February 2007 Archives
Wednesday February 28, 2007
Basic Jesus?
This ought to be a lot of fun. Perhaps Verhoeven has concluded Jesus was killed with an ice pick?
posted by
J-Walking
@ 6:18pm
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Add to NewsvineWednesday February 28, 2007
Holding feet to the fire
The Discovery Channel, Harper Collins, and those associated with the "Jesus Tomb" project may come to regret it. Add The Washington Post to the list of newspapers highlighting the "fraud":
Leading archaeologists in Israel and the United States yesterday denounced the purported discovery of the tomb of Jesus as a publicity stunt.
Leading archaeologists in Israel and the United States yesterday denounced the purported discovery of the tomb of Jesus as a publicity stunt.
Scorn for the Discovery Channel's claim to have found the burial place of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and -- most explosively -- their possible son came not just from Christian scholars but also from Jewish and secular experts who said their judgments were unaffected by any desire to uphold Christian orthodoxy.
"I'm not a Christian. I'm not a believer. I don't have a dog in this fight," said William G. Dever, who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars. "I just think it's a shame the way this story is being hyped and manipulated."
...Dever, a retired professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona, said that some of the inscriptions on the Talpiyot ossuaries are unclear, but that all of the names are common.
"I've know about these ossuaries for many years and so have many other archaeologists, and none of us thought it was much of a story, because these are rather common Jewish names from that period," he said. "It's a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don't know enough to separate fact from fiction."
Similar assessments came yesterday from two Israeli scholars, Amos Kloner, who originally excavated the tomb, and Joe Zias, former curator of archaeology at the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Kloner told the Jerusalem Post that the documentary is "nonsense." Zias described it in an e-mail to The Washington Post as a "hyped up film which is intellectually and scientifically dishonest."
Jodi Magness, an archaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, expressed irritation that the claims were made at a news conference rather than in a peer-reviewed scientific article. By going directly to the media, she said, the filmmakers "have set it up as if it's a legitimate academic debate, when the vast majority of scholars who specialize in archaeology of this period have flatly rejected this," she said.
Magness noted that at the time of Jesus, wealthy families buried their dead in tombs cut by hand from solid rock, putting the bones in niches in the walls and then, later, transferring them to ossuaries.
She said Jesus came from a poor family that, like most Jews of the time, probably buried their dead in ordinary graves. "If Jesus' family had been wealthy enough to afford a rock-cut tomb, it would have been in Nazareth, not Jerusalem," she said.
Magness also said the names on the Talpiyot ossuaries indicate that the tomb belonged to a family from Judea, the area around Jerusalem, where people were known by their first name and father's name. As Galileans, Jesus and his family members would have used their first name and home town, she said.
"This whole case [for the tomb of Jesus] is flawed from beginning to end," she said.
posted by
J-Walking
@ 5:10pm
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Wednesday February 28, 2007
On prayer
From Gordon Lindsay, author of yesterday's quote on faith:
We should make an eternal consecration to God and then every day commit ourselves completely in His hands, even as we must eventually do at the moment of death. “Why should we not put everything of our lives into the hands of God and trust Him? We all know that death is certain, and that one moment after death we shall be absolutely dependent upon God’s goodness, His faithfulness and eternal power. At that hour we will have to rest in God and say like Christ on the cross, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ This being true, why should we not, while we live implicitly trust God’s providence?”
For me this is a spiritual dunking in ice cold water; a bracing reminder of our momentary earthly reality, our eternal spiritual reality, and the right way to live every moment. The only real challenge? Doing it.
We should make an eternal consecration to God and then every day commit ourselves completely in His hands, even as we must eventually do at the moment of death. “Why should we not put everything of our lives into the hands of God and trust Him? We all know that death is certain, and that one moment after death we shall be absolutely dependent upon God’s goodness, His faithfulness and eternal power. At that hour we will have to rest in God and say like Christ on the cross, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ This being true, why should we not, while we live implicitly trust God’s providence?”
