Parts of Speaking Publishing

  I am watching a series on Apple TV that I do not recommend, but I am finding it hard to stop watching. I won’t say “I can’t stop watching.” That is both defeatist and non-Christian. And when I say I don’t recommend it, I would just warn that there is some (a lot) pretty graphic, in my book pornograpic sex that you must skip through. It starts in a restaurant seduction scene and goes on for quite a while. Yet, there are some interesting thematic and narrative aspects of it that 1. make me want to think through them and 2. make me want to read the novel it is based on. There is an important but overlookable scene at the very beginning of the “show” which is, I think, six episodes and produced and directed by Alphonse Cuaron, a filmmaker I have admired in the past for Gravity, Roma, and Children of Men. In this opening scene, Christiane Amanpour (which is breaking the line between reality and fiction) is announcing an award for the main character, Catherine Ravenscroft, as well kn...

 From the Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, second century CE https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0101.htm Chapter 5. The manners of the Christians For the  Christians  are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely  human  doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citi...

 Why does CNN have links to Saturday Night Live skits on its front "page"?  That's the best we can do? The media lives to perpetuate itself. More to come.  I just wrote a rant and mistakenly erase it, or didn't save it correctly. It compared Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, which I taught this morning, to the supposed need for abortion at all stages of pregnancy for any reason. In Abraham's time child sacrifice was common to appease pagan gods. Today is it done to appease the god of self, prosperity, career, and convenience, so that women can have the freedom to have the same irresponsible sexual freedom (they believe) men have (and some do). Some abortion protections are needed, and those can be debated. But one party, and maybe the second, believes any protections for the unborn are the end of democracy and civil rights.   I also wrote how it strikes me that anti-Trumpers who used to be Republicans can come off very pompous and self-righteous in their Facebook ...

This is my Life Group lesson for October 20, a lesson I didn't want to give.  Here is the first part of Genesis 22: Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”  And he said, “Here I am.” 2  Then He said, “Take now your son, your only  son  Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3  So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.  4  Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.  5  And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the  [ a ] lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” 6  So Abraham took the woo...

  https://www.biblegateway.com/learn/bible-101/about-the-bible/septuagint/ 

 I am a subscriber (well, late on dues payment) to The Dispatch Podcast . I recommend them for people who want a deeper and different approach to the news.  This link will take you to what I consider a "worth your time" (one of their taglines) essay on the value of religion. Jonah Goldberg had hosted Sam Harris, atheist extraordinaire (being snarky here) on his podcast The Remnant, Since most of Jonah's listeners (but not all) lean conservatives and conservatives lean religious, I think he got some pushback but he has his own pushback on Harris, hence this essay.  I think it's worth the read:   https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/gfile/slog-and-sacrifice/ Further notes.  This blog has been slow to take off, probably because I haven't linked it anywhere. I will address that today.  Also, I need to drive "traffic" (which implies a certain level of participants, which doesn't now exist) to my podcast. The latest episode is about the John C. Campbell Folk...

In the previous iteration of my blog, I often posted my lessons for the life group I teach every other week. They represent my journey, thoughts, and writing, although the passages are largely dictated by the literature choices we are given (the "books" from Lifeway, in this case The Gospel Project ). I am notorious for tying in other passages and going off book, as they say. What follows is my lesson for October 6, 2024, Genesis 12. This means I will have to teach my least favorite chapter in the Bible, the (planned) sacrifice of Isaac, in two weeks, which I will probably skirt. And yes, I am using the title of Eugene Peterson's book, as I think it applies.  Abram: “A long obedience in the same direction.” Theme: Pagan Transformation I want to start with an important but misunderstood passage: I Corinthians 10. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under ( A )the cloud, all passed through ( B )the sea, 2 all were baptized into ...