Wittenberg Gate: Christian Carnival

Our scheduled host, Dave of Revenge of Mr. Dumpling, was in an auto accident last week. He is well, but because of a schedule complicated by the loss of one of the family cars, he wasn't up to hosting the Christian Carnival this week. We will reschedule Dave's hosting and thank God with him for preserving his life in what sounds like a frightening incident.

Meanwhile, I present you with this week's Christian Carnival.

Posts are divided into the following categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Books, Christian Living, Church Issues, Culture & Current Events, Family, Gospel, and Theology.

Click below to read the sixty Christian Carnival posts from a wide variety of perspectives.

Apologetics

David Mobley of A Physicist's Perspective sends us Evolution and the brain. In the wake of reading a news article talking about how the brain is just a tool which evolved to help us survive and reproduce, I argue that the brain does tasks which evolution never would have selected for. Instead, our minds seem remarkably designed to be able to understand the creation around us, by a creator who wants us to worship him for his glory -- including his glory displayed in his creation.

Viewpoint defends the faith against naturalism in CFN Offers Lousy Trade (Pt. III) This is the third in a series of posts which have critiqued the claims made by the Center For Naturalism on their web site.

Wittenberg Gate uses the first twelve chapters of Matthew to challenge the notion that Jesus was just a prophet or great moral teacher--or anything less than than God in the flesh--in The Audacity of Jesus.

Bible Study

The Bible Archive contributes Romans: A Peek at Mirkwood . Halfway through a study in Romans, it’s time to pop our head through the canopy to see the lay of the land—erm, the book.

Christianity is Jewish adds it all up in AP Math, in which cwv warrior gets to the nitty gritty of Daniel's Seventy Sevens and the Messiah's fulfillment of the prophecy in history. Just do the math.

Rebecca Writes sends us God's Workmanship, Part 2 This is the second post in a series of posts
commenting on Ephesians 2:1-10. This post looks at verses 4 and 5, when God steps in and begins his recreative work.

Russ Mitchell of Boxing Alcibiades finds in hrm... John 15:13 that this verse puts human wisdom on a collision course with divine wisdom. He says he'd love your feedback!

Dadmanly contributes A Strong Tower. This is Part One of Three posts from Proverbs 18 and 19 that explore the summary exhortation of Proverbs 18, one that has especially strong meaning for believers deployed to Iraq. (Dadmanly blogs from Iraq.)

A Penitent Blogger uses John 14:27-31 in Separation anxiety, a reflection on finding strength and comfort in the Lord.

Jeremy, the Parableman looks at Bible translation in Preserving Form and Meaning in the TNIV. The popular conception of literal translations seems to miss what they really do. This post shows how so-called literal translations give an inaccurate rendering of one element of I Cor 3:16-17. On this issue, the TNIV is the most accurate (and I would say most literal) of the translations this post looks at, including the NASB, ESV, HCSB, and NKJV.

If you want a new way to look at the Epistles, Paula at Listen In gives some practical tips for "Reading Love Letters."

Books

Mark Olson of Pseudo-Polymath sends us Book Review: The Soul of Science David Wayne (aka Jollyblogger) reviewed this book a few weeks ago. As a result I bought it, and now I submit a review as well.

Semicolon reviews Gilead by Marilynne Robinson I review one of the best books I've read in a long time. Gilead is the story of an elderly preacher who is near death and who writes about his life for his young son.

Christian Living

We need to work out how to live like Christians in the Blogosphere, too.
In Keeping Bloggers Accountable?, Joe Missionary sums up a similar post by Tim Challies, along with solutions posed by his commentors, on the subject of keeping bloggers accountable for what they write.

Along those same lines, Sun and Shield courageously publishes the Guidelines for this blog I was trying to set out a mission/purpose statement, and tell myself some things that I did and didn't want to do, and posted it, to help make me accountable.

The rev-ed of Attention Span sends us The Handyman's Secret Weapon If you had a choice, which of God's chosen instruments would you be? A fine scalpel, a perfectly balanced pen, a trumpet, or something with a myriad of uses? [Dory loves this one!]

Team Hammer's Musings contributes Whom Do You Serve? Team Hammer asks a question about our political discourse and conduct, and compares it to some quotes on how we should handle these
conflicts.

Nathan Ael sends a thought-provoking post, No Better Friend, No Better Enemy , Excerpt: We are all enemies of Christ. We have all sinned grievously against the God who has given us nothing but forgiveness, compassion, and mercy. Over and over, we reject his love. Again and again, we kill ourselves with bullets and words. And yet, Christ died for us.

World of Sven presents Is Christianity about 'Being' or 'Doing'? Ever since my early years as a Christian, I've been bombarded by sermons that encourage more 'doing' and activity, followed
by conflicting sermons that would then tell us that it wasn't about doing but about simply 'being'. But in an age that values things only for their practicality, how are we to reconcile the tensions between
contemplation and action, between meditation and mission, and between prayer and practice?

