Theological insight, courtesy of Pearls Before Swine…
-ghp
Analytics & Hosting
New plugins & comment policy
Just dropped in two new plugins, along with the Wordpress 2.8.1 update: one to push new post notifications out into the Twitter-stream, and one to facilitate/enable folks to login using their Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, OpenID, Google, or Yahoo accounts when they want to post comments.
It’s not so much that I’m against anonymous comments (although I do prefer names to be associated with opinions), it’s more that I think it’s a pretty cool plugin because it allows accounts/userids/passwords that folks already have to be leveraged in another place/way. We’ll see how it works out…
-ghp
Props & Prayers
Props & Prayers go out to the courageous people of Iran who are standing up & fighting for their rights.
It’s not often that we can discern that we’re living in a moment that History will record and note as significant, but this, I think, is one of them.
And, for all the silliness that happens on cell phones & on social networks like Twitter, it’s during times like this that we see how important they are. Without the web/Twitter/Youtube/cell-phones we wouldn’t be getting the real story from the ground in Tehran, as palpably ugly as it is. Instantaneous communication matters now, just like the printing press, radio, & tv did back in previous communication revolutions.
Now, I just wish our President would come out and strongly condemn the corrupt autocratic regime that is abusing the rights of the Iranian citizenry, and stop dragging his feet & playing it cool.
May the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — protect and preserve us all, especially those folks in Iran.
-ghp
Bill the Cat
Awesome.
Nothing more need be said…
Any thoughts on ALPHA?
Does anyone out there have any strong thoughts on ALPHA, from a Lutheran p.o.v.?
Any links to resources that break ALPHA down, and examine it by holding it up against orthodox Lutheranism?
Any ideas on why it’s so appealing to Lutherans?
Any thoughts on why CPH hasn’t developed a Lutheran alternative? (I have a question in to Paul McCain on this, but I have yet to hear anything back from him on this…)
I know that there’s been much discussion on/about ALPHA over at LQ, as well as over at BJS, and while those are/have been useful, they’ve also been somewhat highly charged (LQ more than BJS, to be fair) with more heat than light, and I’m looking in a slightly more objective direction at this point.
ALPHA concerns me greatly, in that I’m perplexed as to why orthodox, Confessional Lutherans would be tempted to use it, thinking that they could somehow follow the “eat the meat & spit out the bones” approach. It strikes me as a dangerous game. And I’m almost equally as perplexed that there hasn’t been an alternative developed, tested, vetted, and promoted so that good, Lutheran theology isn’t viewed as something that isn’t “friendly” to newbies. (by the same token, I should say that I do somewhat dispute the premise that doctrine must somehow be “watered down” in order to not “scare away” those newbies; this is a premise upon which ALPHA seems to be built…)
Any thoughts/ideas/tips that y’all might have will be gratefully received, discussed, etc…
-ghp
Musings on a Sunday after church
*tap* *tap* *tap*
Is this thing on?
Wow. It still works. Good to know…
Some random musings that have been floating through my mind after a nice Holy Trinity Sunday service (LSB, DS III, for those who care) this morning…
- The Athanasian Creed – we didn’t confess it today. That makes me sad. Why didn’t we? Well, the usual, I suppose – “it’s too long”, “it’s too different”, “it’s too confusing”, etc. I don’t buy that, but matters little-to-none in the grand scheme.
- On Eagle’s Wings – this (LSB 727) was sung during distribution. Can someone convince me that it’s not utter emotionalistic dreck? Anyone?
- The Nunc Dimittis – we didn’t sing it today. I think it got cut to move things along & keep the service shorter. That makes me sad, because I loves me some Song of Simeon.
- VBS Themes – this year’s VBS theme was announced/touted – “God Rocks!” *sigh* I guess I’ll cut VBS some slack, but overall, it rolls together with my confusion & annoyance over the contemporary obsession with making everything FUN!!! – as if that’s the panacea for fixing what ails the church. ‘Cause, goodness knows that Sunday School & Youth programs focused on FUN!!! for the past 35+ years has worked sooooooooo well.
- Perfect(?) Rewards – After service, awards were given out for Sunday School perfect attendance. Thing is, you can miss up to 3 times & still get “perfect” attendance. Not even the local public schools have devalued the word/concept that much (heck, in the Valpo Public Schools, if you want “perfect” attendance, you still have to be there every day – no mulligans!). I’m not agin the award, per se, just agin the misuse of the word “perfect”. Are we teaching our kids that “perfect” = messing up once or twice? And, if so, what might that subliminally be teaching them about (the need for) Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection? I don’t mean to be overly pedantic here (well, maybe a little), but words have meaning, and precision in that meaning is a good thing that we ought not throw away. Especially in some misguided effort to make kids (or is it their parents? hmmmm?) feel better about themselves.
Ahh, that feels better. Back in the saddle. Gotta get ready for the upcoming district convention, and all the festivities that come along with that. I’m sure there’ll be plenty to write about…
-ghp
British ‘texting-while-driving’ PSA
This is a particularly brutal British Public Service Announcement on the subject of texting while driving. It’s not for the faint of heart. Neither is it unimportant. It’s very timely and, I think, very effective.
More description & discussion over at EW.com.
-ghp