Reading Round-Up

Business analyst Michael Kruse did an interesting series on his blog: “Consumption vs. Consumerism.” (Here are the links to Parts I, II, and III.) A couple of highlight quotes: “Activism against consumerism is all the rage these days. But what is meant by consumerism? . . . Frankly, some anti-consumerism activism is merely factions of the church diverting blame to the economy for the church’s failure to have effectively integrated economic life with our Christian discipleship. The reality is that when the church fails to present a compelling vision of how life has abundant meaning in relationship to God and community, the culture is going to find a substitute.”

Scot McKnight (Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University) is doing a thought-provoking series on how we read the Bible. Specifically, he is surveying the different “types” or “personalities” of Bible readers. So far: (1) Puzzlers, (2) Smileys, (3) “Red Letter” Maestros, and (4) Lawbook. More to come.

Although I voted for Barack Obama in the election and will support him as my President, I also believe I have a moral imperative to push back against his stance regarding abortion-on-demand. Will you join me, and sign this petition against the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)? My signature was #625,676. Let’s keep ‘em coming.

A helpful talk from Pastor Mark Driscoll for dudes: Reverse Engineering Your Life. (Be warned though: this one is about 95 min long, so you’ll need to carve out some time if you want to listen to it and take notes.)

On that note, Mars Hill Church and Pastor Mark were recently featured on ABC’s Nightline: video available here (it is about 7.5 min long).

Some of us met Jesus later in life and have awesome “before-and-after” stories. Some of us met Jesus early in life, perhaps even in childhood, and have very different stories. Here is a great testimony from someone who met Jesus early on: Changed By Jesus.

Have you ever used Google Earth? It’s pretty cool, but let’s face it: Google Earth is only useful if you want to look at the 29.1% of the earth’s surface that is covered by land. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could look at the 70.9% of the earth’s surface that is covered by oceans and other bodies of water? Now you can ... the latest version of Google Earth allows users to “dive below the surface of the water to examine wildlife, mountains and shipwrecks in this murky world.”

And, do you think biblically about facebook?

The annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” has been released . . . and guess who came in at #96? That’s right, T-Mobile! :-)