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A La Carte (8/12)
- 08/12/09
- 8
Standing Up for the Lord's Day
Dan Walker is a presenter for BBC Sport and BBC Sports News. In this article he explains how and why he has always refused to work on Sundays.
Bubble Babies
Reader's Digest looks with a skeptical eye at all of the gear being sold today to protect babies. "When your baby-goods store is selling saline-soaked, aloe-treated, grape-scented tissues designed to 'ease' the process of blowing your kid's nose, it is safe to say: There is no kiddie problem too small, no discomfort too negligible, no danger too remote, that some manufacturer won't come along and peddle a pricey product to prevent it."
Why Gay Guys are Churchier
"A new survey of 9,000 gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans from George Barna, a well-known evangelical pollster, showed that 70 percent of gay adults describe themselves as Christian and 60 percent say their faith is 'very important' in their lives. Granted, those figures are lower than the population as a whole, which register 85 and 70 percent on those rankings, respectively. But Barna, himself a Bible-believing, born-again Christian, points out that the numbers demonstrate that 'popular stereotypes about the spiritual life of gays and lesbians are simply wrong.'"
Amazon Grab Bag Sale
Amazon has a "DVD Grab Bag" sale going on now. There are some pretty good deals available (including the set "When We Left Earth" that I'm watching and enjoying). (Obviously there's a lot of junk there, too)
Dan Walker is a presenter for BBC Sport and BBC Sports News. In this article he explains how and why he has always refused to work on Sundays.
Bubble Babies
Reader's Digest looks with a skeptical eye at all of the gear being sold today to protect babies. "When your baby-goods store is selling saline-soaked, aloe-treated, grape-scented tissues designed to 'ease' the process of blowing your kid's nose, it is safe to say: There is no kiddie problem too small, no discomfort too negligible, no danger too remote, that some manufacturer won't come along and peddle a pricey product to prevent it."
Why Gay Guys are Churchier
"A new survey of 9,000 gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans from George Barna, a well-known evangelical pollster, showed that 70 percent of gay adults describe themselves as Christian and 60 percent say their faith is 'very important' in their lives. Granted, those figures are lower than the population as a whole, which register 85 and 70 percent on those rankings, respectively. But Barna, himself a Bible-believing, born-again Christian, points out that the numbers demonstrate that 'popular stereotypes about the spiritual life of gays and lesbians are simply wrong.'"
Amazon Grab Bag Sale
Amazon has a "DVD Grab Bag" sale going on now. There are some pretty good deals available (including the set "When We Left Earth" that I'm watching and enjoying). (Obviously there's a lot of junk there, too)
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Comments (8)
[Re: Why Gay Guys Are Churchier] As time goes on, I become more and more concerned with George Barna's thinking (which seems to be captive only to statistical data) and the influence it has in Evangelical circles. Barna states "there may be less of a spiritual gap between straights and gays than many Americans would assume." What?! Is he serious? Does the gravity which God's Word places on this sin of any concern to him? It may not have been Barna's intention, but this article can be summed up thusly: "Gay 'Christians' are just as faithful to Christ as Heterosexual believers... because the statistics say so!"
The Dan Walker article is a great one. Puts Lord's Day desecrating North American Christians to shame. Reminds them that while they trumpet their commitment to reformed theology in the morning for a couple of hours and then spend the rest of the day in front of the TV feeling good about how they 'bleed movies', some of God's people actually sanctify the Sabbath.Well done Dan Walker.
CMS:
It would only mean that if you think Barna equates "spiritual" with "faithful to Christ". I'm not convinced he does.
Ian:
Sabbath made for man, not man for the sabbath. If I want to watch football for four hours on my "day of rest" then what's wrong with that?
Well done to Dan Walker for parlaying his stance into a witness to the Gospel.I don't think he's picked the right issue at all, but still, he's doing to the glory of God.A nap on the couch, a relaxing game of golf, a visit with family, a walk in the park, all but the first would entail things that the OT nails as breaking the Sabbath, but at least he's trying to be a witness and not a legalist.
Isa 58:13-14
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
I believe it.
Since the Sabbath and homosexuality are both brought up in today’s a la carte...
*The purpose of both the Sabbath and sexuality were made the first week of the universe.*The purpose of both is outlined in Genesis.*Breaking either one is a sin in the Old Testament*Breaking either on is a sin in the New Testament*Breaking either one is a capital offense in the Old Testament.*Both the Sabbath and sex within marriage are blessed and sanctified by God.*God’s wrath has been poured out upon large populations for breaking the Sabbath (definitely -- several times) and for homosexuality (presumably -- once.)*Both proclaim something about man’s relationship with God.*The Bible gives a plethora of examples of holy men keeping the Sabbath and refraining from homosexuality.
*What is a Christian response for the disparity of the treatment of these two things?*Why push the government to outlaw one and allow the other?*Why do you allow the state to recognize one sin, but are so afraid of having it recognize the other?*Christians support breaking of one law, but think that supporting the other is heinous.*One is already legitimized, but supposedly the other is the death knell of our society.*The definition of one has been reshaped to a modern idea, but the definition of the other is solid.
*Is the different treatment of these two Biblical laws hypocrisy at some level?
John Piper makes some interesting comments on Barna's definition of born again Christian.
"In other words, in this research the term “born again” refers to people who say things. They say, “I have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It’s important to me.” They say, “I believe that I will go to heaven when I die. I have confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.” Then the Barna Group takes them at their word, ascribes to them the infinitely important reality of the new birth, and then blasphemes that precious biblical reality by saying that regenerate hearts have no more victory over sin than unregenerate hearts."
You can read or listen to the whole sermon here.
Thanks for pointing that out James, I actually just finished Finally Alive, by Piper, excellent book.