Wittenberg Gate: Christian Carnival

Today we have the privilege of hosting the Christian Carnival here at Wittenberg Gate. Enjoy over 30 entries from around the Christian blogosphere for a varied representation of what Christian bloggers have written this week. If you are interested in participating in future Christian Carnivals, you will find the instructions here.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Late entries have been added at the end of the post.

Doctrine and Practice

From musing/struggling/dreaming we have Inerrancy? What does "inerrancy" mean, and is it a useful word to use?

Blogcorner Preacher contributes, More Graven Images, a balanced and thought-provoking piece on images and ornamentation in the church. What would St. Paul think about the cathedral that bears his name?

Magic Statistics sends us Counseling vs Spiritual Direction, on differences between counselling and spiritual direction, and why it matters.

In For All the Saints, Rev Bill sends us a history of All Saints Day and shares how he celebrates it.

Kevin at technogypsy shares his thoughts on Hallowe'en in On the Eve of All Saints Day.

Diane of Crossroads shares Legal--Yes. But Ethical? Many things are legal, but are they ethical for the Christian? This is part one in a three-part series that will look at some very fine line decisions.

Pursuing Holiness answers the question, What is biblical forgiveness, and does forgiving someone require you to let them back into your life?, in Forgiveness and Acceptance Part 2.

Kim Anderson of Mother Lode urges Christians to train up Conquering Sons, by setting forth praise as a form of swordplay, the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of spiritual warfare.

The Deputy Headmistress from The Common Room sends us a little gem, A Thoughtful Work of Genuine Compassion. It will take you fifteen seconds to read this one and it will be on your mind all day.

Hodos contributes A Pathway for Remonasticism with the comment, "What would a modern monastic order look like? We begin an ongoing group blog contributing towards reaching this goal."

From all kinds of time... we have some thoughts on the spiritual discipline of 'giving,' in Give All or Die Tryin.

Bible Study

In Avoiding Burnout the author of Adam's Blog provides insight from the life of Moses on dealing with frustration, anxiety, and burn out.

Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage introduces us to verbiage of the Hebrew kind in An Introduction to Hebrew. Find out more about the ancient Semitic language of the Old Testament by reading this informative post.

Richard Anderson of dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos theophilos answers the question, Who is most excellent Theophilus? He says, "It seems fitting to me that on October 18th, the feast day for Saint Luke, I identify the person to whom he wrote his gospel."

In What's the Gift in Eph. 2:8?, Joe of Jungle Pop tackles the view common in Calvinism: that Eph 2:8 proves that faith is a gift of God.

Codex: Resources for Biblical Studies Blogspot studies Witches in the Hebrew Bible and the origins of the popular stereotype of witches as old hags with warts and frogs, and finds that it does not come from the Bible, but from descriptions in Greco-Roman authors popularized by Shakespeare, among others.

A Penitent Blogger shares Pause in parsing, a reflection on one important way to appreciate the
treasures of the book of Revelation.

The Bible Archive contributes Genesis 1: The Point Basking in the glorious point of Genesis 1.

Christianity in the Public Square

Cindy Swanson of Notes in the Key of Life says of her contribution, "Late last week, Jason Janz, site publisher of SharperIron.org, happened to be in my city. I took the opportunity to have him on my radio show and pick his brain about Christian blogging." Read the transcript of that interview here

Dignan of Dignan's 75 Year Plan begins a new series with A False Dichotomy: Absolutism v Relativism. Here's an excerpt: "Marvin Olasky, editor of World Magazine , referred to " an anti-evangelical undertone " in the criticism of Harriet Miers. Yet I, along with most of my evangelical friends, opposed wholeheartedly the nomination of Miers. I find myself bumping up against these things quite often: as an evangelical, I am supposed to take a certain position on an issue, yet I find myself disagreeing with the supposed "evangelical position"."

And speaking of false dichotomies, Jeff the Baptist has identified another one. He sends us Faith and Reason with the comment, "I have a problem with a lot of philosophical debates like Senses vs. Reason. They seem like false dichotomies to me. But Sense vs. Reason is nothing compared to Faith and Reason."