Sharing Spirit meditates on Forgiveness. This forgiveness issue keeps coming up and I know God desires us to forgive just as He forgives us, but how do we do that?

In If I had a million dollars..., Micah Girl dreams aloud about what she would do with her life if money were no object, yet remains firmly grounded in the contentment of her life today.

Northern 'burbs blog sends us Wrong Time to be Eating a Donut . A quick touch on gluttony and being faithful stewards of our bodies.

Brandywine Books sends us Encounter with a barbarian. Lutheran author Lars Walker blogs on a personal confrontation which left him with the inability to debate without anger.

From Randomness we have Jim Wallis, the Bible, and Poverty During his seminary days in Chicago, he and few of his classmates decided to do a study to find every biblical reference on one particular subject--the poor and oppressed....So tonight I finally finished a project I'd been meaning to start for some time: I went through James and Luke myself, highlighting every verse that referenced poverty and the marginalized.

CowPi Journal suggests one reason why we pray in Why Pray?

Uncle Tom's Blog Cabin (Christian Blog) shares Wisteria Wisdom, observation and reflections of God revealing himself through nature in the form of blooming wisteria.

From ireneQ • unravelled we have Secrets. Secrets lose their power to terrify and trap once they are exposed. I once exposed my biggest secret on my blog, and I don't regret it.

Church Issues

John of Blogotional asks in Preaching..., "What is my vision for preaching? Just this -- it is a tool for my, and every other Christian in the congregation's, use in their own ministry. Each of us is called to be intimate with another, and through that intimacy the Spirit spreads."

Pastor Ray Pritchard, in The First Price You Pay is Always the Cheapest shares a few thoughts on some wisdom I learned from a retired pastor who founded a church that grew to over 3000 people. When I asked him how he managed to survive so long, he told me that in dealing with problems, he learned early on that “the first price you pay is always the cheapest.” He’s right about that.

Sharing life contributes A need for adaptation? My post is about the often-voiced challenge that Christian churches should adapt themselves to modern society. It deals with whether Christians should change the way they worship and whether the content of our Christian beliefs based on the bible should be changed. The answer to the second question is a decided "no".

ireneQ • unravelled says I want to stop thinking!!! Thinking is a dangerous thing: it can stop you from being swept away in the tide of enthusiasm that's unleashed once plans for the church leadership's dream building has been unveiled. [Ed. note: This post was actually submitted for a previous Carnival. The post submitted by ireneQ for this week has been added to the Carnival under the heading Christian Living.]

Weapon of Mass Distraction sends us Episcopal Priest Goes Druid, Then Changes His Mind
Rev. W. William Melnyk notified the Diocese of Pennsylvania that he has changed his mind and doesn't want to be a druid anymore. He and his wife, the Rev. Glyn Lorraine Ruppe-Melnyk were "outed" as druids last fall after their Internet postings under the pseudonyms "OakWyse" and
"Raven" were made public by Christianity Today. Mrs. Melnyk remains as rector of St. Thomas-in-the-Fields in suburban Philadelphia, where "thou shalt have no other gods before me" has apparently been downgraded from a commandment to a suggestion.

Jay at Deo Omnis Gloria presents Priestly Celibacy: Why can’t Catholic Priests get married? in which he analyzes the Catholic position on celibacy for priests.

Brutally Honest contributes Elitist faith - rooted in the me, the now, in nothingness on guarding against cynicism.

Diane R. of Crossroads sends us Mainline Woes The liberal Protestant churches just keep getting further and further down the wrong road as exemplified by the ongoing incident in an Episcopalian diocese in Connecticut. This can be a good lesson for the evangelical church to not even get on this road.

Dunmoose the Ageless shares Inaugural Mass, a link to an article comparing Benedict XVI with St. Benedict. Also a call for prayer.

Another Man's Meat sends us Paths of Service or Paths of Glory - Choices for the Church a call for the Church to "be small" at a time when it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between much of contemporary Christianity and American Idol.

Culture and Current Events

Veritas - a blog by Sharon Hughes sends us To Spit or Not to Spit, on Jane Fonda - That is the Question

TOMO wonders ARE CHRISTIANS BEING GROOMED TO ACCEPT THE COMING ANTICHRIST? and links to an essay by that name by Thomas Horn.

Sprucegoose shares the story of the Hill of Crosses. In Lithuania there stands a hill covered with crosses. Although the atheist government destroys them from time to time, they reappear
slowly, at night, until the hill is again covered with hundreds of thousands of crosses once again.

