I must begin with a brief disclosure. I am a member of the media and I am an Evangelical Christian. Both effect how I view a program like After Jesus. While being in television sports production makes me a lightweight to many who deal with hard news…the principles of journalism are the same. Being a member of the media causes me to be both sympathetic and suspicious when I evaluate a project like After Jesus: The First Christians. I am sympathetic because I know how impossible it is to cover such a sweeping topic to the satisfaction of all. I am suspicious because I believe that even the best journalists can allow a bit of bias to creep in…sometimes without even realizing that it is happening. So I was curious about how CNN would handle this topic. I believe I am the third member of the Crosswalk bloggers to weigh in on the show. I confess that I am a little intimidated to
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I love to learn new words. So when the term zeitgeist cropped up in a recent news story I immediately sought to find the meaning. Dictionary.com defines zeitgeist as a German noun that means the spirit of the time; general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period of time. Google has adopted the word to title it’s ongoing charting of the search patterns of internet users around the world. Each calendar year produces the “Year End Google Zeitgeist” which, according to Google spokespeople, speaks to our collective consciousness. After reviewing the list I would suggest it reflects our collective cultural unconsciousness. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry or alternate the two responses. If I hired the guy who does the movie trailers my thoughts would be something like this…(dramatic music)… In a world full of suffering, genocide, hunger, loneliness, broken families, spiritual longing, and fear…millions of cyber warriors search for answers to save the
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I value nearly all of the comments I receive from readers of these humble ramblings. Occasionally I get a mean-spirited post that promptly finds it’s way into the cyber trash can for all of eternity. We have one basic rule at “Bad Christian” World Headquarters. Verily, verily, all words that proceedeth out of thy posts and thy comments shall be civil…thus saith the one who pays the server bills. King James style rules just sound more authoritative. Some comments that reach this site touch me deeply and that happened today. A reader named John left these comments after reading yesterday’s post about the Time Person of the Year nominations followed by my nominations for people of the year. Here are some of John’s comments. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about these amazing men and women of God. I’ve just stepped through some deep valleys and there were times when i had difficulties in believing that God is good. When a
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Steve Martin closed a comedy CD with this classic bit…. You’ve been great, I’d like to thank each and everyone of you for coming out tonight: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank
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I love Dave Barry. As long as he is alive I will not have the weirdest brain on the planet. Here is his take on the secularizing of Christmas greetings. Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious timethat each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of hischoice. In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christianscalled it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukkah” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukkah!”or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!” These days, people say “Season’s Greetings,” which, when you thinkabout it, means nothing. It’s like walking up to somebody and saying“Appropriate Remark” in a loud, cheerful voice. But “Season’s Greetings”is safer, because it does not refer to any actual religion. Some day, Iimagine,
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As a public service I am providing a shopping guide for things you can give to Jesus on His upcoming birthday. Let’s be honest…giving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords a unique gift is really tough. Yesterday’s post examined the gifts brought to the young Christ child over 2,000 years by the three wise men, I had hoped that examining what the Magi brought might jump start our gift giving ideas. By the way, there is a plaque that is available in catalogs this year with the title “What if They Had Been 3 Wise Women?” Here is the conclusion…. They would have asked directions. Brought practical gifts Made a casserole Cleaned the stable‘ Changed the baby And there would be peace on earth. Alert readers from yesterday remember that the first gift was gold. That is always a lovely gift. But now it gets a little tougher. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Matt 2:11 (MsgB) The second gift brought out of the luggage by the Magi was frankincense.
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We are twelve days from the hardest day of the year for most men. Many of us men give gifts to our significant others with fear and trembling. Humor writer Dave Barry relates the confusion most men deal with when giving a gift to their wife. He could tell by her reaction to the gift that she had not been dreaming of getting an auto emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with booster cables and an air compressor. Clearly, this violated an important rule, but the man had idea what the rule was, and his wife was too upset to tell him. Barry continues his thoughtful treatise… So why is the Christmas season so difficult for men? There are many complex reasons, by which I mean: women. The problem goes back to the very first Christmas. We know from the Bible that the Wise Men showed up in Bethlehem and gave the baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Now
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