Can a good review be bad for a book author? Apparently it can if the author is Christian and the reviewer is atheist.
Ingrid of Slice of Laodicea wrote yesterday that that an atheist (me) positively reviewing Brian’s book proves how off base his theology is. (Here’s my review of Everything Must Change.)
I wonder how far Ingrid takes this? If atheists find a Christian likeable, does that prove the Christian is a heretic? Must he/she come across as obnoxious to those who aren’t Christians in order to prove he/she is a Real Christian?
I’ve come across Christians who do pride themselves in how they give offense with their evangelizing. Off The Map of course doesn’t think this way. That’s why one of Off The Map’s goals has always been to help Christians become normal (aka less like jerks) n the eyes of people who aren’t Christians.
Read the rest of this news item »
I first heard this from Jim yesterday. I think it’s awesome.
Posted in General Conversation | 16 Comments »If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Yesterday’s New York Times Magazine included a very interesting article about Evangelical Christians and Politics: The Evangelical Crackup.
Posted in General Conversation | 3 Comments »Just three years ago, the leaders of the conservative Christian political movement could almost see the Promised Land. White evangelical Protestants looked like perhaps the most potent voting bloc in America. They turned out for President George W. Bush in record numbers, supporting him for re-election by a ratio of four to one. Republican strategists predicted that religious traditionalists would help bring about an era of dominance for their party. Spokesmen for the Christian conservative movement warned of the wrath of “values voters.” James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, was poised to play kingmaker in 2008, at least in the Republican primary. And thanks to President Bush, the Supreme Court appeared just one vote away from answering the prayers of evangelical activists by overturning Roe v. Wade.
Today the movement shows signs of coming apart beneath its leaders.
I also posted this on Friendly Christian today
A few years ago I realized acceptance is essential to living a happy life. It also occurred to me that acceptance may be simpler for atheists.
When Christians encounter personal suffering or tragedy, there’s always a ‘why’ question that has to be dealt with, namely:
“Why did God, who is all-powerful and claims to love me, allow this to happen?”
When atheists encounter personal suffering or tragedy (any type which isn’t directly caused by another human), it’s ‘just the way it is’. There’s no person behind it to ask ‘why?’ to.
I think this makes such things easier to accept (not easy, but easier) than if God is in the picture. What do you think?
Posted in General Conversation | 15 Comments »John Smulo just informed us that he can’t afford the airfare to Off The Map Live so he can’t come.
John is co-leading a workshop and he’s our live blogger – but even more important, he’s having a difficult year and we’d love him to be there so we can encourage and support him in person.
We’d like to raise his airfare for him – if you would like to give anything please use his paypal account:
Eliza wrote this yesterday in a comment on 25 tips to become more productive and happy at work:
Have any of you seen (or heard about) Tyranny of the Urgent? I haven’t looked at this book (oops, actually it looks like a pack of 5 books according to the link) but the idea, as I’ve heard it, is to think of “importance” on one axis & “urgent” on the other, & to focus on those items which are important over those which seem urgent. Those which are “important’ but not ‘urgent’ often get overlooked. (Ironically, for me, this books/these books apparently talk about the whole idea from a Christian perspective, which somehow had gotten dropped along the way in the sources I’d previously heard about this).
Eliza continues
Read the rest of this news item »
What do you think of these? 25 Tips to Become More Productive and Happy at Work
Posted in General Conversation | 4 Comments »My new online friend Glenn Hager tagged me to blog about what I was doing 10, 20 and 30 years ago.
10 years ago I lived where I do now, in Oak Park (just outside Chicago). I was a stay at home Mom with a 2 and 4 year old. I was very much a Christian. This was a good time for me. I’d just joined Bible Study Fellowship and was loving it. I was very happy to be completely back to good mental health – I was ill for a number of months in 1996, my first episode of mental illness. Right around this time I went to an all-day conference at church led by Larry Crabb on Connecting, which I thought was awesome. It gave me lots of ideas about people helping and also helped me be less fearful about my illness. He became one of my favorite authors after that.
Read the rest of this news item »
Benjamin Ady sent me this link on Saturday: Rowling lets Dumbledore out of the closet. According to the article
After reading an excerpt from the seventh installment of her series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” one young fan asked if Dumbledore had ever loved anyone.
“Dumbledore is gay, actually,” replied Rowling.
She was initially met with a surprised silence but ultimately the audience erupted in cheers for several minutes prompting Rowling to add, “I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy.”
Read the rest of this news item »