From Tidbits and Treasures we have Theology Pair Flips Bible Upside Down on Sexuality. Two theologians, speaking on 'Sex, Love, And Marriage in Scripture And Tradition', said, "We must reject at the outset any notion of the supreme authority of scripture".

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., looked forward to the day when a man was not judged by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. So why do we still get hung up on race? rev-ed at Attention Span examines the lingering problem of racism in The Content of Our Character.

In What is Good in God's Eyes?, Thinking Christian addresses a current controversy among his blog readers over whether God is really good, in view of his ordering the extermination of nations in the Old Testament, and his saying that suffering can be of value. One crucial aspect of the answer is understanding what is really good in the eyes of God.

Northern 'burbs blog sends us Halloween - The Day Afterthought. Halloween is a touchy subject for Christians, and while the pagan overtones should not be overlooked, we should take advantage of the opportunity to reach our neighbors for Christ.

From Bruce Harpel of Sprucegoose, we have Email War Between U of MN and AFA. The "pot calling the kettle black" is not a good way to get across the Christian message.Sometimes, both sides of an issue need to repent and try again.

Mark Olson of Pseudo-Polymath sends us Marriage: Mirrors and Windows, with this comment, "A neighboring blog took a stab at re-framing the SSM/HSM debate, defining marriage as 'nurturing'. That's the 'mirror'. I describe the other half of marriage, the 'window'."

Self-Determination and Euthanasia comes to us from Jeremy Pierce of Parableman. One argument for euthanasia is that self-determination is very important, and we can recognize and respect self-determination by allowing people to choose the time, manner, and circumstances of their death. What this argument requires, however, is irrational.

Was Rosa Parks Right? An Unpopular Opinion Her courage was astounding, and her cause was right. Was Rosa Parks' method Biblically justified? We're having a good discussion about it at "a ticking time blog"!

Ales Rarus sends us Do You Believe in Jesus? with this description, "Presented in this post is an atheist's argument against Christianity. The author presents a hypothetical situation and compares it to Christian history, faith, and tradition. It's a flawed argument, but it's interesting in its uniqueness (at least to me). I'm curious what other folks think of it and how they'd respond to it."

Devotional

Kim Bloomer of Sharing Spirit shares her thoughts in Standing in the Shadow of Love "...God is love and He displays that to us in so many ways that I can’t imagine how anyone can say there is no God. How incredibly sad and boring their lives must be, which brings me back to the main point here: standing in the shadow of God’s love is the ONLY place I want to be."

Wayne of Questions and Answers says Daylight Savings Time gave him An Extra Hour with You, Lord.

In God, Doubt and Love, blogger Silas Jones meditates on being willing to help a friend even when it means making them uncomfortable for a time.

White Ribbon Warriors sends Living Stress Free. Sometimes, it seems people have spirituality and spiritual growth confused for an emotional high or some sort of adrenaline rush. This could create more stress than it's worth, and really can hamper true spiritual growth. Sometimes we need to see that the highest, most important places in our spiritual life come in the quiet instead.

Philthreeten contributes Humbled By an Unknown Person, Reflections on the persecuted church...

Book Reviews

Thought Renewal contributes An Umpire's View, a review of the book Apologetic Preaching - Proclaiming Christ to a Postmodern World, by Craig Loscalzo.

One Hand Clapping sends Anne Rice - Evangelist, about the novelist's claim that she now writes, "only for the Lord."

No More Christian Nice Guy comes to us from CrossBlogging. It's a book review of No Mor Christian Nice guy that explains how men need to be good instead of nice.

Additional Entries

From ...in the Outer... we have The Idea Sounds Great, But... What God's message to Jonah has to do with missionary aid agencies and Christian healthcare "church plans".

Runalong with pastor mark presents hell? yes! If you have to think about hell at all (you do!) then these ten guidelines will help you do so profitably and wisely.