Saturday at the Cinema: Not-So-Scary Facts About Halloween

Global Christian Perspectives: Bill Gates, Climate Change, the Justice Department and the IRS

Caption Contest

Theology from the Far Side

Does the Church Confuse Mission with Charity?

One November many years ago, I was attending a conference in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. It was late in the afternoon on Sunday. I had bowed out of a couple of sessions to finish some paperwork in my hotel room. Time slipped away from me and when I finally took to the streets to find a place to eat, I found that the only thing open late on a Sunday was a MacDonald's. Fast food is not at the top of my list in reference to bill of fare, but it was going to have to do.

As I approached the entrance to the restaurant, a young man, who was obviously homeless, approached me asking if I would give him money for something to eat. A police officer stepped in to keep him from bothering me. I told the officer that I very much appreciated him doing his job, but that it was OK; I would talk to the young man.

Is the Denial of God's Wrath also the Denial of God's Love?

From N.T. Wright:
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Face it: to deny God's wrath is, at bottom, to deny God’s love. When God sees humans being enslaved – and do please go and see the film Amazing Grace as soon as you get the chance – if God doesn't hate it, he is not a loving God. (It was the sneering, sophisticated set who tried to make out that God didn't get angry about that kind of thing, and whom Wilberforce opposed with the message that God really does hate slavery.) When God sees innocent people being bombed because of someones political agenda, if God doesn't hate it, he isn't a loving God. When God sees people lying and cheating and abusing one another, exploiting and grafting and preying on one another, if God were to say, 'never mind, I love you all anyway', he is neither good nor loving. The Bible doesn't speak of a God of generalized benevolence. It speaks of the God who made the world and loves it so passionately that he must and does hate everything that distorts and defaces the world and particularly his human creatures. And the Bible doesn't tell an abstract story about people running up a big debit balance in God's bank and God suddenly, out of the blue, charging the whole lot to Jesus. The Bible tells a story about the creator God calling a people through whom he would put the world right, living with that covenant people even when they themselves went wrong, allowing them to become the place where the power of evil would do its worst, and preparing them all through for the moment when, like the composer finally stepping on stage to play the solo part, he would come and take upon himself, in the person of his Son, the pain and shame, yes, the horror and darkness, yes, but also, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, in Paul and Acts and Hebrews and 1 Peter and Revelation, in Ignatius and Irenaeus and Augustine and Aquinas, in Luther and Calvin and Cranmer and Hooker, in Herbert and Donne and Wesley and Watts – he would take upon himself the condemnation which, precisely because he loves us to the uttermost, he must pronounce over that deadly disease we call sin. To deny this, as some would do today as they have for hundreds of years, is to deny the depth and weight of sin and the deeper depth and heavier weight of God’s redeeming love. The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
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You can read Tom Wright's entire sermon here.

Ten Situations in Which the Silence of the Pastor is Golden

Because at certain times, a pastor's word will stifle necessary conversation:

1. When a healthy discussion breaks out in Bible study.

Six Scientific Explanations for Ghosts

Something to ponder in this Halloween season from Mental Floss:

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A surprising number of people believe in ghosts. A 2014 UK survey found that 52 percent of participants believed in the supernatural. A 2015 survey by Chapman University found that more than 40 percent of Americans believe places can be haunted by spirits. However, there may be a more scientific basis to things that go bump in the night than a restless afterlife. 

Here are six logical explanations for that ghostly presence in your house: 

1. Electromagnetic Fields

2. Infrasound

3. Mold

4. Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

5. Someone Else Said It Was Real

6. We Want to Believe

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The details of each can be found here.

The Faith of Our Founders #6: Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1706 and raised in a Puritan home in which his father Josiah taught a strict Calvinism of election and reprobation. Franklin would come to reject both and as a young and inquisitive man in his teens, he would consider atheism as a logical possibility (in his early years he often used the terms "deism" and "atheism" interchangeably). He would not consider atheism for very long, but he would not return to his Puritan Calvinist roots. He would instead embrace deism finding that the arguments in its favor were more convincing than those against.(1)

One of the interesting questions debated by Franklin scholars is whether or not Franklin embraced a kind of gnostic polytheism, In his "First Principles" he writes the following:

God's Grace is Not Equivalent to Getting a Suntan

The Wesley Center Online defines the heart of Wesleyanism:

Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology is the system of Christian theology of Methodism taught by John Wesley. At its heart, the theology of John Wesley stressed the life of Christian holiness: to love God with all one's heart, mind, soul and strength and to love one's neighbour as oneself. Wesley's teaching also stressed experiential religion and moral responsibility.

