“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.”

- President Abraham Lincoln

I realized last night the shortest sermon (not service… sermon) our pastor has preached in the last 3 months was 55 minutes, 11 seconds.

Mark Driscoll putting a favorite Christian myth to somewhat of a rest.

…still makes more sense to me than Joel Osteen.

Georgetown University says it covered over the monogram “IHS”–symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ—because it was inscribed on a pediment on the stage where President Obama spoke at the university on Tuesday and the White House had asked Georgetown to cover up all signs and symbols there.

Sure hope God doesn’t cover up Obama’s name in the Book of Life.

I’ve got symbol I’d like to cover up for eternity.

A rather intense sermon from Sunday night’s church service on Men & Marriage. Women & Marriage was not as intense, but just as interesting.

Our church in Seattle is both famous and infamous for many things, but the fastest growing trend (being encouraged by church leaders) is Twittering during the service. It’s

On additional aspect set in motion mid-2008 was texting questions to the pastor during each sermon. At the end of the service, 4-5 questions are answered on-the-fly. It sometimes proves for conversations you’d never though you’d hear in church.

I’m notorious for starting, and s-l-o-w-l-y finishing them, all the while starting new books along the way.

However, Good Book has me intrigued. From Slate…

In 2006 and 2007, David Plotz blogged the Bible for Slate, starting with “In the beginning …” and reading right through to the end. This week, Plotz publishes Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible

You can’t get through a chapter of the Bible, even in the most obscure book, without encountering a phrase, a name, a character, or an idea that has come down to us 3,000 years later. The Bible is the first source of everything from the smallest plot twists (the dummy David’s wife places in the bed to fool assassins) to the most fundamental ideas about morality (the Levitical prohibition of homosexuality that still shapes our politics, for example) to our grandest notions of law and justice. It was a joyful shock to me when I opened the Book of Amos and read the words that crowned Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Anybody make it to the debate at Samford last night Christopher Hitchens and John Lennox?

“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Baghdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.”

Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

Ahhhhhhh tolerance.

After being called a “fascist” by his professor, a Christian California student has filed suit against his college for violations of his free-speech rights.

Less than a month after voters in California decided to amend their state constitution and protect traditional marriage, Jonathan Lopez — in a public speaking class — shared his beliefs on faith and marriage. David French of the Alliance Defense Fund picks up the story.

“Jonathan talked about his faith — and one of the things he talked about in context of his faith was…marriage,” says French. “He read from the dictionary definition of marriage. The professor stopped the class, called him a ‘fascist b_____d’ — [he] used the expletive — [and] told the class that anyone who wanted to could leave if they were offended….”

According to an ADF press release, when no one got up to leave, the instructor simply dismissed the class,

This remains one of my favorite links of all the interweb.

It bother’s me when fellow Christians say “Just look at the world around us… how can you not believe in God?!” While a agree with them in some respect, “amazing” does not prove the existence of God. Even the Devil aids in things that are “amazing” with regard to their impact on society.

However, looking at the size of Earth, compared to that of the Sun, then comprehending that there are other suns, planets, and galaxies far bigger than the ones we currently know about… it’s hard to look at our world, much less our universe, as an “accident”. Even Richard Dawkins, the grumpy atheist who refuses to debate Christians because doing so would give them the “oxygen of respectability” they crave, still acknoledges that there are almost certainly no gods.

To me, this is the first step (for many) to believing in God – being in awe of the world around you. Someone… some thing… some god had a plan. Your first thoughts might not necessarily shift to ‘Yahweh’, the God of the Bible, but rather the quest to find out what might be out there begins. I firmly believe this experience is one way God (Yahweh) communicates to many, long before they come to know Jesus.

Anyhow… that Antares thing is f-ing huge.

(Yes, I know Pluto is in that picture. Give the poor guy a break.)

Our church (primarily our pastor) was profiled in the New York Times over the weekend, and for the most part of the day, was the feature story on the front page of the NYT website.

Like any media outlet, the Times put their own spin on things… opting to “play up” the recent sermon series Pastor Mark Driscoll did on Sex & Relationships in their two intro paragraphs. The sermon series itself (which I highly recommend anyone how has, or intends to use their reproductive parts, to watch) was a study on the book of Song of Solomon. Also, the NYT writer talked too much about different Calvinistic aspects of Mark’s theology.

“Mars Hill — with its conservative social teachings embedded in guitar solos and drum riffs, its megachurch presence in the heart of bohemian skepticism — thrives on paradox.”

My favorite sections are below …continue reading

For those blog readers who attend Mars Hill Church with us, Pastor Mark begins a 5-month long (five.months.) sermon series on Sunday, complete suggested out-of-church reading. There’s also a study guide [PDF link].

If you miss an episode or don’t attend our church, the videos are always available for free download.

The greatest challenge of the modern day church is how it deals with the issue of sexuality.

Abortion, euthanasia, drinking, gambling… those are issues addressed on a more detailed level once people are members, or regular attenders at a church. LGBT issues are the biggest hurdle the church will face in the next 25 years, which is why I’m extremely intrigued to watch the upcoming documentary about fallen pastor Ted Haggard.

Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard says in a new documentary that he still struggles with his sexuality yet is committed to his marriage for the sake of his children.

[...]

He confessed to undisclosed “sexual immorality” and has said, “I really did sin.”

[...]

“The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more,”

Why December 25?

The eventual choice of December 25, made perhaps as early as 273, reflects a convergence of Origen’s concern about pagan gods and the church’s identification of God’s son with the celestial sun. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti (the Roman “birth of the unconquered sun”), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian “Sun of Righteousness” whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival.

I’m slowly peeling through Vintage Jesus (I digest accordingly) and Chelsea’s moving at much faster speed through Blue Like Jazz.

Read any good books lately?

No matter your thoughts on the “War On Christmas”, I think most would agree that were it not for Christmas Day, this season would not be what it is without the observed birth of Jesus Christ.

(Besides… how many of us are getting ‘Holiday Day’ off — I’m guessing you’re getting ‘Christmas Day’ off.)

From the American Family Association:

“Christmas-friendly” retailers — prominent acknowledgment of “Christmas”

Cabela’s
Crate&Barrel
Dillard’s
Eddie Bauer
JCPenney
Kohl’s
L.L.Bean
Lands’ End
Linens ‘n Things
Lowe’s
Macy’s
Neiman Marcus
Nordstrom
Pier 1 Imports
Sears
The Home Depot
Target
Toys “R” Us
Wal-Mart

“Christmas-negligent” retailers — marginalized use of “Christmas”

Barnes & Noble
Bed, Bath & Beyond
Best Buy
Borders
Circuit City Dick’s Sporting Goods
GAP
KB Toys
Kmart

“Christmas-offensive” retailers — apparent abandonment of “Christmas”

American Eagle
Banana Republic
Bloomingdale’s
Lane Bryant
Old Navy

A sad day for a man whom in 1979, Time magazine named him one of the “seven most outstanding Protestant preachers in America.”

From the C-L:

The Rev. Frank Pollard, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Jackson, died Sunday at his home in San Francisco. He was 74.

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist in the next couple of weeks, according to a message from church pastor Stan Buckley posted on First Baptist’s Web site. No other details about the funeral arrangements were immediately available.