Flotsam and jetsam (11/24)

• Peter Singer is at it again, this time arguing that children do not possess full moral status until they are at least two years old.

There are various things that you could say that are sufficient to give some moral status after a few months, maybe six months or something like that, and you get perhaps to full moral status, really, only after two years.

• Techland explains why the best e-reader may be no e-reader at all. I’m curious whether anyone out there does a lot of reading their phone (e.g. iPhone) and, if so, what you think about the experience.

• Koinonia is giving away copies of Tim Keller’s The Reason for God and N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope.

• The interaction between Larry Hurtado and James McGrath continues,as they discuss whether the early church’s worship of Jesus entails that they thought of him as divine.

Let it be clear:  The earliest Jewish Christian believers did not see themselves as departing from full loyalty to their ancestral deity.  They saw their devotion to Jesus as mandatory, in response to God’s exaltation of Jesus as recipient of this devotion.

• David Fitch explains why he thinks that Youth Groups Destroy Children’s Lives. He concludes by saying how important that well-done youth ministry is for the church, but here’s his critique in a nutshell.

I think youth groups often do things that work against the formation of our youth into life with Christ and His Mission. They also soak up huge time and resources in ways that are a detriment to the community life of the church.

• A terrorism task force in New York shut down the Lincoln Tunnel last week because they mistook a dance troupe wearing camouflage for a terrorist group.  Best comment of the day:

it seems fairly obvious that if a squad of terrorists did try to infiltrate Manhattan or any other urban area, they would not dress in camouflage to do it, and would not be sprinting.

• And, apparently mail carriers are more likely to treat a package roughly if you mark as “fragile.”

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Flotsam and jetsam (9/27)

• iMonk brings together an interesting group of Christian leaders to discuss pastoral care and visitation.
• Grateful to the Dead comments on a few universities that are doing historical theology well.
• P.ost engages an article from Pyromaniacs on engaging culture. The comments are culture and the Gospel are worth reading, but I particularly liked an opening comment on the difficulty of entering a blogging world very different from your own: “I don’t go there very often – it’s the other side of town, it’s unfamiliar territory, I sense that I don’t belong there, I don’t understand the language, and frankly I’m afraid of being mugged.”
• Roger Olson wants every just to admit that all theologies are flawed. I think we can push harder. I think everyone already admits this. The harder part is getting people to act like it.
• Kevin DeYoung points out an interesting panel discussion on the Bible involving Brian McLaren, Tim Keller, and Alistair McGrath.
• Ben Witherington discusses what sola scriptura really means.
• And, Mashable has a list of 11 astounding sci-fi predictions that came true.

Free Tim Keller audiobook

I forgot to mention earlier that this month’s free audiobook from ChristianAudio is Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road.

Why would someone risk his safety, destroy his schedule, and become dirty and bloody to help a needy person of another race and social class? And why would Jesus tell us “Go and do likewise”? Like the wounded man on the Jericho road, there are needy people in our path- the widow next door, the family strapped with medical bills, the homeless man outside our place of worship. God call us to be ministers of mercy to people in need of shelter, assistance, medical care, or just friendship.

This one’s been around for quite a while (1997), but it got great reviews when it first came out and might still be worth checking out. If you do (or if you have), let me know what you think.