Scriptures and Prayer for the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost (Reformation Sunday)

Old Testament: Job 42:1-6, 10-17

Epistle: Hebrews 7:23-28

Gospel: Mark 10:46-52
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O Jesus Christ, teacher and healer, you heard the cry of the blind beggar when others would have silenced him. Teach us to be persistent in prayer and give us courage to ask plainly what we need from you, that we might respond in your name by the power of the Spirit through the ministry entrusted to us for the sake of the gospel. Amen.

Saturday at the Cinema: What Do We Do When Antibiotics Don’t Work Anymore?

Truth Is Strange Than Fiction: Your Church Choir Is Disturbing the Peace

City warns church after neighbor complains about choir noise
From Associated Press
October 16, 2015 12:26 PM EST

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The city of Oakland, California, sent a letter warning a church that it could be fined after a neighbor complained that choir practice was causing unbearable night-time noise.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church has served residents in West Oakland for 65 years. Pastor Thomas A. Harris III says he was surprised to learn he could face an initial fine of $3,529, followed by $500-per-day penalties, for the "joyful noise" of choir practice.

Harris says rehearsal ends at 9 p.m., but the complaint sent to the city says the loud music sometimes lasts until 2 a.m.

City spokeswoman Karen Boyd says the letter was a courtesy notice and that she hasn't received any more complaints. She says she doesn't intend to fine the church.
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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com

Is Life In the Universe Special Because It Is Rare?

For centuries, we human beings have speculated on the possible existence and prevalence of life elsewhere in the universe. For the first time in history, we can begin to answer that profound question. At this point, the results of the Kepler mission can be extrapolated to suggest that something like 10 percent of all stars have a habitable planet in orbit. That fraction is large. With 100 billion stars just in our galaxy alone, and so many other galaxies out there, it is highly probable that there are many, many other solar systems with life. From this perspective, life in the cosmos is common.

However, there's another, grander perspective from which life in the cosmos is rare. That perspective considers all forms of matter, both animate and inanimate. Even if all "habitable" planets (as determined by Kepler) do indeed harbor life, the fraction of all material in the universe in living form is fantastically small. Assuming that the fraction of planet Earth in living form, called the biosphere, is typical of other life-sustaining planets, I have estimated that the fraction of all matter in the universe in living form is roughly one-billionth of one-billionth. Here's a way to visualize such a tiny fraction. If the Gobi Desert represents all of the matter flung across the cosmos, living matter is a single grain of sand on that desert. How should we think about this extreme rarity of life?
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The entire post can be read here.

Seventeenth Century Preaching on the Virtues of Tobacco

Some things have indeed changed for the better. Thank goodness that Methodist preachers only got paid with chickens.
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Jamestown was founded in 1607 in what is now Virginia, but for the first several years of its existence the settlers couldn't figure out a way to support themselves. They tried, corn, timber, glassblowing, even silkworms. Nothing worked; Jamestown grew more and more impoverished, failing to attract new settlers in significant numbers, and it drained more of the motherland's resources with each passing year.

Preachers Take Note: The Real World Is Not "Out There"

Many years ago in their book Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon contrasted the theological agendas of Paul Tillich and Karl Barth.

Tillich (along with Bultmann) assumed in his work that Christianity in its traditional form was a problem for the modern world. Thus he embarked on a theology of translation in which the ancient metaphors and symbols could be "translated" (Bultmann; demythologize) into language and ideas that could be believed in the twentieth century. Hauerwas and Willimon reject such a project. They write,

No Mission, No Church

"The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church; and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith."

--Emil Brunner (1889-1966)

The Faith of Our Founders #5: Thomas Jefferson

Of all the Founders, no one placed his philosophical mark on the new nation of the United States more than Thomas Jefferson (James Madison was a close second). Jefferson was truly a son of the Enlightenment embracing deism without reservation and rejecting traditional expressions of Christianity without reservation.

