Thursday, December 30, 2004

This book sounds interesting...

Not Your Grandma's Testimony - Christianity Today Magazine: "ouldn't study literature. He is troubled by the name-it-and- claim-it scho"

Levittown to Newtown

I've been reading the book Affluenza by De Graaf et al. It makes some great points about how Americans (could be expanded in most cases to western Europeans) are caught in a culture of over consumption.


One of my favorite facts from the book is particularly obvious in Bucks County PA. In Levittown, a community built immediately after WW2, homes where built for the average family of 6. Those homes, considered a great economic advancement for many of the day, average 900 sq. ft. in size. Today, one would be hard pressed to find a new home in the Newtown area, less than 10 miles from Levittown, as small as 2300 sq. ft. A good number of new homes exceed 3000 sq. ft. To accent the problem, the average family moving into these homes is 1/3 smaller than those than the post war family.

The downside of the book is the objective of the author is singly focused on saving the environment. While this is a noble goal, there is a greater goal for people. Rather, our goal should be to live the life that God intends. Humble, reflective and people focused. Many of the authors' solutions reflect this mistaken aim. The authors' make an attempt throughout the book to related the principles to Christians. Unfortunately, when they address Christians, the actually address a narrow, liberal theological base.

Evangelical Christians need not fear books like this. Actually, we should take note. What the authors write about are actually very applicable to the Christian world, but the problem is we need to look at the issue from a biblical perspective. Let us now as a Church discover the effects of Affluenza on the people of God.

The Affluenza Project

Tuesday, December 28, 2004


Santa Caspian's first snow tasted very good. It also made his chin whiter. Posted by Hello

First Western Mid-major victory over eastern school

ESPN.com - NCF - College Football - Recap

Another example of a big eastern school taking one on the chin from a small western mid-major.

This is a nice study on materialism

Covetousness

The want of matterial things is a major violation of what God has called us to be. Unfortunately, American Christians are so enveloped in the world's economy that we cannot tell the difference between God's blessing and our evil desires. It seems that Solomon was confused on the same issue as he received material blessing as a reward for not asking for it, but it seem that the attaining of material wealth, ultimately led Solomon to coveting more wealth. This led to him falling into the religions of his pagan wives and his ultimate down fall. Read about that struggle in Ecclesiastes.

Tools for help to set personal goals.

Personal Goal Setting - Setting and achieving life goals with Mind Tools

Monday, December 27, 2004

Google Search: solomon greed blessing

Google Search: solomon greed blessing

It seems odd that God blessed Solomon with great riches along with his wisdom because of the humility of his request. Yet, it also seem that Solomon's ultimate downfall was greed.

Yahoo! News - Tsunami Waves Kill Over 19,930 in Asia

Yahoo! News - Tsunami Waves Kill Over 19,930 in Asia

What an increadible sign of power. We can't imagine what it would have been like to be in caught in this. How should we respond to this?

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Mastering Mammon by Craig Blomberg



Craig Blomberg has written much on what Jesus taught about money. This article is a good summary of Blomberg's writings.

Friday, December 24, 2004

ENC Online: For Consideration: Three Articles

ENC Online: For Consideration: Three Articles: "increase"

Homework: I can't help to believe that there are appropriate amounts and types of homework for students, but I wonder if we have gone too far in pushing our children. These articles make an interesting discussion about homework. It seems that there is a fair amount of scholarly work saying that homework can be abused by teachers.

I seems David Elkind agrees as he lumps homework together with other activities that children are given to rush them throught their childhoods. Elkind (May be this was Chap Clark???) points out that high school students were given 30 minutes of homework each night just 20 years ago. The same level students are given several hours worth of homework. He says that not only is it not that helpful academically, but it is causing excess stress in the lives of the youth.

Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet: Affluenza

Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet: Affluenza

Another view of the Affluenza that has stricken the church.

Caspian, my Portugueses Water Dog at age 5 months. Posted by Hello