Christian Carnival #375

 

Welcome to the April 13, 2011 edition of the Christian Carnival (#375). In addition, though I’m too tired to create a theme, I’m making editorial comments and even handing out a few awards, for what they’re worth.* The author’s comments are in quotes; mine aren’t.

loswl presents His Thoughts are Higher than our Thoughts posted at INSPIKS, saying, “The wisdom of God is so far above man, it is on a different level altogether. Our intelligence, even at its best, is so small.” He really puts you down, but only in the best sort of way. I give this one the “best downer of the week” award.

Kaleb presents The Case for the Virgin Birth posted at W2W Soul: Windows to The Woman’s Soul, saying, “Clearly depicted in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the virgin birth is one of the more unambiguous accounts in the Bible yet is met with more opposition and criticism than many of the other miracles portrayed.” I think C. S. Lewis was the one who noted that we swallow the camel of the resurrection and then strain at the gnat of the virgin birth. I’ll probably regret quoting that without going and looking it up. Doubtless someone will correct me in the comments!

Maryann Spikes presents Craig v Harris debate post mortem, audio and video posted at Ichthus77. This is postmortem++ run through a loop, but very instructive.

Leah LaRue presents What is Wrong With the Church? ? 10 Things That Need to Stop! posted at Order in the Church!, saying, “This is my first time submitting; please let me know if additional information is required. Thanks much for your consideration!” Answer? You did it just fine! Welcome to the carnival! Having been in church leadership, I felt some of those points. How about an “ouch!” award?

Nicholas Potts presents The depths of the soul and mind: Supposed Atheistic Neutrality… posted at The depths of the soul and mind, saying, “This article actually got circulated a little bit through some atheists blogs and some people got a little irritated with it.” While giving the word “worldview” a solid workout, Nick launches an all-out attack on the very concept of a neutral position, and even asks how we determine that a neutral position would be the best place to start.

Jason Price presents What is Financial Stewardship? [Christian Financial Alliance] posted at One Money Design, saying, “What is Christian financial stewardship? Learn what it means from several Christian personal finance bloggers.” Do you know what stewardship is? Some folks think it means responding to the most recent appeal for money, such that “stewardship” is a synonym for (generous) giving. You’ll get some ideas on what it really means from this post.

Maryann Spikes presents God (is) the Golden Rule (ought) without offending Hume posted at Ichthus77. OK, I’m letting Maryann by with an extra post, since this one’s so much fun. (Besides, she pointed me to the Christian Apologetics Alliance.) I’m going to make a bet with myself that most of you haven’t asked the question she’s answering. (And no, it’s not my everyday sort of question either.)

Philip Carlson presents A Lesson from the Qur’an posted at Science and Theology in Apposition. I’m going to suggest a provocative question that might be answered in this post: In what way might the Qur’an tend to be better than your Bible? (Hint: The Bible I carry to church is not deficient in this area.)

Tyra Ronan presents 40 Best Web Resources for Bible Study posted at A Blog of Biblical Proportions, saying, “You don’t have to be a Bible student, or planning for a career in the ministry, to benefit from the online Bible resources available. Anyone can find greater enjoyment and enlightenment from the holy scriptures when they look to using web resources. Whether you are looking for personal edification, or whether you are preparing a lesson for Sunday school, here are 40 of the best web resources for Bible study.” Who couldn’t make use of 40 links to Bible study resources? I just have to give this the “most links in one post” award for the week.

CChisholm presents Six Biblical Easter Facts You Should Know posted at The Chisholm Source, saying, “Crucifixion is primarily an extreme method of torture/punishment and is not necessarily synonymous with death. Death normally resulted from crucifixion, but in history there are cases where a crucified man survived on the cross for a few days.” Most of these are about the crucifixion. I give this the “most gruesome post” award, but it’s still edifying!

Ridge Burns presents Perspective posted at Ridge’s Blog. Different perspectives are rather helpful in coming to understand an issue. Good essay project: compare and contrast “worldview” (see above) and “perspective.” Why might one not wish to abandon elements of one’s worldview in discussion, yet value differing perspectives?

Cameron Cloud presents Ring and Run: Missing an Eternal God in Prayer posted at Nephos. I give this one the “short and simple but challenging” award for the day!

michelle presents committed? posted at going into all the earth…, saying, “the Radical Experiment…” OK, this post gets the “sneak attack” award. She starts with the “c” word and ends up on the “m” word. (Read it to find out …)

Barry Wallace presents A gifted writer examines Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” posted at who am i?, saying, “Tim Stoner, author of The God Who Smokes, has written an excellent series of posts on Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins.” … and Barry provides us with some samples. This gets the “no carnival can be without it right now” award for today.

Jeremy Pierce presents Evangelical Scholars’ Self-Esteem posted at Parableman, saying, “a look at the possible motives of evangelical scholars who leave behind evangelical convictions that are embarrassing in academic circles.” I was once told to go ahead and take a position and just not talk about those of my beliefs that didn’t accord with those of my potential employer. I think Jeremy outlines the situation with admirable clarity. I had to say ‘no’.

They didn’t submit it, but I’m going to include a link to a post of links to this weeks posts (I’m not sure I made it through that. Is it grammatical?) from the Christian Apologetics Alliance. Thanks to Maryann for pointing this out.

And just because there must be one of mine, I present A Misuse of the Word LITERAL from my Participatory Bible Study Blog. I further grant myself the “only post called ‘nonsense’ in the first comment” award. I know I ranted a bit, but nonsense? You be the judge. Not that I won’t argue with you!

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Christian Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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* Not much. More like nothing.