Fri 30 Nov 2007
Here it is, what you’ve been waiting for, what you’ve been working for. The Weekly Town Crier, where I collect for you some of the things that caught my interest over the past week. Some for this reason, some for that reason, some for neither. The bottom line here is that everything here made me think in one way or another. But also remember that just because I link something here doesn’t mean I necessarily endorse it. Enjoy:
See what I hear at Last.fm.
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Read about Huckabee gaining ground in Iowa.
Read about the CA Supreme Court seeking a solution to their build-up of death-penalty cases.
Read this opinion piece which wonders whether, as pressure mounts on Mitt Romney to explain his faith, if he should say to his rivals: “You first!”
Browse the Year-End Lists:
- Browse the Fimoculous list of year-end lists.
- Browse Christianity Today’s list of year-end favorites.
- Vote in NPR’s All Songs Considered’s poll for song of the year.
- Browse Amazon’s list of their favorite music of 2007.
- Browse Paste’s list of their favorite albums of 2007.
- Browse Boomkat’s list of their picks for the best albums of 2007.
Read as the New York Times considers the continuing impact of Glenn Gould.
Read as the LA Times considers indie music’s “diversity.”
Browse the lineup for the 2008 NoisePop festival.
Browse this list of recommended box sets.
Read John Piper’s reaction to the “atheist and the bishop” ganging up on gratitude.
Want to own the rights to a Sufjan Stevens song? Write your own Christmas song and that’s just what could happen!
Read about Hulk Hogan finding out that his wife had filed for divorce from a journalist.
Answer the question of whether or not Jesus is a “liberal.”
Read about the surprise charity concert for approximately 200 people from U2’s Bono and The Edge.
Read this report which claims that “the number of couples who claim to be in a same-sex partnership has risen dramatically in conservative bastions of America such as the South and western mountain states.”
See if you can keep track: John Piper responds to Ben Witherington’s criticism of Thomas Schreiner’s upcoming NT Theology: Magnifying God In Christ, specifically the book’s theme of “God magnifying himself through Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit.” Witherington says: “I suppose we should not be surprised that in a culture and age of narcissism, we would recreate God in our own self-centered image, but it is surprising when we find orthodox Christians, and even careful scholars doing this.” Read Piper’s response (ht: JT).
Read Witherington’s full piece: “For God So Loved Himself? Is God a Narcissist?” along with some responding thoughts from Denny Burk.
Read James R. White’s reaction to Witherington’s “very Arminian-originated reaction to Thomas Schreiner’s biblical and sound assertion that the core of New Testament theology is “God magnifying himself through Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit.” White goes on to note that “Witherington’s comments should shock you, given how prolific an author he is, but they are helpful in that they point out just how far removed, foundationally, Reformed theologians and teachers are from those who openly embrace their Arminian roots.”
Read as the Baltimore Sun examines the problem of “volume gain” in compact discs; the same problem that makes commercials louder than the program you’re watching.
Browse the newly updated Ropeadope digitial music store because, in their words, “iTunes is looking more and more like Wal-Mart these days.”
Meet the family who has photographed themselves on the same day, June 17, since 1976.
Read abut the newly crowned Miss Universe, who won despite having evening gowns “doused with pepper spray” and spiked makeup that caused her to break out in hives.
Read about the study in which scientists find that our first hunch is often the best and that when we over-analyze things, we often get them wrong.
R.I.P. Kevin DuBrow, former singer for Quiet Riot.
Visit the new home of Sovereign Grace Music on the web.
Read as Justin Taylor chronicles some clear examples of “anti-religious bigotry” in the U.S. Press as they cover the 2008 race for president, particularly, candidate Mike Huckabee.
Read as the LA Times explores the “compromise” many Evangelicals are making by supporting pro-choice candidates.
Read as Reuters considers whether it’s now “cool” to be Christian on many college campuses.
Read about the controversy in Harris, county, TX: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review lower court rulings that a monument outside a courthouse featuring the Bible should be removed and that Harris County must pay the legal fees for the woman who sued over the monument.”
Read as Newsweek considers the “struggle” Catholics have with Rudy Guliani’s pro-choice position.
Read as the Washington Post considers “The Politics of Race and Religion” and how the votes of many African Americans are actually taken for granted by certain political parties.