For me this is a spiritual dunking in ice cold water; a bracing reminder of our momentary earthly reality, our eternal spiritual reality, and the right way to live every moment. The only real challenge? Doing it.
posted by
J-Walking
@ 8:21am
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Wednesday February 28, 2007
Startling new evidence that James Cameron was right
A friend sent me this link this morning. My faith is deeply, deeply shaken.
posted by
J-Walking
@ 8:17am
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Tuesday February 27, 2007
Faith defined
I came across this quote from an old charismatic evangelist:
We must remember that faith is not feelings, it is not sight. You do not exercise faith after the answer has come. It is then sight. You only exercise faith when you don’t see anything, when you don’t feel anything. When to the natural senses there isn’t anything. Yet faith rests on something more solid than all that can be seen – the integrity of God’s promise to the believer, His faithfulness to fulfill his word.
posted by
J-Walking
@ 2:43pm
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Tuesday February 27, 2007
Want more Jesus? Churches should serve the poor
Andrew Sullivan points the way to a discussion of whether government welfare spending reduces the church's impact on culture. One of the old conservative arguments has been that too much government displaces the positive, powerful, private societal institutions. While that...
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J-Walking
@11:51am
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Monday February 26, 2007
JC > JC
At the end of a day where James Cameron (JC) presented his best case for finding "Jesus' tomb," it can once more be clearly stated that Jesus Christ (JC) is in no particular danger of being dethroned as the King...
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J-Walking
@ 8:48pm
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Monday February 26, 2007
Booze, the Red Sox, and Lent
I have a dear friend who loves - loves - the Red Sox. Generally he can tell you whether a particular player had enough fiber on the previous day. He recently thought of naming his son Matsusaka after the Red...
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J-Walking
@ 6:26pm
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Monday February 26, 2007
Tucker Carlson show @ 4:45
I'll be on Tucker Carlson's show on MSNBC at 4:45pm... tune in....
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J-Walking
@ 3:42pm
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Monday February 26, 2007
"Think Jesus meets Titanic"
I can almost see the conversation that James Cameron had with fellow filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici (aka, the Naked Archeologist) some years ago, "We need a project.""Yeah, something sexy and big.""Well, you know that DaVinci Code thing is big.""DaVinci Code... DaVinci...
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@10:49am
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Monday February 26, 2007
Interviewing John Edwards
I interviewed John Edwards yesterday on a snowy Washington Sunday - a surprise snow of the sort that clings to everything and is another of God's reminders that one day all will be new again (and with no slush). Thank...
Sunday February 25, 2007
Yawn and double yawn
The bottom line from the whole, "Hey, I found Jesus' bones in a box!" thing by James Cameron - yawn and double yawn. There really isn't anything new - although I have no doubt that there are those who will...
Saturday February 24, 2007
Wilberforce movie review - The New York Times doesn't hate it
Click here for the full review. An excerpt:“Amazing Grace,” a prettified take on the life and times of the 18th-century reformer William Wilberforce, carries a strong whiff of piety. It isn’t a bad smell; there are notes of roses and...
Friday February 23, 2007
The challenges of naming a son...
I am the father to the three most wonderful girls in the world. Now, come June and with God's mercy, I will be the father of a son. My excitement grows daily. I think that I didn't know how much...
Friday February 23, 2007
Questions for Sen. John Edwards?
I'll be interviewing John Edwards on Sunday for Beliefnet to kick off our interviews of presidential candidates. Email me or post comments with any questions you would like asked. I can't promise I will be able to get to them...
Friday February 23, 2007
Rick Warren no go North Korea
Last summer, Rick Warren surprised his congregation by announcing he was going to go preach the first-ever Christian event in reclusive and oppressive North Korea. To all criticism, Warren simply said:"I know they're going to use me," Warren said, responding...
Thursday February 22, 2007
Madonna hearts Jesus?
From her interview on Sirius:"For me we all need to be Jesus in our time. ...Jesus' message was to love your neighbor as yourself, and there are people in need. I hope that people got that message"Then, lest anyone doubt...
Thursday February 22, 2007
Are we as lost as Britney?
From a reader:why is the main stream media even writing about this? 35,000 children die every day from preventable things: like starvation and diarrhea...but the media, you and I...all we focus on is this Crap. It is demeaning to Ms....
Wednesday February 21, 2007
...found the backstage Britney pic
Per my "prodigal post", I found a picture that Kim took backstage that night in DC. I had forgotten about the pic taken seconds before she headed onstage and was again reminded of her discomfort best shown here by her...
