on a business, that has potentially offensive material Christians may not want to link to on their sites, or has no reference to distinctively Christian thought may not be included in this Carnival. There are other Carnivals that would be a more appropriate venue for that material. I realize that this will be a judgment call on the part of the Carnival administrator, and being human she may make mistakes. However, as the Christian Carnival is getting quite large, and it is sometimes questionable whether the entrants are seeking to promote Christian thought, I find this necessary.
Update: We also expect a level of discourse that is suitable for a Christian showcase. Thus entries may be refused if they engage in name-calling, ad hominem attacks, offensive language, or for any similar reason as judged by the administrator.
Wandering around I run into some interesting blogs - and they are listed over on the left side of this page.
I ran into Ninme today - and a very interesting article: The Jaw Drops
In starting a new blog, I am aware of the craziness in other comment sections (and posts) I have read. As a Christian writer, I realize that I have no particular philosophical basis to talk to non-Christians about the tone of their comments - except the natural law espoused by the likes of C.S. Lewis. So be it. Since I plan to approach almost all subjects from a Christian and/or scriptural viewpoint - I have no reason to expect non-Christians to agree with many of my positions - and certainly none of the authority standing behind it. So be that too.
I called this blog "Brain Cramps for God" because early on I will be approaching subjects I am struggling with. I will also be approaching questions society is struggling with. I personally am trying to find solutions. This runs counter to Leiter Reports. I would then ask why people then comment and engage in discussion? Obviously, at first to state their opinion or their questions. If they disagree, are they looking for understanding, compromise, to be educated, or to teach? Or do they just wish to argue and bash the enemy? Certainly I wish people here who want discourse - who wish to bring light, and not heat, to a topic. I will not get it, but I can want it ["Can't we all just get along?": No, but we can be civil while we figure out why not].
Tyler over at Habakkuk's Watchpost approaches the same subject; and CQD did too. However, in both cases we have to come to a reasoned argument about what separates Christians after some initial hyperbole (if not outright demagoguery).
There are many times Jesus called folks "vipers" without being kind; and trashed tables in the temple a couple of times - all in defending God from hypocrisy and sacrilege. He was God - He can do that easier than us.
In the interests of discussing how we should discuss: The Moral Case for Manners by J. Budziszewski
A womens blog on apologetics. Soon I will do a list of places I love. Here's a start.
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