Recently in Faith Category
Children are born believers in God, academic claims - Telegraph
"Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose.
"He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God." (Via Don Singleton.)
Totally Non-political - John Derbyshire - The Corner on National Review Online
A sweet story about an abandoned pointer and the old man he lifted from bitterness and depression.
Hindu extremists' reward to kill Christians, as Britain refuses to bar members - Times Online
"Extremist Hindu groups offered money, food and alcohol to mobs to kill Christians and destroy their homes, according to Christian aid workers in the eastern state of Orissa." (Via Crunchy Con.)
toledoblade.com -- 'Basic Instinct' author writes book about faith
Once a writer of screenplays that explored the dark side of humanity and afflicted with throat cancer, Joe Eszterhas experienced a "Damascus Road" conversion and a miraculous healing. The Toledo Blade does a fine job telling the story. His latest work is Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith. (Via Get Religion.)
Hulu - Allyson Felix Sprints for Glory: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams
"Even in my running, my purpose is to bring glory to God." (Via Pyromaniacs.)
internetmonk.com: Baptist Holy Days of (Guilt and) Obligation
A comprehensive list including Mother's Day, the opening Sunday of a revival, church potlucks, VBS programs, Promise Keepers rallies, and the Olin Mills Church Directory photoshoot. (But he omitted any reference to church camp, including the binding obligation on Oklahoma Baptists to make pilgrimage to Falls Creek.)
Dutch, Reformed: Jesus Loves Me, This I Know
"'Who has chest pains?' he asked. 'Stand up.'
"I was somewhat taken aback, yet I stood up because, indeed, for about a week I had been having some pain on the right side of my chest, the cause of which was unclear to me. Since the pain wasn't severe, I had pretty much dismissed it as a nagging inconvenience that would go away soon enough. It certainly hadn't been on my mind during the service. But as I stood there, this man, his face and his voice exuding genuine compassion, said to me something altogether unexpected: 'Don't worry. You'll be able to get all your work done.'
"Until that moment, it hadn't even remotely occurred to me that stress and worry could be the source of the pain, but in an instant it became clear. Then began to wash over me an overwhelming realization that God really does love me and is intensely concerned with my well-being. Even amid my disobedience ('Be anxious for nothing'), here was Almighty God--who was, after all, quite busy running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments--taking the time and the initiative to attend to one redeemed sinner in Nowata, Oklahoma."
Parchment and Pen » The Theology Program Online Classes Begins August 26
Not free, but inexpensive -- $100 each for a variety of eight-week online theology courses from Reclaiming the Mind ministries.
Koinonia: Hermeneutics and Children's Curriculum by John Walton
Walton says that children are being taught, by example through most Sunday School curricula, faulty Biblical interpretation and application. Walton identifies five common errors which distract students from the heart of the Biblical text. For example: "Illegitimate extrapolation: The lesson is improperly expanded from a specific situation to all general situations.... Reading Between the Lines: This occurs when teachers or students are asked to analyze what the characters are thinking, speculate on their motives, or fill in details of the plot that the story does not give.... "
Pulpit Magazine: Christians and the Sabbath
Sabbath still binding on Christians? Calvin says no.
