And here I thought I was finally free from be Rick Rolled.

Great stuff as always.
Dan Kimball’s comments are interesting – essentially avoid TV, internet etc. every night (7:30 on) and all day Saturday (in the Jewish sense sunset Friday to sunset Saturday) (As a six week experiment) – as way to be present with those present. This strikes me as the kind of well meant but… advice that pastors are so good at. Yes we need to be present with those present – and yet… is this to the exclusion of being present through technology?
If I entered into such an experiment it would mean essentially that for six weeks I would be absent from this site, and for that matter, would not communicate much with my college age daughter, not at all with my nieces and nephews, and would drop connections with my sister and parents. We are spatially separated, but connected…on line.
I don’t see internet in the same way as TV at all…
So balance and space (limits) yes … we all need some discipline, but as Dan suggests … even for six weeks … no.

Billy, you have to admit that was a pretty good one.

“I have to say that the one party that is strenuously committed to equality and to avoiding stereotypes is the Democrats.” Um, I don’t think so. It just depends on who the targets are. No stereotyping of the Tea Party supporters? Or Conservatives in general? C’mon. There are ridiculous double standards in this country when it comes to matters of race. There’s no reason to be surprised that Reid said something like that. And there’s no reason to be surprised that the media and the democratic party generally give him a pass. After all, he’s a Democrat, he means well. He simply must. He is by definition an open-minded, reasonable man.

Matt, I’m not sure you understand what I’m saying so let me try again. As I see it, the Dems are more ideologically committed to avoiding and breaking down stereotypes. (I’m not saying they don’t at times fail to live up to their commitments.) Reid failed to speak according to his ideological commitments.

Rickroll’d once again…and yes, that was a good one

I recently finished reading all of O’Connor’s short stories, and there’s really not a loser in the whole group. But my favorites are “Revelation” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge.”

Why is Michael D. O’Brien never mentioned when Christian fiction is talked about? Anyone here read him?

Stetzer hit one of my pet peeves on abuse of stats and numbers. The church where I’m a member used the scary youth number in a building campaign for youth facilities a few years ago; I was skeptical at the time so it is good to see the story behind it. This was not long before leadership declared a year with a $140K deficit to have finished “in the black.”
To tie into the Stanley Fish link, sometimes it feels like telling the “right” story (the one somebody thinks the congregation needs/wants to hear) is considered more important than telling a true story.

john mark, well I didn’t mention him because I’ve never heard of him, but that is predictable: I don’t know fiction very well at all.

Scot – I think I understand, I just disagree. President Obama is supposedly committed to transparency in government. Have we seen that? A marketing program (i.e, propaganda) is different from how people actually believe and act.
On another subject, it is my opinion that liberal economic programs simply do not work, especially for the people they’re supposedly helping. And yet, Democrats are committed to being “for the poor.”
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” – C.S. Lewis
We’re probably just going to disagree on the true commitments of Democrats.

Matt E, what I’m saying is that we probably do agree: the ideological commitment is there but living it out is not.

This has nothing to do with your post. Just giving you some feedback on your web server. Beliefnet is one of slowest servers I access. I really appreciate your blog but the slowness of the service makes it painful to get to you.

Did you seriously just Rick Roll us? Is that really the link you meant for Conan?

I think McSwain’s points about the problematic bedfellows’ positioning of Calvinist & Arminians are explained succintly. Obviously, he’s not going too deeply in such a “short” piece (Calvin in a nutshell?); however, I have those problems with both theological streams, too. Does that make me a Barthian? Obviously, allowing God to determine the ends outside of our meager spans of life is much more uncomfortable than nailing it down to a system. Do Calvinists and Arminians struggle more psychologically, I wonder, than theologically with that great God beyond our comprehension? The incessant splitting in their streams is more suspect for me than their theological distinctions.

Rick Rolled yet again. When will I learn…

There are so many O’Connor stories that leave me feeling like I just got the wind knocked out of me. But “The Enduring Chill” leaves me feeling like I got the wind knocked into me. Sorry for the corniness, but that’s O’Connor at her best. The Irish priest in the story cracks me up!
What’s your favorite, Scot?

Kurt, there must be some “inside joke” concerning the Rick Rolled video. I went there too, expecting to see something about from Conan, and I don’t get it either.

Ben, my favorite is Parker’s Back.
JoanieD … it’s a widespread internet joke.

But what IS the joke, Scot? Is it that a person gives a link to what people think is serious, but then people click on the link and they see this video of that guy singing that song? Is it always the same guy singing the same song? Thanks and I hope you are all having a good Sunday.

Will be interesting to see if Maddux goes into the Hall as a Cub or a Brave.

JoanieD, you got it. It’s just one of those oddities of “linking” to a video that somehow took off. Google “Rick Roll’d” and see what shows up. Always Rick Astley singing the same song … millions of Rick Roll’d links out there.
Speaking of Rick, Rick, I hear it will be as a Cub.

like The Turkey as well as the stories above. Revelation may be my favorite. Also, there are several movies that work like O’Connor’s stories. I think of Tommy Lee Jone’s movie “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”. I believe he specialized in Flannery O’Connor’s works when at Harvard.