The Wall Came Tumbling Down – After last week's 25th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall, a look at the church in former Communist Europe: "The crumbling wall represented a spiritual victory and an opportunity to take the light of Christ into the darkness that had been cloaking Eastern Europe for decades." However, "Churches struggled to evangelize the communities around them. After years of knowing "big brother" was watching, it was difficult for the church to open its doors and welcome lost neighbors…"
Beth Moore, The Charismatic – Holy Spirit stirrings. Extra-Biblical revelations. Divine promptings. We hear of these things often, but don't expect them from LifeWay's leading lady. Beth Moore makes the case for experiences — or perhaps we should say the validity of experience — in addition to the Bible; but at least one blogger with ample experience in apologetics is not afraid to accuse her of scripture-twisting.
Philosophy of Suicide – Did the 200-or-so people who jumped from the World Trade Center on 9/11 really commit suicide? Benjamin L. Corey examined this topic in the wake of last week's Brittany Maynard story; and his article was picked up by Time Magazine. "It seems disingenuous to force someone to choose between two ways of dying and then turn on them in judgement for picking the least painful of the two options." A painful look at how easy it is to become judgmental.
You say Potato – Sometimes the most interesting bits of a story are buried in the second-last paragraph. In an article on the Catholic Church in greater New York City merging 112 parishes into 55 new ones — which also showed a dramatic decline in women becoming nuns — there was a reference to "million dollar parishes," what Evangelicals would call a mega-church, expressing the size in terms of attendance, not budget.
When You Lack the Gratitude Gene – Maybe you can empathize: "My wife writes the best thank-you notes. They make people cry. People save them. She gets thank-you notes for her thank-you notes." The article, written by someone who is both an InterVarsity staffer and local church Associate Pastor looks at a couple of things that kill gratitude, and how to cultivate it.
The Other Side of Abortion – It's one thing to protest abortion, it's another thing to deal with the young lives that result from un-abortion. "In Nha Trang, Vietnam an incredibly noble man named Tong Phuoc Phuc is raising more than 50 babies that would have been aborted, if he had not interceded and offered to raise them." The children bear his name, but his hope is that the birth mothers will come back for them, as did 30 out of 80 over the last four years. (3 min. video)
The Last Episcopal? – Several years ago Christian novelist David Gregory wrote The Last Christian about a missionary kid who returns home in 2088 only to find out that Christianity has died out in America. That was fiction. Two weeks ago on the American Conservative website, Ron Dreher wrote a piece that was given this rather arresting title: Has the Last Episcopalian Been Born? That might not be fiction. And there are lessons for Evangelicals as well.
Bonus Item – A church marketing website discovers that Christmas comes with its own built-in promotional program.