Read this piece which considers how the presidential candidates have been “opening up” about their faith.
Read about many Hispanic immigrants leaving the Catholic church as they come to America.
Read about the number of reported abortions continuing to decrease: “A total of 839,226 abortions were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2004. This is 1.1 percent lower than the 848,136 abortions reported in 2003.” That’s still too many.
Don’t forget that the Paste magazine “pay what you want” subscription special is still going on!
Browse Rolling Stone’s unranked picks for the 25 best live albums ever.
Read as Entertainment Weekly names J.K. Rowling “Entertainer of the Year.”
Read as USA Today considers the history, and the future, of music documentaries.
Consider your picks as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” topped Entertainment Weekly’s “The Ultimate Cheesy-Ballad Playlist.”
Consider as CNN wonders how much it would cost to purchase every item listed in the “12 Days of Christmas” song.
Read as Christianity Today tries to identify “Five Kinds of Christians.”
Read as David Gushee responds to criticism regarding the “Evangelical Declaration Against Torture”.
Browse this list of the “stupidest” Christmas gifts.
Read Matthew Hall’s piece on “Rethinking Religion and Money.”
Read/Listen to this recent interview with N.T. Wright.
Read Christianity Today’s interview with the David Crowder Band.
Read as the LA Times reviews Amazon’s new portable reading device: The Kindle.
Read as the Globe and Mail urges the movie and music industries to embrace the digital age rather than litigate against it.
Browse the list of 2008 books Justin Taylor is most excited about.
Read about Desiring God Ministries “going global” with the opening of its department of “International Outreach.”
Read an interview from October of this year with Soul-Junk’s Glen Galloway, a.k.a Glen Galaxy, about the band’s latest CD, 1959 which features renditions of Psalms 1-23.
Download Soul-Junk’s musical rendition of the entire book of Genesis.
Read Al Mohler’s thoughts on “Sunday School” for atheists.
Read about the WI debate of “Holiday” vs. “Christmas” trees.
Read about Alaska Airlines reportedly charging heterosexual couples more to fly.
Read as Mitt Romney tries to root his Mormon faith in a Christian past.
Read about the abortion issue continuing to hound Guliani (as it rightly should).
Browse this list of gift suggestions for “music nerds.”
Read as MacWorld discusses the growing world of DRM-Free downloads.
Read this interview with David Bazan about retiring the Pedro the Lion moniker.
Read about the discovery of Nehemiah’s wall.
Pre-order Aradhna’s new album “Amrit Vani” (Immortal Word), due December 10.
on 30 Nov 2007 at 10:13 am 1.Jake T said …
holy crap. You’re an Aradhna fan?
I caught about an hour of one of their shows at a coffeehouse a couple years ago. Amazing stuff, although nothing I think I could listen to a whole album of….
on 30 Nov 2007 at 11:11 am 2.Emily said …
Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith is rooted in the church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth two thousand years ago. The. Same. Church.
I don’t know how “tries to” is the appropriate term here. Is.
on 30 Nov 2007 at 12:10 pm 3.Blake said …
Emily: Welcome back, but watch out for the illegitimate totality transfers! Where did Christ or the early church ever teach eternal progression (Psalm 90:2 compared to King Follett Discourse) or that the Father has a physical body (D&C 130:22 as opposed to John 4:24)? These are just two crucial LDS doctrines missing from the teachings of Christ, the apostles, and the early church. You cannot import 19th-20th century Mormon theology into the first century. Your better argument is to say Mormon doctrine isn’t found in the NT but that it amounts to new revelation, in which case there are still issues of logical compatibility, to be sure. To suggest these doctrines were taught by Christ or the early church is just preposterous. I suggest you simply embrace the reality: You belong to a religious group that has taken concepts found in Christianity such as creation, sin, atonement, Savior, etc. and redefined them to the extent that there is no meaningful semantic content shared between orthodox Christianity (as taught by Christ, the apostles, and the early church) and Mormonism. You’re not alone! Jehovah Witnesses have done the same thing: Just be honest.
on 30 Nov 2007 at 12:19 pm 4.Brent said …
Emily,
Welcome back. I was just wondering the other day how your move went. I hope everything is well with you? How is your family?
