Christian Carnival

We have the honor of hosting the Christian Carnival here at Wittenberg Gate this week. Forty-one Christian bloggers of a large variety of denominations and perspectives have contributed their best writing of the week for your reading pleasure and edification. We hope you will use this opportunity to broaden your reading among the Christian blogs.

I have sorted the posts into broad categories and then listed the categories alphabetically. Within each category, they are listed in the order they arrived in my email inbox. In this case promptness has its rewards!

Next week's Christian Carnival will be hosted by Dunmoose the Ageless.

Enjoy!

Blogging for Life

Times Against Humanity contributes Will End of Terri's Law Mean End of Terri's Life? While the Supreme Court's decision not to hear Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's appeal on behalf of Terri's Law is a setback, it need not prove the end of the road for Terris Schindler-Schiavo, as CURE advisor Fr. Rob Johansen reports.

From Life Matters!, the blog of Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia (CURE) we have Liberty and Justice for All a Few. Michael Ross is a convicted and self-confessed serial rapist and murderer. Terri Schindler-Schiavo is an innocent citizen, whose sole 'crime' s having a disability. Guess whose appeal was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court? Life Matters! Contributing Editor Pamela Hennessy tells us the story.

Mark of 3:17 reaches out to those who have lost hope in Suicide, and in so doing helps all of us help those who despair to put this life into a proper perspective.

bLogicus sends us The Intrinsic Value of Humans. The value of humans is intrinsic because we were created and valued by God and not because of any characteristic, quality, or contribution to society. True God-centeredness opposes discrimination based upon characteristics, such as race or gender, and abhors the murder of all humans, including the immature yet human embryo.

Christian Living

His Royal Majesty of the King of Fools contributes Mistaken for Gods, an insightful piece about the temptation to let others think we are more than we really are.

Intolerant Elle shares Words With Which to Whine, a biblical perspective on whining.

Proverbial Wife sends us Fat Sins. Imagine if all our inward struggles were visible outwardly...

Technogypsy offers Despair, a look at how despair with the world can be a path back to Christ.

From basil's blog comes Me "basil." She "Jane," in which basil recaps past thoughts and attitudes about Jane Fonda, but weighs that against her new life as a Born-Again Christian.

From Pseudo-Polymath we have Charity and the Institutions of Man (Part 2) To whom should we give charity? Toward which of our brethren amongst us should we be moved by our charitable impulse to act?

Rebecca Writes contributes You're Gonna Need a Quality Shoe. If we expect the road of our life to be all freeway, or even all paved sidewalk, we're going to be disappointed.

Catez of Allthings2all considers humility in Getting Over the Super-Christian Myth. Ever come across a Super-Christian? Or been one yourself? How do we know when we are judging others. Is it as clear cut as it appears?

Off the top discusses in Claire Barshied on sex, part 1 (Contraception, Part VIII)  the opening statements in Barshied's article "Novel Bioethics, or How a book taught her to reimagine sex."

Church

Diane of Crossroads shares Now...a Word from Other Countries' Leaders. A Christian magazine recently interviewed Third World ministry leaders. What they think about the American evangelical church s revealing and sad. There certainly seems to be the same themes from all of them. Perhaps we should listen?

Notes in the Key of Life send us Rolling Stone may be the least of TNIV’s worries…, which shares concerns that some Bible scholars have about the Today’s New International Version of the Bible.

Derek of Weapons of Mass Distraction contributes SpongeBob is Great, SpongeBob is Good... A UCC congregation here in St. Louis made SpongeBob Squarepants the focus of its service this past Sunday. Is the United Church of Christ still in the business of preaching the gospel?

Parableman sends us Sider on Evangelicals Mirroring the World, his response to Ron Sider's claim that a recent study shows that evangelicals are ethically just like the rest of the world.

Wiping out Poverty, the contribution from The Journey, should make Christians reconsider their financial support of the Church. Research says that we could wipe out poverty and have money left over for all kinds of ministries simply by tithing.

Jay of Deo Omnis Gloria   asks, Is it every okay to “split off” from your current church? It’s becoming more and more common for a group of members to split off from their current church and form a new one. Is this okay? Is it even Biblical? We analyze the evidence.

 

Culture

Douglas Bass of Belief Seeking Understanding  wrote, in April of 2004, his predictions regarding the movie, "The Passion of the Christ." Being a humble man, he is willing now to remind us of those predictions and let us know how they turned out in Predictions Regarding "The Passion of the Christ"

Viewpoint sends us Banning Christianity. As Christians take stands against abortion on demand and gay marriage they can expect to incur the hatred of those most affected by Christian opposition. A case in Canada illustrates the point.

In The Defiant Ones,  Jeremy from In Search of a Clue compares the American War for Independence with the Iraqi elections.

Just for fun, here's a light-hearted tribute to America's only fully sanctioned and approved "faith-based initiative", the exclusive teaching of Darwinian Macro-Evolutionary Theory in the government schools: religious Scientism. "The Lost Boys Took the Cup"......an ode to homo hubris babylonus, Darwinian Peter Pan-theists and Green Goddess Gaia's Pagan Garden of Delights.

Proverbs Daily sends us Tivo for Christ. With the Superbowl coming up this weekend serving as a reminder, here is an argument for shielding your children and yourself from objectionable material on television.