Like most deists, Jefferson did not believe that God was intimately involved in human affairs, and Christian doctrines that explicitly stated so, like the Incarnation, the authority of Scripture, and resurrection were to be rejected as the "deliria of crazy imaginations." Jefferson referred to the doctrine of the Trinity as "mere abracadabra." (1) Jefferson did, however, believe that individuals would be judged by God for their deeds, though the idea of any kind of eternal state of damnation was anathema. (2) For Jefferson, like other deists, the chief contribution of religion was to make moral people and good citizens. Doctrine was irrelevant. Jefferson did suggest, however, that on rare occasions God might answer prayer.

Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Let's Face It: At Times Jesus Is Just Not Nice

I like nice... nice is...well... nice. To Quote Major Frank Burns in M*A*S*H, "It's nice to be nice to the nice."

But nice is really boring.

Jesus wasn't boring. The crowds didn't follow him all over Judea and Galilee hanging on every word he spoke because we was just nice. Nice hardly attracts crowds. Nice doesn't radically transform lives. Nice doesn't get one strung up on a cross.

Scriptures and Prayer for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

Old Testament: Job 38:1-7, 34-41

Epistle: Hebrews 5:1-10

Gospel: Mark 10:35-45
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Most High, your Anointed One offered himself freely as witness against our violence, our acts of oppression, and our sin. As you delighted to call him your Son, give us the courage to bring you equal delight by our willingness to drink the cup of sacrifice on behalf or our sisters and brothers, and, with them, offer you praise unceasing and lives transformed as true heirs of your grace-filled realm. Amen.

Global Christian Perspectives: Mental Health, Unfunded Pensions, and Unrest in Israel

I participated in a panel discussion on various issues. Enjoy!

Spectators or Participants?

Some good thoughts from RJS at Jesus Creed:
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Perhaps part of the problem is that we all, Christians and non-Christians, laity, clergy, and leadership tend to view church in... spectator mode.

Perhaps a better analogy would be to equate Christians with the team, not with the spectators. This turns some of the reasons in the list on their head-- but strengthens the foolishness of others.

Spectators watch, the team participates.

Spectators often leave unchanged, the team practices to learn

Spectators are individuals, the team … well it is a team.
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She details are filled in here.

Today in 1605...

.... Theodore Beza, a Calvinist theologian, and considered to be Calvin's successor, died. You can read about his life, here.

Joy Is Found in the Smallest Things

"There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice."-- John Calvin (1509-1564)

The Faith of Our Founders #4: John Adams

While the specifics of George Washington's faith have been subject to much historical speculation, the faith of John Adams, the second President of the United States is not. Adams was raised in the Congregational tradition of New England in the context of a stoic Calvinism. And while Adams would reject Calvinist doctrine as an adult, he would always hang onto a kind of "stiff upper lip" fatalism that forced him to press on in life in difficult and tragic times.

As a young man, Adams briefly entertained the idea of entering the ministry, but decided against it as he felt he had not the temperament. In addition, he did not care for what he witnessed growing up of the frightful engines of ecclesiastical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvinistic good nature. (1)

Not Good News for Antioxidant Supplements

from Scientific American:
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Antioxidants May Make Cancer Worse
New animal studies explain why supposedly healthy supplements like beta-carotene could exacerbate a dread disease

By Melinda Wenner Moyer | October 7, 2015

Antioxidants are supposed to keep your cells healthy. That is why millions of people gobble supplements like vitamin E and beta-carotene each year. Today, however, a new study adds to a growing body of research suggesting these supplements actually have a harmful effect in one serious disease: cancer.

Yes, Indeed... Your Daughters will Preach

from my friend, Ken Schenck at Common Denominator:

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It makes me sad to hear good, sincere Christians believe that it is not God's will for a woman to teach a man or to hear a picture of the home as a place where the wife is supposed to sit humbly at the feet of the wise husband as he shares his great insights. It's sad to me because:

• I believe it is a distortion of the Bible to begin with.
• I believe it both hurts the church within and hinders its witness without.

Eat Your Peas! Wisdom from the Book of Proverbs

Actually, my mother never had to tell me to eat my peas at dinner because I love peas. In fact, it is one of my favorite vegetables; but mothers all over the world have and continue to instill such proverbs in their children.