And thank you again for sharing your convictions. As I’m sure you remember, we’ve had some of these conversations previously and I simply must ask you at this point if you believer Joseph Smith’s words in the King Follett Discourse and if you believe the D&C (130:22 I believe but I need to look again)? If you do, then it should be fairly clear to both of us that we do not in fact worship the same deity.
If we do not worship the same deity, surely we don’t share the same heritage. We do not currently belong to the same church, so how can you say we are rooted in the same church? The very foundation of your approach is that you have truth that I have lost, is it not?
on 30 Nov 2007 at 12:40 pm 5.Brent said …
Jake, I am an Aradhna fan, though I only have one album (Satsang). But I do listen to that one album a lot!
on 01 Dec 2007 at 10:20 am 6.Jim said …
I sure hope the owners of that site understand the cost of twisting the Bible to make a cheap political point about the Lord’s supposed modern liberalism. A tragic end awaits anyone who seeks to sell the Lord for money.
on 01 Dec 2007 at 11:07 am 7.Jim said …
Hi Emily,
Here’s some insight into why Mitt Romney’s statement doesn’t add up for some of us.
We have trouble understanding why modern Mormons are eager to say, “We’re Christians just like you,” yet Joseph Smith declared at the beginning of the Mormon movement that we were “corrupt” professors of “abominations,” being tools of the “adversary” and his “powers of darkness”.
on 02 Dec 2007 at 10:50 pm 8.Emily said …
I love it when you guys link to LDS scripture! Seriously. Link away.
I so didn’t mean to start another discussion. My sole goal in making the comment here that I did was to suggest that perhaps Brent, in his wordage, does not accurately represent the LDS faith in these links. I’m not defending or promoting Mitt Romney. I only wish that my faith could be shown respect without what I feel is unfair bias against it. If you’ve noticed, I do not quote scriptures to try to prove the Baptists wrong. I do not wish to prove anybody wrong. I do not wish to Bible bash. Of course you all must understand that there are scriptures in the Old and New Testament which, if taken literally, would contradict some of your beliefs. There are different ways to interpret different scriptures. I don’t see how that is disputable. But I keep getting the sense that you (collectively) believe you have a corner on the Christianity market. Frankly, I think that is a short-sighted position.
As before, if anyone wishes to know more about why I believe what I believe, I would be genuinely happen to tell you. (emilygcraig@hotmail.com) I believe in Jesus Christ. My knowledge of Jesus Christ is derived from scripture and from personal experience. I know that He lives. Here is a beautiful testimony of the Savior written by men whom I believe know Him intimately.
Let’s all be friends. Let’s respect one another’s differing beliefs.
on 02 Dec 2007 at 10:51 pm 9.Emily said …
Happy to tell you. That’s what I meant.
Out.
on 03 Dec 2007 at 8:26 am 10.Brent said …
Emily, I hope that you know you are always welcome to comment here, but I find your attitude of being under attack a bit confusing. You had to know that your comments would elicit a response.
Also, I feel like we need to clarify. We can openly and honestly disagree while still “getting along, being friends and respecting one another’s beliefs.” I have plenty of friends I disagree with on plenty of issues and true friendship does not mean pretending as though we agree on everything. And respect does not mean that everyone can be right. As Jim and others have pointed out, the very basis of your tradition is that mine is wrong (and in quite strong language as has been pointed out). That doesn’t seem to be exactly extending the olive-branch, now does it? And yet I am to be condemned for clarifying the differences your tradition has always said are there to begin with?
I have noticed that you don’t quote Scripture and I wish that you would. You pop in once in a while, say that I have an arrogant, “corner on Christianity,” offer no basis for your claims and then say you just want to get along. If I have been unfair, please show me where. If I have misrepresented your beliefs, please show me where?
If you’ve noticed, I don’t exclusively link to Mitt Romney. The issue of faith has been at the forefront of this election season and that’s of the utmost interest to me. You say that I misrepresent LDS beliefs, please explain how so. What particular issues have I misrepresented? Did I misrepresent the article I linked to?
You also say “you all must understand that there are scriptures in the Old and New Testament which, if taken literally, would contradict some of your beliefs.” We can talk about literal readings of Scripture another time, but please, I desperately want to be faithful to Scripture, so if I am wrong in areas, the truly loving thing for you to do would be to point those out to me.