Are we speaking the same language?

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Mar 4, 2006 in Culture | 0 comments

It’s always amusing when word games are played by different organizations. Do you remember when every ‘USED‘ car lot in the country became a ‘Pre-Owned‘ car lot? Same product but now it seems they have a new snazzier product. I got a reminder of this game recently when I read an article about partial birth abortions. When it came to the abortions here’s how the two sides spoke about it:

“…reproductive health services.” – National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy [I guess we could also add their name in the game column. Do they really speak for all women? hmmm...don't think so.]

“…pre-born children.” – Operation Rescue President Troy Newman

Source: Court sides with abortion foes on extortion laws

Any other good word games you see out there?

Volunteer and Serve in San Diego

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Mar 2, 2006 in Church | 0 comments

Luke Shiras has compiled a great resource of places for people to volunteer and serve in San Diego.

Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Mar 1, 2006 in Church, Culture | 2 comments

A book I’m purchasing from Amazon, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity.

As a religiously adrift young adult in the 1960s, Pearcey found her way to the Swiss retreat, and the intellectually rigorous faith, of the Calvinist maverick Francis Schaeffer. This book continues the Schaeffer-inspired project that Pearcey and Chuck Colson began in How Now Shall We Live?‚Äîawakening evangelical Christians to the need for a Christian “worldview,” which Pearcey defines as “a biblically informed perspective on all reality.” Pearcey gives credibly argued perspectives on everything from Rousseau’s rebellion against the Enlightenment, to the roots of feminism, to the spiritual poverty of celebrity-driven Christianity. She also provides a layperson’s guide to the history of America’s anti-intellectual strain of evangelicalism. Unfortunately for the book’s chance at a wide audience, several chapters are devoted to a critique of Darwinism and defense of Intelligent Design‚Äîwith no substantive engagement with the many thoughtful Christians (John Polkinghorne, Ken Miller, Nancey Murphy, etc.) who dissent from Intelligent Design’s scientific and philosophical program. Still, Pearcey deftly applies Schaeffer’s core insight that modernity has been built on a “two-story” view of reality‚Äîwith “facts” on the ground floor and “values” up in the air. Her critique of this view is compelling, and her final chapters, which begin to sketch an integrated Christian way of living and thinking, are exceptional. This is the rare long book that leaves one wanting to read more.

Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Mar 1, 2006 in Church, Culture | 0 comments

Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts is another book I’m picking up.

Too often Christians have only thought of worship in terms of particular musical styles or liturgical formats. But a proper view of worship is far larger than what takes place in churches on Sunday mornings. All of us, Christian or not, are always worshiping, whether or not that worship is directed toward God. We are unceasing worshipers.

In this fruition of a lifetime of study, reflection and experience, Harold Best casts a holistic vision for worship as continuous outpouring in all settings and contexts. With careful exposition and eloquent analysis, Best addresses popular misunderstandings about the use of music and offers correctives toward a more biblically consistent practice of artistic action.

Incisive, provocative, profound and comprehensive, Best’s landmark volume is one by which all other statements on worship and the arts will be measured.

Buy it at Amazon: Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts

New Sermon Series on Galatians

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Mar 1, 2006 in Church, Sermon | 0 comments

Kaleo is about to begin the book of Galatians for our next sermon series. Many consider Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians as the one of the best (if not the best commentary). John Bunyan said this was the book that he would give up last save for his Bible.

This classic commentary on Galations enables you to study under the great reformer who not only reveals sound scholarship but also an intense personal identification with these profound Pauline truths. Clearly written and understandable, this verse-by-verse exposition offers a careful interpretation of Galations.

Buy it at Amazon: Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians