When Rob Bell left Mars Hill Bible Church, he said that he was leaving because he felt a “calling to share God’s love” in new ways. Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports that one of those “new ways” is to produce a television drama about his own life. Bell has joined-up with Carlton Cuse—one of the creators of the TV series Lost—to produce a television pilot, and ABC has already bought the rights to it. New York Magazine has a brief report on how Cuse and Bell got together and what the show will be like:
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Pat Robertson Responds . . . Inadequately
Pat Robertson has been absent from “The 700 Club” since he advised a viewer to divorce his wife who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. He just returned to the program this week, and he offers his response to the subsequent reaction to his words. The video is below, and his remarks begin at 52:41.
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Ken Starr’s First Year as Baylor President
Here’s a really interesting article from The Texas Tribune about Ken Starr’s first year as president of Baylor University. In a nutshell, most view his first year as an unexpected success. Starr has won over his critics and has spent an inordinate amount of time negotiating with other presidents how to keep the Big 12 together. Oh, he’s also joined a Baptist church. Read the rest here.
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Jeff Bezos Unveils the Kindle Fire
Jeff Bezos unveiled the Kindle Fire this morning. It is a 7-inch Android tablet, and it only costs $199. It is optimized for media consumption (video, music, books, etc.), but it does not have much capability by way of media creation (no camera, no microphone, etc.). It only has 8 GB of memory because the creators are assuming that most content will be accessed from the Amazon cloud. This device is not designed to compete with the iPad. But it will give the Nook a run for its money. For the full story and more pictures, click here.
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What is a gay Christian?
Yesterday, the Baptist Press ran a slightly revised version of an essay I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the term “gay Christian.” Since then, comments have been appearing under that older post. I’m going to repost the Baptist Press article here so that we can open a new thread of comments. The article is below, and the comments are below that. Thanks for reading!
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Are You a Scoffer?
Yesterday, we learned from Psalm 1:1-2 that “blessedness” is “happiness.” If you want to be a happy person, you have to avoid being like the wicked, the sinners, and the scoffers (v. 1). The root of blessedness—indeed of true happiness—is knowing God through His word (v. 2). There is one other item that we need to look at from verse one—the word translated as “scoffers.” Perhaps it is not too difficult to comprehend what David means by “the wicked” and “the sinners,” for in both cases he is talking about law-breakers. But what is a scoffer, and how do we avoid sitting in his seat? We can answer both questions…
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Thousands of Ancient Greek Texts for Free in Logos
Logos has just added a valuable resource to its already expansive library: the Perseus Classical Collection. This resource is a collection of over 1,000 classical Greek and Roman authors, and it is all free of charge. The Greek and Latin texts are all in their original languages, and some of them come with English translations. Greek and Latin Grammars are also included in the package.
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Where does happiness come from?
Sometimes the usual translation of Psalm 1:1-2 conceals the real point of the text. I have in mind the words that are commonly translated as “blessed” and “delight.” Take the NASB for example: 1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. The NASB has not mistranslated these two terms. It in fact tracks right along with many other major English versions (e.g., ESV, NIV, RSV). The problem is…
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Lecrae’s “I Am Second” Testimony
Lecrae tells his testimony of conversion to Christ on the “I Am Second” website. You can watch it here. If you don’t know who Lecrae is, see below.
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Rick Perry Dances and Prays with Rabbis
From The Washington Post: “Lots of people are talking about a recently-undug clip of Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) dancing with a group of rabbis at a 2010 Hanukkah lighting ceremony. Perry gets his groove on around the five minute mark.” Politics aside. As a Christian, I’m much less concerned with the dancing than I am with the praying and the “Thank, you brother” that Perry adds at the end. There has to be a better way for a Christian politician to serve and to be respectful of all of one’s constituents without falling into syncretistic play-acting.