parables of a prodigal world

Here's the deal. 1. Think of a theological term has gotten so stagnant or warped or misunderstood or polarized that it's high time for a replacement term. 2. Think of the replacement term. 3. One sentence on what's wrong with the old one. 4. One sentence on why the new one is better (unless its self-explanatory). 5. Then, link to the person that tagged you, and finally... 6. Tag five more people who you think can come up with a good one. Remember, people, they're just words, so don't be afraid of a little blasphemy. Attempts to dig deeper into theological perspectives are always considered blasphemous...at first. Also, you don't have to wait until you're tagged. If you come across this thing and think of a good one, jump right in! Feel free to cut/paste the instructions. Here's mine: OLD TERM: Trinity -- Too long defined as "3=1" using Aristotelian categories, categories nowhere to be found in the Judeo-Christian worldview. NEW TERM: Almighty...

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass stood up in Rochester, New York and delivered a speech entitled, " The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro ." Might be the greatest speech you've never heard of. Here's some excerpts: ...[T]his day is the anniversary. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. The din of business, too, is hushed. Even mammon seems to have quitted his grasp on this day. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interest -- nation's jubilee... ...Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! w...

...to be reformed by the gospel but always ready for fresh reformations by that same gospel: to recognise that God has more light to break out of his holy word, and that this may lead us to do things in new ways, sometimes setting us free from tired structures and sometimes creating new structures for new gospel purposes. - N.T. Wright , After GAFCON (June 30, 2008) I hate it when...I expend a lot of effort in targeting, detailing, describing, and analyzing weaknesses. The patient is in the emergency room, and we need to move from diagnosis to triage fast, in my opinion. It’s way easier to talk than to actually do, and the people I respect the most spend less and less time critiquing and more and more time serving, loving, showing hospitality, listening, visiting, solving, caring, worshiping, praying, and so on. We really need to be careful about this – especially those of us who blog, write, speak, broadcast, and so on. Jesus didn’t say, “I was in prison and you wrote a book for me, I...

Heard of Wordle yet? If not, then here's the concept. Insert any amount of text from any source (book, blog, speach, article, sermon, etc.) and Wordle will generate a beautiful word cloud. While the cloud is, indeed, beautiful in and of itself, it is more beautiful because of the fresh perspective it gives on the text itself. Words that are more frequently used are generated in a larger, more prominent font in the cloud. It's like the central themes of the text, surrounded by their context, almost leap off the page and hit the viewer like a perspective from another dimension. Here's a few examples from some writings that are particularly relevant/interesting to me: The Gospel of John: The Gospel of Mark: The Gospel of Judas: Obama's "Call to Renewal" Speech (the one Dobson slammed him for): Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech: George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil" Speech (2002 State of the Union Address): Sermon on the Mount: Th...

The Washington Post chimed in on the Obama-Dobson feud yesterday with this interesting piece . It speaks of Obama's keynote address at a "Call to Renewal" conference on June 28, 2006, about which Dobson was so displeased. The message of the Post's piece is that Obama should be commended for espousing the value of a public faith , but not one which seeks a literal application of Scripture in modern affairs. For one thing, Obama took on liberals "who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant" and "caricature religious Americans ... as fanatical." He went on to say: "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square.... To say that men and women should not inject their 'personal morality' into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of our morality, much of which is grounded in the Jud...