Archive for August, 2005
Thursday, August 25th, 2005
I’ve been using Bible Gateway that last month for [Praxis], a blog I share with John O’Keefe. It’s a useful online Bible in several languages and versions.
English versions are:
New International Version
New American Standard
The Message
Amplified Bible
New Living Translation
King James Version
English Standard Version
Contemporary English Version
New King James Version
21st Century King James Version
American Standard Version
Young’s Literal Translation
Darby Translation
New Life Version
Holman Christian Standard Bible
New International Reader’s Version
Wycliffe New Testament
Other languages include:
Arabic, Bulgarian, Haitian Creole, German, Spanish, French, Greek, Croatian, Italian, Dutch, Maori, Swahili, Tagalot, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Romanian, Russian.
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
Three boys are in the schoolyard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, “My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50.” The second boy says, “That’s nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100.” The third boy says, “I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon. And it takes eight people to collect all the money!”
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
A small boy stunned his parents after church one Sunday when he began to empty his pockets of coins - fives, tens, twenties, fifties, one and two dollar pieces.
Finally his mother asked the obvious question, “Where did you get all that money?”
“At Sunday school,” the boy replied nonchalantly. “They have bowls of it.”
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
There were two men shipwrecked on this island. The minute they got on to the island one of them started screaming and yelling, “We’re going to die! We’re going to die! There’s no food! No water! We’re going to die!”
The second man was propped up against a palm tree and acting so calmly it drove the first man crazy. “Don’t you understand?!? We’re going to die!!” The second man replied, “You don’t understand, I make $100,000 a week.”
The first man looked at him quite dumbfounded and asked, “What difference does that make?!? We’re on an island with no food and no water! We’re going to DIE!!!” The second man answered, “You just don’t get it. I make $100,000 a week and I tithe ten percent on that $100,000 a week. My pastor will find me!”
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
From then on, Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, “I must go to Jerusalem. There the nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make me suffer terribly. I will be killed, but three days later I will rise to life.”
Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. He said, “God would never let this happen to you, Lord!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Satan, get away from me! You’re in my way because you think like everyone else and not like God.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it. What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? What would you give to get back your soul?
The Son of Man will soon come in the glory of his Father and with his angels to reward all people for what they have done. I promise you that some of those standing here will not die before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.
Matthew 16:21-28 Contemporary English Version
Jesus shows us one of the hallmarks of emotional intelligence - the capacity to choose the road of suffering and difficulty in the interest of a greater good.
NT Wright, in his lecture, “Jesus and the cross” (pdf or mp3), unpacks the reality that Jesus faced as he walked towards the cross. Taking on the role of Messiah was integrally linked with his impending death on the cross and resurrection. And the greater good would have implications for the Jewish people still reeling from the impact of exile.
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
Mo Mansill, my successor as National Youth Ministry Coordinator in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, has published the results of research into the current state of youth ministry there. It’s in Spanz, the national NZ Presbyterian magazine.
The four main issues drawn out by Mo are:
1. The drop-off - or rather drop-out - from the church as young people get older.
2. The number of youth leaders serving in the Presbyterian Church � but also the number who are isolated.
3. The gender imbalance in our youth ministries.
4. The diversity of material we are feeding our young people � and the amount of people that are inventing and reinventing resource material.
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
What was once “First Church of Cyberspace” is now “Godweb“, a blog space developed by Charles Henderson, Presbyterian Minister. The site, once an online chat community, has developed more as a blog in the last year, promoting a thinking approach to faith, including an alternative to the re-emerging dichotomy between evolution and creation in USA politics and education.
Charles, a graduate of Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary, has led churches in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and has served as a chaplain at Princeton. He is the author of numerous articles and books including God and Science (John Knox / Westminster Press, 1986). He has taught and lectured at Princeton, Columbia, Yale Divinity School, Union Seminary and Harvard Divinity School among other schools and colleges. He is Executive Director of the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life, an interfaith organization that publishes CrossCurrents, an academic quarterly and is President of the Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture. Rev. Henderson is a founding member of CIE/ the Consultation on Interfaith Education.
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
Charles Strohmer heads up the Christian Century’s feature on reformist Islam this month.
Here’s the introduction…
“Although Muslim reform may seem like an oxymoron to those who see Islam only through the lens of graphic violence, Muslim reformers have been in the sights of jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda for years. Their increasingly bold public stance has made them the natural enemy of those who seek to squeeze followers of Islam into a tight-fisted sectarianism at war with the entire infidel world.”
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
GodSpeaks is an inspirational web site with virtual billboards, real stories and cues for developing a personal relationship with God. The site includes text and audio files from people who have made the connection with God and had their lives changed.
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