From Catholics in the Public Square comes Subsidiarity Is Conservative.  "A distinctive contribution of Catholic social teaching is the principle of subsidiarity, which teachers that 'neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals and intermediary bodies.' "

Back of the Envelope sends us Dr. Dobson and Mr. Squarepants. Donald says, "As all the Carnival entries on this issue last week were beating up on Dr. Dobson, I took a closer look to see if he had a point.  What it all boils down to is that Dr. Dobson is not simply mistaken about the website, as others seem to think.  He claims that the material has since been removed, and he's not the only one who claims to have seen the material.  It seems like someone is lying, but I see no way to prove whom. "

First-time Christian Carnival contributor Eternal Perspectives gives us Are Evangelicals Wrong About
Israel?, in two parts: here and here. These posts are a review of Gary M. Burge's book Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians. Burge's book, which is having considerable influence among pastors and Christian educators, is an unbalanced presentation of the rights of Palestinians and the wrongs of the Israelis.  This review seeks to expose some of Burge's biases and oversights.  In the end, I conclude that Christians are right to support Israel, but need to be certain that they are support it for biblical reasons.

In the past the Church has sometimes erred by laying down her spiritual weapons, picking up the weapons of the world, and trying to 'disciple' the world by force. In Laying Down our Weapons, your humble hostess asks if we are now laying down our spiritual weapons and walking away from the fight.

Semicolon  sends us 25 Most Influential Evangelicals. Time magazine's list of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals inspired me to make my own list of the 25 Evangelicals Who Most Influence The Evangelicals I Know (including me).

Devotion

Dunmoose the Ageless shares an excerpt From The Introduction to the Devout Life by Saint Francis de Sales, bishop , which he read as part of his prayer practice and adds some reflections of his own.

Quenta Narwenion shares an excerpt from Faith and Prejudice and Other Unpublished Sermons , a quote from a sermon by Venerable John Henry Newman, C. O., dealing with Our Lord calming the Sea of Galilee.

Phil Dillon of Another Man's Meat has written Rancers, Rednecks, and Rowdies, which he says is about, "Learning to see each day as a day that the Lord has made, described through the lens of a Saturday morning in Emporia, Kansas."

From A Penitent Blogger we have a challenge to consider our attitudes toward God in Who Are We? The account of Jairus' daughter in the Gospel of Mark includes several people who exemplify different
attitudes toward God. Which of them are more like us?


Doctrine/Apologetics

Brandywine Books sends us a piece that responds to a NY Times Sunday Book Review of a Stanford English professor's book about Lot and his daughters. In Lot, His Daughters, and Jesus' Heritage he asks, "What was Jesus' human heritage, and is it too strong to say that 'ultimately, the hope of mankind arrives through an act of incest,' specifically Lot's in Genesis 19?"

From Bible Archive comes XIII - Justification's Hole? Romans 5. Exploring the gaping hole in God's righteousness--the justification of a sinner.   

The always thought-provoking David Mobley from A Physicist's Perspective has written In the image of God. Says David, "I've noticed there's some confusion about what it means to be made in the image of God. I discuss this and provide a link to a lecture with much more information on the topic. It's important to understand, because it says a lot about how we should look at ourselves and other human beings, and has ethical implications, as well."

Cerulean Sanctum sends us On the Brink of a Quantum Singularity with Calvin and Arminius And asks, "Is the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism nothing but a black hole for real disciples?"

Bill Wallo of Walloworld wrote an excellent piece, The New Age Christian. So what are we preaching, anyway?

Beyond The Rim... contributes Rimshots #18 "Elitism," a look at elitism and whether or not Christianity is elitist.

Ales Rarus responds in Purgatory Pickle  to a very common Evangelical misunderstanding of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory.

On  Blogging

From Karagraphy we have Social Currency in the Karaoke Culture,  a brief essay not blasting the many benefits of the blogosphere, but calling us to weigh our motives and heed the voices of those many people who are NOT "in on" it, some of whom are more immediately near, and whose needs are perhaps more dire.

Leo Wong of Hawaii, writer of Notes, shares a Java applet, Love God, based on a sign seen in Windward Oahu, HI.

 

 

Comments

[Rey]

Great job organizing the posts! Thank you.

[Funky Dung]

I gave you the wrong trackback URL. Could you pls ping http://haloscan.com/tb/funkydung/1733? Thanks in advance. :)

[Samantha]

Hi, there. I have seen your blog linked on a quite a few others...it is a good one!

I was wondering if someone could email me and explain the Christian Carnival? I have seen it at various blogs, but I don't know how to find what the next topic is (to participate, possibly), etc.

Thanks!

[Dory]

Samantha, (and others interested in participating),
Christian Carnival will be in transition shortly, as Wittenberg Gate is taking over the management of it from its founder, Nick Queen, so Nick can be freed up for his new project recognizing new Christian bloggers.

For now though, the first thing you need to do is get yourself on the email list for the Carnival. Then you will receive an email from that week's host about when and where to send your submission, and what information he or she needs. Go to Nick's site: http://patriot-paradox.mu.nu/ and use his email link on the left sidebar to send him a request to be added to the list.

There is also a schedule on his site for the next few hosts. If you don't get the information from the email list, you can always email the host directly for information. Generally submissions are due sometime Tuesday.

There are no themes. You may submit any post of your choosing from the prior week (not older). Bear in mind that your audience is more diverse than the usual audience of your blog (probably), and includes members of many different denominations.

Posts do not have to be about Christianity per se. Anything written from a Christian worldview is fine. So you can enter posts with themes from politics, education, homemaking, science, humor, sports, and culture, as well as the more expected themes of doctrine, apologetics, devotions, or Christian living, etc.

I will post more information about participating and hosting on my site within the next week or two, and provide links to the information permanently in my sidebar.

[Jeremy Pierce]

The Technogypsy links aren't working properly. They include your URL in front of the real one. Just so you know.

[Dory]

Thanks, Jeremy! They should work now.