From the Anchor Hold links to some good news in Scandalous Mercy, "Pastor commits scandalous act in Milwaukee courtroom!" Father Eleazar Perez, a pastor of a church in the anchor hold's neighborhood, was struck by a hit-and-run driver during a snowstorm in January, nearly died and lost
his left leg. This past week was the trial of the driver and Father Eleazar was in court --- to plead for the driver's release. A link to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news article is included.

Another Think sends us What Andrea Dworking Got Right What Andrea Dworkin knew instinctively is that male-female relationships are terribly broken, the pieces so scattered and torn that no one seems to know what the thing ought to look like. She blamed this brokenness on men, and there she made a philosophical wrong turn. But if she failed to understand the root causes of the evil she witnessed, she did not fail to grasp the terrible price women were paying in a society that views them as sexual objects.

From lawreligionculturereview comes Caught Between Law School and Divinity School, a discussion of actual case where a judge held an someone in contempt for going to divinity school/seminary instead of being an attorney.

Musings on Christianity sends us Justice Sunday. While agreeing with the aims of the groups who gathered for "Justice Sunday" (more conservative nominees on the Federal Court), I disagree with the way they are going about it. The church reduces itself to nothing more than a special interest group and the filibuster has a long history and shouldn't be tampered with.

From a ticking time blog we have It Isn't About "Liberal" or "Conservative" To understand what the issues are in the current hubbub surrounding the filibustering of judicial nominees, we have to look past the simple labels "liberal" and "conservative", and to think more deeply than the press seems to want us to...

Ales Rarus encourages Christians to Help Set MoveOn's Agenda. MoveOn.org, a left-leaning PAC, is soliciting suggestions for their next four-year agenda. Let's let them know what the Body of Christ wants for America.

Allthings2all sends us Getting Honest on Politics and Faith, a post which describes a journey to honesty in the expression of Christian faith on political issues. Maybe sometimes we fall into a version of Christian political correctness and miss seeing the image of God in others. This post looks at some areas in which the author has felt challenged to follow conscince and not always subscribe to the party line.

Family

Marla Swoffer shares My So-Called TV Life. In honor of National TV Turn-Off week, I share my journey
with TV and ultimately without TV.

Miss O'Hara sends us Unlawfully Dispensing Dangerous Things..., her reflections on her pastor's sermon on sex.

Plunder the Goods presents Drawn to Pleasure Passionate desire for God and finding one's greatest pleasure in Him are indispensible and foundational for every Christian. Sex within marriage is a natural picture intended to show us this truth.

Gospel

Messy Christian presents When are you saved? So, when is a person "saved"? Is it when he said the right prayer? Joined a church? Walked the "walk"?

Rodney Olsen, writer of The Journey sends a thoughtful piece, Fractured People. How do we deal with the fractured and broken people we know? Have we got anything real to offer them? How do we respond to our own brokenness?

Beginning with a dramatization to illustrate the point, Danny Carlton of JackLewis.net discusses the process many people go through to return to faith in Letting go to get a better grip.

Callmeteem shares the story of an evangelism effort in Blunders I have made: in praise of making mistakes. It is about at least one mistake I've made and how God used it.

Wittingshire tells how an Ulster Defense Association thug was converted to Christianity in The Vulnerable Among Us.

From Oh How I Love Jesus we have God’s Love and Justice, a heart-felt Gospel message.

Faith Commons shares A Student of God . The recurring question for Christians and those considering a life commitment to follow The Master is: am I accepted as I am, or must I
earn salvation? And a second is: how do I know I'm saved?

Theology

...in the Outer... contributes Satan in the Strongholds. This post examines the common assumption that there are some practices, or teachings, or even things are inherently evil or even demonic. I question whether this is necessarily true and suggest that even some so-called "Christian" place, person, property or practice could be evil or demonic some of the time.

Chad Hamilton of PlaidBerry sends us Of Babies and Bathwater. This essay makes a distinction between conservative Christianity and Christian fundamentalism. In it, Chad asserts that the best answer lies in an open-minded sort of conservatism that does not water down its core beliefs.

Kevin of Technogypsy in Orthodox - Catholic Differences...its not just schism, explains one Orthodox's view of the split and why healing it isn't likely.

Comments

Thanks for stepping in and giving the time to make it work Dory!

Sven

Posted by: Sven | April 27, 2005 at 06:24 AM

Dory, I know this is a ton of work--thanks!!

Posted by: jon | April 27, 2005 at 09:07 AM

Dory, I'm glad I get notices from your blog. As a Bible translator, I took particular interest in today's post on the Parableman blog. I have just linked to his entry on my blog and added some comments on my own. Thank you for hosting the Christian Carnival and giving such good summaries of current contributions from the different blogs.

Posted by: Wayne | April 27, 2005 at 09:38 AM

Whoops, I misstated the day of Parableman's entry on Bible translation accuracy in my previous post. It was a yesterday, May 26.

Posted by: Wayne | April 27, 2005 at 09:53 AM