Wednesday February 21, 2007
re: Britney
...from a reader:Do you wonder why Americans are so fascinated with celebrity? Poor Anna Nicole, Britney, Lindsay Lohan, and so many others. We create little mythologies out of such nonsense - little gods and goddesses - living these bigger than...
Tuesday February 20, 2007
The Prodigal Daughter
I have two snapshots of Britney Spears stuck in my brain.The first is from the late 1990s. I was living in Atlanta and had started attending a cool new church. It was a church “unplugged” – the pastor was young...
Tuesday February 20, 2007
Goodbye girlhood...
The Washington Post has a troubling article today called "Goodbye to Girlhood" highlighting the nauseating trend of younger and younger girls being taught to be "sexy" with their bodies, their clothes, and their attitudes. Some of the more jarring quotes...
Monday February 19, 2007
McCain/Falwell '08?
In February 2000, in the heat of the primary campaign with George W. Bush, Sen. John McCain launched an angry attack on what he saw as religious intolerance aimed at him and other like him. He famously called Jerry Falwell...
Monday February 19, 2007
The "Preacher Primary"
Down in Orlando, FL this weekend, the National Association of Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is gathering to talk about faith, technology and way to increase their audience. But behind the scenes, the real action is political. John McCain, Mitt Romney, and...
Sunday February 18, 2007
...and then faith returns...
yesterday's discouragement diminishes in God's presence. We returned this morning to our simple little church full of really wonderful people who love God and who love us. For lots of reasons - some good, some not - we haven't been...
Sunday February 18, 2007
Faith
I wonder sometimes if faith is still faith when you feel like you don't have much faith left.Sometimes the enormity of having a slow-growing tumor in my brain overtakes me. It seems simultaneously impossible and terrifying. Those moments seem to...
Friday February 16, 2007
Sen. McCain and the conservative Christians
AP reports on Sen. McCain's on-going battle with some Christian conservative political leaders over his record, his priorities, and his 'faith.' While McCain has managed to pry open some of the doors that slammed shut in his rift with the...
Thursday February 15, 2007
Love
Andrew Sullivan links to a series of indescribably moving photographs of a Marine and his bride on their wedding day as well as pictures of the Marine in every day life.Meditate on them because in them love emanates even in...
Thursday February 15, 2007
from Augustine
"But you, O Lord, are ever living and in you nothing dies, for you exist before the dawn of the ages, before anything that can be called "before"; you are God and Lord of everything that you have created."St. AugustineThe...
Thursday February 15, 2007
Early church
From David Fairchild's blog, a post on the defining characteristics of the early church.1- They refused to attend blood thirsty entertainment. They wouldn’t go to gladiatorial events because they believed it defiled humans who were created in the image of...
Wednesday February 14, 2007
Gov. Romney's "religion issue", con't
Last night on ABC's Primetime, a polygamous community in Arizona was gently profiled. Though ABC went out of its way to try and leave the Mormon faith's name out of the profile - undoubtedly because the Mormon church is officially...
Wednesday February 14, 2007
The no snow job
I started tracking a potentially huge snowstorm last Friday, checking in at weather.com at regular intervals to see if this storm might be the big one. By Sunday I reached an emotional tipping point. The possibility of this being a...
Wednesday February 14, 2007
Categories: FaithMy Valentine's Day "Compassion" compassion challenge
Happy Valentine's Day. I'm at halftime of my Uganda journey. My attempts to venture north - far north - into Darfur over the weekend have fallen through. I guess the Ritz Carlton Darfur is fully booked... I may have the...
Tuesday February 13, 2007
President Bush in the Twilight Zone
In an exhaustive C-SPAN interview airing this morning (and available online), President Bush discusses Iraq, his presidency, and his legacy. This exchange made me wonder if it was April Fool's Day yet:Q But I'm talking about ideology. You have Reagan...
Monday February 12, 2007
A coming GOP religious war?
ABC News' Sonya Crawford reported over the weekend on how hard it was for conservatives to find a candidate for 2008:And as conservatives consider their presidential hopefuls, they're concerned. None of their frontrunners — former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani,...
Monday February 12, 2007
Republican Obama fears
A couple of memorable snippets from conversations about Sen. Barack Obama with Republican political operatives over the last few days:- "In his high school yearbook he was known as, 'Barry' - there is certainly something there to explore. There's just...
