More About Newsweek – The Newsweek article about the Christian origins of Christmas is creating a lot of buzz among believers. James White has promised to discuss some of it in detail in upcoming Dividing Line broadcasts. Jason Engwer of New Testament Research Ministries has a good response which is worth reading. As James White says, you’d better get the information you need to defend the biblical view before your old uncle Tim nails you on it over Christmas dinner.
And Speaking of James White – James White finally has a real blog. Previously his blog was very rudimentary but now it adds such wonderful features as permanent links so that I no longer have to refer you to articles that are “about halfway down the page.” It also means that he seems to be writing a whole lot more than he used to. I have sent him some suggestions on making the blog a tad more readable, since margins are generally considered a good thing. We’ll see if he takes my suggestions.
What Love Was This? – You may know that a year or two ago Dave Hunt released his anti-Calvinist tirade entitled What Love Is This. It was poorly-researched, poorly-written and more than just a little inflammatory. Hunt and James White subsequently wrote a book called Debating Calvinism where they debated the issues at stake. Now Hunt has released a second edition of What Love Is This where he has made many edits and changes. White is documenting some of the most important ones here.
Namaste, Namaste, I Am Open, Throw My Way – Tuesday Morning Quarterback is an article featured weekly on NFL.com that takes a look at the previous week’s action. The author, while a bit irreverent, is hilarious. This week he included the following analysis of the Ricky Williams situation. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Ricky Williams was a running back for the Miami Dolphins, who announced, just prior to the season beginning, that he did not want to play this year. It seems he kept getting in trouble with the league because he smokes marijuana and they were about to suspend him. So instead he decided to retire at the tender age of 26 and attend a holistic healing school. Here is TMQ’s rather hilarious analysis:
Ricky Williams says that rather than return to the NFL next season, he will study holistic medicine at the California College of Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old philosophy of mind-body balance and ” self-realization therapies through herbs, diet, exercise, yoga, massage, aromas, tantras, mantras and meditation.” The California College of Ayurveda “offers the only U.S. training program that is formally endorsed by India’s most prestigious Ayurvedic college, Gujarat Ayurveda University in Jamnagar, India,” the college says. Full-time students “can expect 10-20 hours of study per week,” which is surely more than was expected of football players at the University of Texas! Annual tuition, plus yoga, is $8,950, which means Williams’ effective price for the year of study, plus yoga, comes to $13,608,950 — considering the $8.6 million he owes the Dolphins and his $5 million in lost pay for 2004. But watch out, Ricky, the California College of Ayurveda says, “Due to the concentrated nature of instruction in the program, attending each class, being on time and completing all course requirements” are mandatory. Another difference from Texas! This also makes it seem a Dolphins-like disappearing act would be frowned upon by Ayurveda instructors. So is Ricky actually attending class? Here is the school’s press release on that subject.
Grammy Nominations – The Grammy nominations have been announced and it seems the nomination process is the same as usual. If people have heard of the band, they get a nod. Jars of Clay, TobyMac, Tait, Third Day, Steven Curtis Chapman – they are all there. You can read the list here.
