Memorizing God's Word (in slightly larger chunks)

http://www.fbcdurham.org/writings/Scripmem.htm

The Church vs the World

My friend Ian posted a link to this article by John Fischer entitled The Separation of Church and Hate, and it's such excellent food for thought I had to post it here as well.

Seeing a bumperstick begging Christians to "seperate church & hate" prompted the author to question what gives the world such a view of Christianity that we're so often identified with hate, when Christ said the world is to know we're His followers by our love. My first reaction to this was to take up my defense that the church is under seige by the enemy's forces and must stand up against the influences of the world. But while this has its share of truth, it is most essential to humbly consider how I've contributed to this problem.

Fischer lists five reasons why the church has such a reputation:
1) We have been more focused on sin than the sinner.

2) We have been more concerned with creating a safe society than with making a positive impact on culture.

3) We have bought into the notion that we could effect a change upon society through politics.

4) We have opted for morality over the gospel.

5) We have become the self-appointed last line of defense that God doesn’t need and never asked for.

His article goes into much greater detail on each of these points, but I just wanted to point out a couple that struck me the hardest.

First is the idea that we are God's last defense in America. We've all seen the emails and campaigns for keeping God in the Pledge, Christ in Christmas, and the Commandments in the Courtrooms, and I know I for one have participated in my share of boycotts and signed a number of petitions. But I have to admit that none of these things ensure our fellow Americans will come to know the joy of a relationship with their Creator. And while I do think we have some responsibility as American citizens to let our desires be known, when our neighbors feel the need to defend themselves against the Christian Right, it only adds more barriers preventing them from seeing the glory of God in our lives.

[to be continued...]

Microsoft One-ups Google Maps

Ok, this is just cool (and no downloads required): http://preview.local.live.com/

Basically, the bottom-half of the page shows your typical overhead map view with street names and/or aerial photos, but it's got a little blue car image overlayed on the map. The top half of the screen shows what you'd be seeing if you were sitting in that car, with front and side views. You can "drive" the car around the map using the arrow keys or your mouse, and if you hold down an arrow key, it does a pretty good job of staying on the streets.

As usual, in the preview version the images are limited to the Seattle area (and apparently SF, been having too much fun in Seattle to try that one though.)

Campaign Spending and Chewing Gum

Fun fact of the day - Did you know that in an election year (think presidency, House & Senate) politicians spend a combined $1 billion on campaigning?

Did you know this is also the amount Americans spend in the same time period on chewing gum? (Levitt, Freakonomics, p12).

Johari Window

Ran across this on a friend of a friend's (now where is that apostrophe supposed to go...) blog.

It's a method I've never seen before for mapping personality awareness, and since my narcisstic self is always curious how the views of others compare with my own self-perception, couldn't resist blogging it. :) Basically, you click this link and select a coupla words from a list you think describe me. And what do you get out of it? Um... the blocks change colors when you click on them. Really, it can be quite entertaining. ;) Ok, back to work now...

Supreme Court Weighing in on Partial-Birth Abortion Laws

Warning - I freely admit to being an avid pro-lifer and view abortion as the rather gruesome murder of an innocent child, who's life deserves as much consideration as the mother who conceived him or her. That said...

In November of 2003, Bush signed into law the ban on partial-birth abortions. Six months later, a California federal district judge struck it down in Planned Parenthood v. Ashcroft and a NY judge did the same in National Abortion Federation v. Ashcroft. Both judges argue the law is unconstituitionl as it includes no exceptions for the benefit of the woman's health. After a few other judges with rather similar conclusions, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider the constituionality of a law with no protection of a woman's health (never mind the baby's!)

Though there's no statistical info on when this type of abortion is performed, but Ron Fitzsimmons, director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, estimates that the partial-birth abortion is usually performed on a perfectly healthy mother and a healthy child that is at least 20 weeks old.

Partial-birth abortions use a process called "dilation & extration" aka D&E. The procedure involves dilating the pregnant woman's cervix and delivering the child feet-first through the birth canal. However, while the head is still inside the mother's body, it is punctured with sharp scissors and the skull squeezed, allowing it to follow the body through the dilated cervix. (Try this on a dog, and you'd most likely be nailed by the animal rights activists.)

Fortunately, this procedure is easier on the mother than the previous methods, which for those interested involved inserting forceps into the womb and pulling the baby to part and removing the body piece by piece. However, either method reduces the chance the woman will be able to have children at a later date, increases the risk of breast cancer, and often leaves her emotionally scarred.

If you've had an abortion or are considering one, you might check out the Crisis Pregancy Center (http://www.pregnancycenters.org/). Whatever you are going through, they will love you, listen if you just need to talk, answer any questions, and help you find whatever help you need. And its completely free and confidential.

LivePlasma

LivePlasma:
Enter an artist, band, movie, director, or actor, and it draws out a map showing that "item" relationship to others. Nodes in the graph are color coded as to whether they are related by content/subject, artist or director. Very cool for finding new music or movies to try.
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