Top Theological Stories of 2009

Colin Hanson at Christianity Today weighs in on what he feels are the top theological stories of 2009. The SBC and the ELCA are among notables as well as names such as Rob Bell and Rick Warren. Some of the listed events are encouraging while others are deeply disheartening.

Pray for 2010.

Amazon's Commentary on Culture

If you want to see a great commentary on our culture, take a look at Amazon's 100 Best Books of 2009: Customer Bestsellers.

Here are a few observations from the list:

• The largest genre of books are those concerning weight loss.
• Glenn Beck has two books in the top twenty.
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is number 13.
• Richard Dawkins' The Greatest Show on Earth is number 68.
• Bruce Metzger's successor, Bart Ehrman, managed to slip another irrelevant historical Jesus book onto the list at 82.
• Self-help books seem to still be popular. As long as people have problems, they will buy these by the truckload.
• Three Cups of Tea is probably the only book that I would read from this list, although I would probably not read the young reader's edition which is the only version that made the list.

Merry Christmas

The Gift Goes On

The lyrics to "The Gift Goes On" remind me of the Filioque Controversy. This probably was not Sandi Patti's intention.

You Are Small

And this video shows just how small you are.

Even a small understanding of what the video is communicating brings the magnitude of God's transcendence and the beauty of his imminence into light.

A Question John Piper Never Asked Himself

You Learn Something New Every Day

Can you learn something new every day before you learn that you learn something new every day?

Christmas Worship

We had a Christmas worship service at church tonight. Rebekah sang in the choir and I am happy to report that she got all the words right.

Uganda, Rick Warren, and the Media

Rick Warren got himself in hot water with the secular media by not speaking out immediately against Ugandan anti-gay laws. Foreign Policy did a short web piece titled "Rick Warren finally speaks out against Ugandan anti-gay law." They called the incident a hit on his credibility.

Rick Warren posted this video and a brief refutation of the rumors surrounding this topic.

The details aside, I only have one question. How did Rick Warren even get himself in this situation where the media is on his tail so often?

I understand that he is a big spokesperson for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa and it is his "role to speak out on moral issues" and not his "role to interfere with the politics of other nations." But the media doesn't make that distinction. Especially when you host political debates in your church and pray at presidential inaugurations. I know he said "other" nations, but getting involved in politics is getting involved in politics; in a global world, Uganda's problems become Rick Warren's problems.

The media always misconstrues things; we can all agree on that. I think Rick Warren's conclusions concerning the anti-gay laws in Uganda are correct (although I think some of his reasoning is faulty). It's the quickness of the media to get on Rick Warren that concerns me. I fear he brought at least a little of it on himself.

Foreign Policy claimed this incident hurt Rick Warren's credibility. The fact that Rick Warren had credibility with Foreign Policy to begin with is the root of the problem.

I Like This Moose

He makes me smile.

My Favorite Show

Fringe. It's a throwback sci-fi show with a stellar story line. Not to mention J.J. Abrams is a genius.

It's an experiment in awesome.