A proverb is "a short, memorable, and often highly condensed saying embodying, esp with bold imagery, some commonplace fact or experience." Every culture and people employ them in daily wisdom. It seems that we human beings benefit from such simple and direct wisdom because we have a tendency to complicate the obvious. So, the wise sage who wrote the book of Proverbs gives us some brief, but nourishing food for thought in straightforward fashion.

The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

Lamentations 3:19-26

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

A Few Moments for Worship: Joyful Joyful, We Adore Thee

Scriptures and Prayer for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Old Testament: Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Epistle: Hebrews 4:12-16

Gospel: Mark 10:17-31
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God, you promise never to forsake us, but to bring us to life, nurture us with your presence, and sustain us even in the hour of our death. Meet us in our deepest doubts when we feel abandoned, drowning in our fear of your absence. Visit us in the tension between our yearning and our anger, that we may know your mercy and grace in our time of need. Amen.

Baptism, Water, and Clothing-- A prayer from the People of Haiti

Lord, take us to the creek,
       just as my wife went yesterday
              to the creek.
She took off her dress,
       beat it with a paddle,
              bathed herself in the water.
She dried her dress in the sun,
       put it on,
              and came home to me
Totally clean.

--God Is No Stranger, Baptist Haiti Mission, 1981.

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Links of Note

This week's noteworthy posts from the Methoblogosphere:

Andy Bryan, "Unity and the Sin of Babel"

Taylor Burton-Edwards, "Three Communion Practices to Quit Doing"

Guy Williams, "St. Martin's Cross and Christian Faithfulness"

Dan R. Dick, "Christian Discipleship for Dummies"

Drew McIntyre, "The Form Without the Power: 'Non-Theistic' Worship"

Steve Heyduck, "Wasted on Jesus"

Henry Neufeld, "Eschatology: Daniel and Revelation"

Saturday at the Cinema: The Shape of Paul's Theology

Even More Bad News for Job

The People of Pompeii and their Pearly Whites

Ancient Romans in Pompeii Had 'Perfect Teeth'

A new study reveals what life was like in Pompeii-- and how it ended when Mount Vesuvius erupted.

By Marissa Fessenden
smithsonian.com 
October 7, 2015 2:48PM

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., death struck the people of Pompeii in a blast of ash, gas and pumice. The eruption preserved their bodies, along with the city and its famed culture, but questions still surround their lives and last moments. How did they live? How exactly did they die? A new examination of plaster casts created by 19th-century archaeologists may hold the answer, as well as details about the Pompeii diet, reports Adrienne LaFrance for The Atlantic.

In Need of a Caption

Harvard Gets Taken to School by Prison Inmates

This one makes me smile:
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By COLLIN BINKLEY, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Months after winning a national title, Harvard's debate team has fallen to a group of New York inmates.

The showdown took place at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison where convicts can take courses taught by faculty from nearby Bard College, and where inmates have formed a popular debate club. Last month, they invited the Ivy League undergraduates and this year's national debate champions over for a friendly competition.

The Harvard debate team also was crowned world champions in 2014. But the inmates are building a reputation of their own. In the two years since they started a debate club, the prisoners have beaten teams from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the University of Vermont. The competition with West Point, which is now an annual affair, has grown into a rivalry.

At Bard, those who help teach the inmates aren't particularly surprised by their success.
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The full story is here.

Ten Things You Should Know About Heaven

from Scot McKnight at On Faith:
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1. If there is a just God, there must be a heaven.

2. There is no heaven for Christians without the resurrection of Jesus.

3. The best evidence of heaven is the resurrection of Jesus.

On Questioning the Questions, On Debating the Debate

One of the things I have learned as a student of Stanley Hauerwas is to continually question the questions being posed for debate on any issue and not to simply accept the terminology and definitions that frame so much modern theological and ethical discussion. Taken too far, of course, it can be forgotten that there are theological and moral issues that are currently framed quite well.

Is Your Church Living in the 1980s?

from Thom Rainer:
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Nine out of ten churches in America are either declining, or they are growing so slowly they are not keeping up with the growth rate of the community in which they are located.

