I originally missed this post "Penteparanoia" and it's follow up reponses at Totem to Temple. It's a great read about the attitude of legalism which still affects so many who are "free in Christ Jesus."
At Amy's Humble Musings, our lovely host is right on target with "The Day After Christmas," a post concerning the way we lose the celebration of Christ in the celebration of Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas, Stephen from Doggie's Breakfast (Full of Meaty Chunks!) is mulling over his own "Mixed Feelings Over Christmas." My favorite part:
I find it strange that some groups of Christians want to go to the barricades to defend its observance with nativity scenes, special services and "Merry Christmas"-ing. Yet those same groups of people feel little concern to care about the weekly observance of the resurrection on the Lord's Day and of the new creation of which they are part.
Feeling cynical? Catch up with Dan's thoughts on "To the Pure, All Things Are Pure," as he kicks off a series of posts about developing the mind of Christ at Cerulean Sanctum.
Rich church - poor church. If you get uncomfortable with the luxuries and opulence of some churches, read Steve Dennie's "Christmas Eve 2005 on the Rich Side of Town," over at whatever.
If you were watching television last week, you may have stumbled across a couple of shows about religion. One was on ABC and featured Barbara Walters giving us the low down on heaven. Since her theological expertise is somewhat limited, she brought in Richard Gere to help sort things out, along with countless other people. I think she might have even talked to a Christian, although I must have missed that part. Meanwhile at the same time on CBS, 48 Hours was running a program about the historicity of Jesus' birth and the reliability of the Gospel accounts. The first half of the show featured scholars like John Dominic Crossan, mostly telling the audience that you can't believe anything in Scripture. At the halfway point, skipping between both shows, I was about to give up. Two network programs trashing Christianity at the same time? Then I caught the teaser for what the CBS program was going to do in the second half-hour. They promised an interview with Ben Witherington, who would show us that the Bible accounts are actually true! Knowing Witherington's writing from book and his blog, I figured it would be worth sticking around for. I was right. Read Witherington's version of the how fair the production was at "The CBS Special--- The Mystery of Christmas."
And the Christian Carnival is NOT on holiday, thank you very much. The latest edition (#102) is posted at The Secret Life of Gary.
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