Last week my wife and I spent our 3 year wedding anniversary at a resort in Jamaica. We had a great time, and even as someone who likes to do things rather than sit around and relax, it was really good to take a break from life and not do much of anything at all.
And as exciting as that was, the day we got back we decided to get a kitten! Now I may like cats slightly more than your average man so I may be a little too happy about this. But how could you not love something like this:
Jeffrey Kantz at OverviewBible.com recently released the 10 least popular books of the Bible based on the results of the least read/searched books of the Bible on BibleGateway.com. This doesn’t necessarily make them the least popular in terms of liked/disliked, but is still interesting to see the least looked up/read books of the Bible.
Overall I can’t say I’m too surprised by the results. I would expect the shorter books of the Bible to make up most of the list, particularly ones found in the Old Testament. One, because there are less scripture passages people may be looking up in them, and two, because the many of the prophetic books in the Old Testament take more work to understand in terms of context and what exactly is going on in the book.
That being said, I was surprised that Jonah made the list. The list is ordered from the 10th least popular (being Jonah) to the least popular.
I should probably begin by actually defining what a squire is. A squire was a knight’s armor bearer or shield bearer. He would also do things like saddle the knight’s horse or do other tasks for the knight.
I spend a good amount of time reading from people whom I disagree with. It helps me to actually understand differing opinions and seeing how someone arrived at them, as well as helps me better articulate and understand the beliefs I have and challenges me to coherently think through why I hold the positions I hold.
One such position is that I am a complementarian when it comes to gender roles. What this means at the most basic level is that I believe that men and women are both made in the image of God, but are uniquely gifted in certain roles and responsibilities. In other words, men and women complement each other. For example, anyone can clearly see how men and women complement each other biologically. We have been created in such a way that sexually speaking our bodies “go together.”
In his recent article on Sexual Atheism: Christian Dating Data Reveals a Deeper Spiritual Malaise, Kenny Luck observes the what we can practically call “sexual atheism” among many self-proclaimed Christians who are single.
In a recent study conducted by ChristianMingle.com Christian singles between the ages of 18 to 59 were asked, “Would you have sex before marriage?” The response? Sixty-three percent of the single Christian respondents indicated yes. In my 30 years of youth and adult ministry experience, this is as unfiltered, direct and honest as a question and answer can be.
It is equally honest to say that nearly nine out of 10 self-proclaimed single Christians are, in practice, sexual atheists. In other words, God has nothing to say to them on that subject of any consequence or, at least, anything meaningful enough to dissuade them from following their own course of conduct. It is the ultimate oxymoron. A person who at once believes in a wise, sovereign and loving God who created them and all things, can also believe simultaneously He should not, cannot or will not inform their thinking or living sexually. It reminds me of those famous red letters in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus says, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46, NIV). There is disconnect between identity and activity.
The following is a guest post by my wife Christina Dodson.
Our society has such a negative view of parenting these days. The media and everything else tells us that children are time, energy, and life suckers. That children put you in bondage, take away your freedom, and forbid you from all fun.
But I refuse to believe that lie. I believe, that children are a blessing from the Lord. The majority of the time, whenever Dylan and I talk about wanting kids in the near(ish) future we get such negative responses.
You may or may not have seen or heard about the abortion video/story of Emily Letts. Letts documents her abortion procedure and comments on how she feels no remorse or guilt even a month after she went through the procedure.
Now what I am not doing here is trying to condemn her or any woman who has had an abortion (or the men that encourage and/or demand them to have an abortion). Statistics now say that between one in three or one in four women in the United States will have an abortion by the time they are 45.
What I find most disgusting and insulting about this video however is how eerily similar it is portrayed as a labor delivery. With family nearby, holding her hand, and some of the comments she makes:
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
-Romans 5:12
In the beginning God created a perfect world (Genesis 1:31), but because of the disobedience of the first two humans he created, creation became corrupt.
Before Adam and Eve disobeyed God, there was no sin. There was no death, no pain, and no hurt; everything was perfect.
Clearly, that is no longer the case. Everyone would agree that something is wrong with our world. Because our world is now cursed (Romans 8:18-22), creation is no longer perfect, and neither are the people that live in it.
This past weekend we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I would say the most helpful and encouraging aspect of Christianity to me when I am dealing with doubts is the historical fact of the resurrection.
In 1 Corinthians 15 the apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth about Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
It is important to know that Paul wrote this letter around 55 A.D. Meaning many of those “five hundred” who encountered Jesus after he came back to life were still alive. Because of this, the crux of Christianity itself (Jesus’ resurrection) was verifiable. It was not what people believed to make themselves “feel better.” Quite the contrary, many early Christians were killed because of their faith.
This is a re-post of a blog I wrote on Debbie Dodson’s blog Any Given Day.
Let me start by saying I am not a parent. I don’t have any children.
But don’t worry, I’m not one of those people without kids who think they know everything about how to raise them. I am, however, a fairly recent college graduate who is considered someone who just finished “growing up,” so I’m going to reflect on something that personal experience has shown me many parents don’t quite get, or won’t quite face. And it’s this:
I’m huge Duke fan. I think Cameron Indoor Stadium where they play is the best college basketball venue there is. I’ll argue that Coach K is the greatest college basketball coach of all time. And of course I am completely objective and have no bias in all of this…
It can become quite easy when you are friends with someone, or admire someone, or voted for someone, to want to defend them when others are critical of them. Even though you are not connected to them personally, it can seem at times that these attacks on them are somewhat attacks on you as you associate with them, support them, etc.
It is not a bad thing to want to defend someone or something you believe in, but there comes a point at which it can be.