Sunday February 11, 2007
Sunday
...a 'sabbath' - a day to rest and not do emails and surf the web and make breakfast (and dinner) and definitely not stick my head into Livvy's bathwater.Tomorrow - Sen. Obama's announcement, the conservative Christian's growing political dilemma in...
Saturday February 10, 2007
Never stick your head into the bath water of a toddler
...this is not written in any 'how to' book that I know of.... No one has ever told me not to do it. And so, last night, when I was giving Livvy, our (almost) 20-month-old, a bath, the thought hit...
Friday February 9, 2007
Abortion, population, Europe
A powerful thought from a reader:So there are parentless children all over the world who need homes and they're going to start paying women to have children? How does that make sense?The latest numbers are more than 10 million children...
Friday February 9, 2007
Jordan and Jesus
I stumbled across a Nike ad I'd never seen before:After watching it a dozen times and wondering why I loved it - beyond the joy and beauty of it - I settled on this. That we are like those kids...
Friday February 9, 2007
Gov. Romney
It may be that I will have to eat crow on this one but I still maintain that grassroots evangelicals aren't going to support Gov. Romney because of his Mormon faith. A New York Times article suggests he is making...
Thursday February 8, 2007
"The Abortion War Abroad"
Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) reports on "The Abortion War Abroad," and optimistically highlights pro-life changes:This spring, Poland will decide whether to amend the constitution to ban the practice altogether. In Paris last month, thousands marched to ban abortions...
Wednesday February 7, 2007
Be like Mike... Oliver
I want to be like Mike.For years that has meant being like this guy:Now, I love that guy. No one who ever played the game was better.But I don't want to be like him. I want to be like Mike...
Wednesday February 7, 2007
Walking on streets of diamonds
I went for a walk last night. It was late and most of the world was asleep. But a surprise little snowstorm was passing through and since snow has been rare around here of late, I went out into it...
Tuesday February 6, 2007
Going to God through pain...
Like most everyone else, there have been dark times in my life when I've felt like God was nowhere to be found. It didn't dawn on me till later on that those times might have been times of depression. Today's...
Tuesday February 6, 2007
War in Iraq or feeding the world?
I read an article over the weekend that is still making me feel ill. It is about Iraq and the cost of the war. I can't get it out of my mind.I was in the White House on the day...
Monday February 5, 2007
Remembering...
Kim reminded me off this Super Bowl ad from 2002. It was the first Super Bowl after 9/11....
Monday February 5, 2007
Tony Dungy on "social significance"
Last night, on the winning Super Bowl stage, CBS' sports commentator Jim Nance asked Tony Dungy about the "social significance" of winning the game. He was referring, of course, to the fact that Dungy was the first African American coach...
Monday February 5, 2007
Super quotes
Great post-Super Bowl quotes last night,"How could you not be happy for Tony Dungy given what he went through last year; losing his son to suicide, to stand up on that stage with Peyton Manning giving thanks to his God...
Sunday February 4, 2007
Humility and graciousness
Yesterday, President Bush addressed a gathering of Democratic congressmen and had this to say:"...I welcome debate in a time of war and I hope you know that" ...[and] disagreeing with him over the war - as many in the room...
Friday February 2, 2007
New Orleans...again...
A reader has pointed me to an article from today's Times Picayune paper:President Bush is expected to shift $1.3 billion away from raising and armoring levees, installing floodgates and building permanent pumping in Southeast Louisiana in order to plug long-anticipated...
Friday February 2, 2007
I wanna be like Jeff
Two days to Super Bowl XLI and Jeff Hartings, the Steelers (clearly the greatest football team ever) all-pro center is retiring... to start a church. A year ago he was getting ready for the big game. This year, he is...
Thursday February 1, 2007
Indifference to sufering Afghanis
Evangelical leader John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute (that once represented Paula Jones) is one of the Christian leaders who stood up after the election and warned that Christian political involvement was compromising the name of Jesus.Now he is trying...
Thursday February 1, 2007
Holland praying...
Of all the unexpected things in the world, here is an article reporting on Christian resurgence in...Holland:When the "corporate prayer" movement first started in 1996, few people in Holland took any notice. Why should they have done so? After all,...
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