Christian Carnival CXCVII

Welcome to this week's Christian Carnival.

If you submitted a post but do not see it here, please feel free to send it to my email (fcov.geo@yahoo.com) up to 6:00 PST (9:00 EST) today, Wednesday, Nov. 7.
Please do not submit another post today if you have already submitted one for this carnival as the hosting submission process for next week hasn't been set yet. Thanks.

And now here is the lineup:

*There is a lot of chatter lately in the blogosphere about discipleship and how the one-stop salvation prayer must have a life of discipleship to complement it. Cao at Cao's Blog has written a very good encapsulation of this process and the need for it in his post entitled, A Life of Discipleship

*Richard at dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos in his post, Great lamentation studies the word devout in Acts 8:2 both from the NT perspective as well as the OT one.

*Recently, as many of you know, there has been a spate of books from well-known atheists trying to diss religion and especially Christianity. Doug at Bounded Irrationality presents a very good apologetic concerning who or what, if anyone or anything, created the universe. Doug really does a good job in making his argument concise and understandable in his post, Belief in God is perfectly reasonable.

*Martin at Sun and Shield always has interesting things to say. Although he usually doesn't write about political things, he is making an exception with his post, What Influences the Political Choices of Christians? Immigration as an Issue. Living in Southern California as I do, Martin's post was very interesting to me indeed.

*Don takes us on an interesting journey of the butterfly. He says that Christians are often compared to caterpillars in their old life turning into "new creatures" like a butterfly in their new life. But what are butterflies like? And how do they really fly? Learn all of this in his post, Life Lessons from Butterflies at Don's blog,
The Evangelical Ecologist.

*James brings us a short but deep post entitled Truth or Lie at his blog, Healing Through Words. The concept he presents here slowly grabs you. In fact, I found myself thinking about truth and lies for several days after reading this.

*Ever wonder what this verse really means?

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24)

FMF of the blog, Free Money Finance brings us several interpretations including his own (by the way, there might not be an "eye gate" which I hadn't known before I read this) in his post, Camels and Needles.

*Iraq isn't the only war gong on as Nick tells us in his post entitled Five Forgotten Fights at his blog, Crossinator.

*What would happen if we didn't have speech, song or dance? At therapydoc's blog, Everyone Needs Therapy, he does a post about two angels trying to talk God out of giving such esteemed powers to humans, but God thinks it might be a good idea anyway. You can view their conversation at his post, The Gift of Speech.

*Boy, I sure wish there were more 20-something Christians like Casey at The Limitless: Comeback. You've got to read his perspective as a parent on how Christians need to hold the line on compromise in his post, Sin in the Church - So What.

*Christian Youth Conferences today are waaaay different than they were when some of you (over 40) grew up. Jake at JakeBouma.com recently attended the National Youth Workers Convention and boy are the topics waaay different than they used to be. You can read his summary of some of the seminars in his post, NYWC ‘07 Day 4: A new vision.

*Mark at Pseudo-Polymath looks into a well-known Eastern Orthodox collection of texts called the Philokalia. This collection includes a part which tells us how the world of the demonic is influencing us and some possibilities on how to deal with these demons. His post is called Philokalia Monday: Evagrius Ponticus on Discrimination and Demons.

*Rich Mullins sings a song entitled "Growing Young about the Prodigal son. Ken at True Believer gives us his commentary on the lyrics of the song in his post, Growing Young.

*Jennifer of Diary of 1 asks us, "Where have I been weighed and found wanting?" She asks the question through the song by Johnny Cash, "Belshazzar." She even has a You Tube video of Cash singing the song. The post is entitled, Weighed in the Balance and Found Wanting.

*What would it be like to spend a few days in a monastery and then come home? Kevin of Everyday Liturgy did just that and reports what it was like. After I read his post, entitled, Back to Life, Back to Reality..., it seemed like the answer to what life was like when he left the monastery to come home was in one word--NOISY!

*A lot of people are asking if Intelligent Design is science. Or, is it "religion?" ChrisB of Homeward Bound is attempting to answer this question in his post, Is Intelligent Design Science?. The first thing he does, which IMO is the right first thing to do, is to define science. I thought I knew what he was going to say but I was wrong. See if you can guess what his answer is.

*Rodney at The Journey reviews the movie, "What Would Jesus Buy" in his post, What Would Jesus Buy?. The main question in the movie is, Have we turned shopping into a religion?

*Anne of Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength believes there are some more things to be added to Thomas A Kempis' classic The Imitation of Christ, in her post, Imitation of Christ. This is a good summary of the sanctification process.

*I don't know about you but my achilles heel has been unforgiveness. And then there is the "R" word - reconcilliation. Jody of Jody Along the Path offers some good insights into this dilemma in her post, To Forgive Or Not Forgive – A Frequent Question.

*What happens when we put doctrine ahead of people? Or, when we center on one small Biblical doctrine. Henry of Threads from Henry's Web tackles this question in his post, Setting Doctrinal Priorities posted at Threads from Henry's Web. This post is unique in that Henry gives three examples from his own life when he did this very thing and what this personal experience taught him.

*Michael at Chasing the Wind examines Matthew, chapter 18. He has some very good observations in his post, Christian Behavior in God's Church. Note especially the first point (the "h" word) which the other points need to build upon.


*And, my contribution this week is entitled Yes, We Can!. It's about getting both the clear proclamation of the gospel of substitutionary atonement with the social gospel of helping the poor and justice. We don't need to choose between the two as evangelicals and liberal Protestants have done for over 100 years now.