It's a long sentence. Read it again carefully. Soak it in. Across America 90 percent of the churches are losing ground in their respective communities. Most of them are declining. Many of them will close.

Why has this tragedy fallen on so many churches? Though I don't want to oversimplify the issue, I see at least eight reasons for this crisis.

John Wesley: Scripture Judges All Other "Revelations"

"Whosoever giveth his mind to Holy Scriptures with diligent study and burning desire, it cannot be that he should be left without help. For either God will send him some godly doctor to teach him or God himself from above will give light unto his mind and teach him those things which are necessary for him. Man's human and worldly wisdom or science is not needful to the understanding of Scripture but the revelation of the Holy Ghost who inspireth the true meaning unto them that with humility and diligence search." (John Wesley, "The Doctrines of Salvation, Faith, and Good Works," The Homilies of the Church of England)

Grief is the Price We Pay for Love

It is the case is it not, that grief is, at the very least, one of the prices we pay for love? C.S Lewis grieved deeply over his wife's death, writing about it in his remarkable book, A Grief Observed. It was the death of his wife Martha after giving birth, that devastated Thomas Jefferson. Christian philosopher, Nicholas Wolterstorff went through the heart-wrenching tragedy of the death of his twenty-five year old son. Like Lewis, he too wrote a book entitled, Lament for a Son.

Great Moments in Christian Logo Design

Eat Bacon Daily... Live to Be 116... and More

Michael Balsamo, (Morris County, N.J.) Daily Record, from USA Today:
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Not many people will say that eating bacon every day is the key to a long life, but the world's oldest woman swears by it.

Susannah Mushatt Jones, 116, keeps a steady diet of bacon, eggs and grits for breakfast. A sign in her kitchen reads: "Bacon makes everything better."
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All the delicious keys to longevity can be found here.

The Faith of Our Founders #3: George Washington

Historian Richard Brookhiser has stated, "No aspect of his (Washington's) life has been more distorted than his religion."(1) On the one extreme many historians have called Washington a fully "dyed-in-the-wool" Deist whose references to prayer and life after death were nothing more than affirmations for public consumption whose beliefs were more traditional, to those at the other end of the religious spectrum, such as Tim LaHaye, who has argued that if Washington were alive today he would be a Bible-believing evangelical Christian.(2)

The difficulty is found in Washington himself who, while commenting on prayer, Providence, and life after death, never actually elaborates on his doctrine of God (was it Trinitarian?), nor does he ever comment on his understanding of Christ nor atonement. And if Washington ever commented on doctrine to his wife Martha in private correspondence, we will never know since upon her husband's death in December of 1799, Martha burned all their personal letters.

How People in 1900 Thought the Year Two Thousand Would Look

Ana Swanson at the Washington Post:
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A Must-Read on the Oregon Shootings

by Ed Stetzer, USA Today:
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I'm not one who believes Christians in America are persecuted.

I agree with former Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams that Christians in the West who feel they are persecuted need to "grow up" and not claim persecution when they are simply made "mildly uncomfortable." The alleged "War on Christmas" hasn't cost any lives.

Yet, there is in fact a disturbing pattern to shootings in Fort Worth, Texas, New Life Church in Colorado Springs, and in Charleston. Though Charleston was clearly connected to race, in all cases, Christians were targeted. We already have a research database for church shootings.

Us Versus Us

One of the surprises that seminary students can experience in their education is to learn of the persecution that consistently took place against the church throughout the centuries. I do not mean persecution of the church by outside forces; I refer to Christians persecuting each other.

When God Speaks to Us, God Speaks to Us in Person in Jesus

Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

A Few Moments for Worship: One Bread, One Body

Scriptures and Prayer for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost-- World Communion Sunday

Old Testament: Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Epistle: Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Gospel: Mark 10:2-16
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Mighty and powerful God, through Jesus Christ our Savior you come to save people in all times and places, offering them new life in your presence. Give us open hearts to receive your Chosen One, that through him we may dwell with you as faithful and committed disciples. Amen.

On the Death of Languages

from James Temperton at wired.co.uk:
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Languages everywhere are dying; it is estimated that one language is driven to extinction every 14 days--  and that's despite an increase in the number of languages supported by the internet. But is the lack of language diversity online accelerating language death or simply reflecting what's happening in the offline world?

