Several weeks ago, Shane Hipps spoke at Mars Hill Bible Church on the Spirituality of the Cellphone (link good for about 7 more weeks) a look at how human culture is, and has been, shaped by its media and the underlying technology for thousands of years. His message was so compelling, dovetailing with a professional project I’m working on, that I ordered his new book which greatly expands on the subject: The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture.

As a one-time ad-man for Porche, who left the world of marketing to become a pastor, Hipps does a remarkable job at examining how the media we use and choose, in and of itself, conveys certain messages, things what we need to be cognizant of as Christians in our culture. I cannot recommend this book enough, especially if you are interested in how to communicate Christ in an increasingly postmodern society. Read more

So, last year it was Paul Potts, who I thought was amazing:

This year, it seems to be a 13-year old kid that even has Simon Cowell being a nice guy! Quite an accomplishment!

*UPDATE: Video is fixed now!

HT:FARK

Apparently, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is too Anglo-centric and is vestigial of England’s glory days as a colonial power. In light of this, a new call has been put forth:

Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth.

Sound far-fetched? With the Islamification of Europe (and we Americans thought our immigration issues were problematic!) and increasing social pressure to institute Islamic cultural icons into the public square (Sharia Law, the Lunar Calendar, etc.), such issues are not going to just go away.

The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim.

The watch is said to rotate anti-clockwise and is supposed to help Muslims determine the direction of Mecca from any point on Earth.

So if clocks start rotating anti-clockwise, wouldn’t anti-clockwise be clockwise and clockwise be anti-clockwise? Textbook writers rejoice!

Several months ago, I chronicled my learning experience on the workings of the Wikipedia and the small-minded ways in which some Christians were trying to make this their new digital battlefield for Truth^TM (which should never be confused for truth). Now a grizzled veteran in the ways of Wiki and the Truth^TM wars within its pages, more stories have accumulated along the way…

A few will I share today, though I am sure some are not yet complete, and yet others will meet me on the road ahead.

Thin-Skinned-Ninnies

Amazingly, along the road, I’ve met some Christian brothers whose capacity for disagreement sits somewhere below ‘E’ on most reasonable scales. Read more

I don’t know what to say, other than - he’s much braver than I’d ever be…

HT: FARK

Since Zach so kindly moved us to an easy-to-update server, we’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.5, which seemed like a cause to celebrate by changing the look and feel of the site.

Hopefully, it is for the better I think so, at least

His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,”

‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’

Jesus as Rabbi:
Part 1: What is a Rabbi?
Part 2: Was Jesus a Rabbi?
Part 3: Jesus’ Miracles
Part 4: Jesus and other Rabbis
Part 5: Jesus and the Pharisees
Part 6: Bringing up Disciples
Part 7: Jesus’ Yoke

I took a hiatus from this series for Holy Week along with an uptick in my personal calendar, but I am trying to pick up where I left off.

Rabbinic Teaching Methods

In second-temple rabbinical thought, there existed two primary modes of teaching - hagadah (knowing/devotion/meditation on scripture) and halakah (doing the Word, walking in the Way). We in the Christian tradition would probably classify hagadah as “knowing the Word” (orthodoxy) and halakah as “doing the Word” (orthopraxy). R. Abraham Heschel, considered by many to be the most respected Jewish rabbi of the 20th century, says of these two:

Halakah without hagadah is fanatacism,
Hagadah without halakah is irrelevant

In other words, to do the Word without faith or proper understanding of it is to be a blind follower, and to have faith and understanding in the Word without fully living it out is irrelevant.

Additionally, halakah has subset which stands apart, called parable - a concept with which we are very familiar.

It was also taught in rabbinic literature that the best teaching of talmidim is done in equal parts of hagadah, halakah and parable. Interestingly, if one takes Jesus’ teachings from the gospel and divide them up, you will find that the ratio of hagadah:halakah:parable is almost exactly 1:1:1! Read more

Jonah Goldberg, a conservative Jewish writer, posted an interesting article today, commenting on the release of the Dutch film, ‘Fitna‘, an expose on Muslim immigration to Europe.

Released on the Internet on Thursday, “Fitna” juxtaposes verses from the Koran with images and speeches from the world of jihad. Heads cut off, bodies blown apart, gays executed, toddlers taught to denounce Jews as “apes and pigs,” imams calling for global domination, protesters holding up signs reading “God Bless Hitler” and “Freedom go to Hell” — these are just some of the powerful images from “Fitna,” an Arabic word that means “ordeal.”

Predictably, various Muslim governments have condemned the film. Half the Jordanian parliament voted to sever ties with the Netherlands. Egypt’s grand imam threatened “severe” consequences if the Dutch government didn’t ban the film.

Where the article gets interesting, though, is when Goldberg relays a story of a man he met in Turkey several years ago:

one of the men came up to me and gave me a worn-out business card. On the back, he’d scribbled an image. It was little more than a curlicue, but he seemed intent on showing it to me (and nobody else). It was, I realized, a Jesus fish.

It was an eye-opening moment for me, though obviously trivial compared with the experiences of others. Here in this cosmopolitan and self-styled European city, this fellow felt the need to surreptitiously clue me in that he was a Christian just like me (or so he thought).

He goes on to compare this to the recent fad of “Darwin Fish” in America:

But the most annoying aspect of the Darwin fish is the false bravado it represents. It’s a courageous pose without consequence. Like so much other Christian-baiting in American popular culture, sporting your Darwin fish is a way to speak truth to power on the cheap.

Whatever the faults of “Fitna,” it ain’t no Darwin fish.

Geert Wilders’ film could very, very easily get him killed. (He’s already guarded around the clock.) It essentially picks up the work of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was murdered in 2004 by a jihadi for criticizing Islam.

He then finishes up with a comparison of criticizing Christianity and Islam, and the cowardice of taking easy pot-shots in the former, while strenuously avoiding the latter:

It’s not that secular progressives support Muslim religious fanatics, but they reserve their passion and scorn for religious Christians who are neither fanatical nor inclined to use violence.

The Darwin fish ostensibly symbolizes the superiority of progressive-minded science over backward-looking faith. I think this is a false juxtaposition, but I would have a lot more respect for the folks who believe it if they aimed their brave contempt for religion at those who might behead them for it.

All in all, a good read, and (I’m sure) fodder for calm, reasonable discussion…

I’ve heard some recent RL questions asking about Obama and his pastor.  This video does a pretty good job telling the story:

Is this unity?