There currently around 7,100 languages in use, but 90 percent of these are used by less than 100,000 people. Some are only spoken by the inhabitants of remote villages, while others-- such as the Peruvian language Taushiro-- are thought to only be spoken by one person.

History suggests that language loss, much like language change, is inevitable. But understanding the cause of this loss is complicated.
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The entire post can be read here.

Saturday at the Cinema: Continuity Between the Old and New Testaments?

The Moral Challenge of Food Waste

from Mike Poteet at Ministry Matters:
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Eulogy for a hamburger

The burger I ate was the best: thick, juicy, and huge. Restraining my impulse to gobble it whole, I saved some to eat later. But I didn't remember it until a week later. It was at the back of the fridge, soggy and smelly. "Darn, I loved that burger!" I declared-- hoping, I guess, my eulogy for the burger might absolve me of guilt as I tossed it into the trash.

That half-eaten burger was a small contribution to an American crisis. Researchers estimate that the United States wastes 30 to 40 percent of its food supply. Some of that food, like my burger, we eat only part or none of before tossing; some never even reaches consumers. But it all confronts us with economic, environmental and ethical challenges.
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The entire post can be read here.

On Speaking the Truth to Those You Love

From my favorite book by Reinhold Niebuhr, Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic:
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I am not surprised that most prophets are itinerants. Critics of the church think we preachers are afraid to tell the truth because we are economically dependent upon the people of our church, There is something in that, but it does not quite get to the root of the matter. I certainly could easily enough get more money than I am securing now, and yet I catch myself weighing my words and gauging their possible effect upon this and that person. I think the real clue to the tameness of a preacher is the difficulty one finds in telling unpleasant truths to people whom one has learned to love.

To speak the truth in love is a difficult, and sometimes an almost impossible, achievement. If you speak the truth unqualifiedly, that is usually because your ire has been aroused or because you have no personal attachment to the object of your strictures. Once personal contact is established you are very prone to temper your wind to the shorn sheep. It is certainly difficult to be human and honest at the same time. I'm not surprised that most budding prophets are tamed in time to become harmless parish priests.

Truth Is Stranger than Fiction: My Monkey's Uncle Owns That Selfie

PETA wants court to grant copyright to ape that snapped famous selfie

by David Kravets - Sep 22, 2015 3:23pm EDT

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is trying to turn copyright law on its head: in this instance, with the mug of a macaque monkey named Naruto, whose selfies went viral and have been seen around the world.

PETA filed suit Tuesday, asking the courts to declare Naruto the rightsholder and hence an owner of property: a copyright.

David Slater, the British nature photographer whose camera was swiped by the ape in the Indonesian jungle, said he has been granted copyright protection in the UK for the photos. He said he was "very saddened" over PETA's lawsuit (PDF) in the United States.

This is the second time this year animal rights groups have asked the US courts to bestow onto monkeys the legal status that humans enjoy. Last month, a New York state court ruled against two chimpanzees represented by the Nonhuman Rights Project that claimed they were being deprived of their civil liberties while being housed at a university research facility.

Continue Reading-->

God Is Indeed Doing God's Part in Creation Care

J.S. Bach and the Coffee Cantata

According to Garrison Keillor, “Lutherans drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.” This was not always the case. In the first half of the 18th century, many Germans looked askance at java, considering it a pernicious import. Additionally, some European princes forbade or heavily taxed coffee, in part to protect locally produced beverages from competition. Nonetheless, Leipzig boasted many lively coffeehouses. It was, after all, a college town, and higher education requires caffeine.

In one of those coffeehouses, Zimmerman's, a group of mostly student musicians known as the Collegium Musicum met every Friday to give informal concerts. Bach directed the group, and around 1732 he wrote the perfect piece for it: the Coffee Cantata.
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The Christian History Institute has the whole story here.

God Is Not an Absentee Landlord

Approximately twenty years ago, I went through a very difficult time in pastoral ministry. I began to question my call. I started thinking of ways to find employment other than in ministry. It was an extremely depressing situation. I suffered through this for several months. I never shared my thoughts and feelings with anyone except for my wife, and she did not share my struggles with anyone either. I prayed hard about it, but it seemed as if God was simply not answering my petitions for help. I felt I had reached the end of my rope.