Two Atheists Speak Out About Becoming Pro-Life

How I Became Pro-Life (ok, she also has a post on how she changed from atheism to Christianity)

The Abortion Debate is Changing

I have always been pro-life, but I have never "voted prolife" as I am not a one-issue voter. I actually don't feel that this is a political issue, and it's not as simple as legalizing or illegalizing abortion. What I do know is that personally, I'd rather be safe than sorry. If there is any chance that a fetus with complete human DNA is a person, then I better respect its right to life. If there is any chance that I'm sliding on a slippery slope, I vote to find something firm to hold on to.

Don't take your iPod to church? You've got to be kidding me!

One of my e-maginary friends posted a link to this article titled, "Don't Take Your iPod to Church" in which the author begins an attempt to persuade us that using that type of technology- an electronic Bible- is somehow morally questionable.

Is he freaking out of his mind? In a follow up post, he chides

I offer special thanks to people who offered such incisive, head-in-the-sand feedback as this: “Maybe @challies should worry about people who don’t bring any type of Bible to church instead of chiding technology” or “Why don’t we just go back to scrolls and the original languages, while we’re at it?” I guess it’s not worth responding to some comments.

His thesis statement (buried in the 3rd or 4th paragraph- why do preachers have such long, windy introductions?) seems to be "A trend we see today through today’s digital technology is the exaltation of this kind of knowledge, cold facts, at the expense of more intimate knowledge. This is true, I’m convinced, when we take our iPods to church." He restates it in his conclusion, "Yet at the same time it may just be changing how we understand, perceive and gather information. We must exercise great caution that we do not lose knowledge of with our newfound ability to find knowledge about."

To really get into the meat of this guy's persuasive argument, one must go to his third article on the subject:

In a previous article I introduced Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman and their contribution to my thinking on technology. From McLuhan we learn that we cannot neatly separate the medium from the message and from Postman, an interpreter of McLuhan, we learn that every medium carries with it some kind of a worldview—that every medium carries with it “a predisposition to construct the world as one thing rather than another, to value one thing more than another, to amplify one sense or skill or attitude more loudly than another.” Also from Postman we learn the simple truth that “a technology does what it was created to do.” Over time we will learn what it is that a technology was created to do; rarely do we know in advance how a technology will play out. We tend to be immediately positive about technological innovation, but from these two men we learn that there ought to be a certain caution, a hesitation that causes us to look before we leap, to think before we wholeheartedly embrace a new technology—like reading the Bible on an iPod.

So let’s look today at why reading the Bible on an iPod is not the same as reading it in print.

He goes on to argue that digital media is inherently non-linear and inherently interactive. That God had Scripture committed to books (and before that scrolls and before that memory)." This takes me back to the guy's comment above about "let's go back to scrolls." Scrolls are obviously more linear than books! For the record, books are also interactive- between the author and the reader, and then the reader usually takes it then to a book discussion group or even just conversation with another. Strangely, the author is using a digital, non-linear (you can't even bring up the articles in linear form to read them from top to bottom) and interactive medium to put forth this (flat) argument. He even says "But through it all I’m seeing some great discussion and am being asked lots of interesting questions." So does he want linear and non-interactive, or not?

I will continue to take my iPhone to church. I like having 100 Bible translations available to me without having to carry 100 books. I like having my notebook there where I can't lose it, and I can search it by keyword. I like being able to open up my notes and have my Scripture there, to reference when I come here to blog about what God is speaking into my life.

Renovation Notions

Well, it's been almost 2 years since we decided to stay here and renovate our house, rather than move. Two years later-- I wish we'd gone ahead and done what we could to move down to '02. (78702, that is.) But I can tell you this-- our house looks mahvelous. We did it as green as we could:

• reused 2x4s as we pulled them down
• composted 98% of the drywall we pulled down
• used all low-VOC paints
• chose long-lasting materials
• purchased locally and/or from companies who have made commitments to being low-impact or green
• pulled nails from boards and recycled the metal
• recycled any cardboard, styrofoam, plastic or paper that came into the house

And don't neglect the simple fact that staying here, instead of moving to a bigger house, is green as well.

Here are some pictures from a year ago.

Here are some from today:


This is my new Forbo Marmoleum floor.

Religion doesn't work

Our friend who is a church planting student posted this to his blog. I'm glad he pointed out to me that it was available as a YouTube clip. I listened to this several times last year, even invited people over to watch the series with me.... it's that good. Our family will be starting back up this time weekly-- we'll have coffee (free trade, organic) in reusable cups, watch Mark together on a big screen, and have a time of response and discussion. Please let me know if you can join us, and whether you'd prefer Tuesday night or Thursday night, or maybe Saturday night.

This is what our friend said about this clip: "Here is a straight forward explanation of what we confuse so often, which is moral righteousness (which is not saving righteousness) with Christ’s righteousness (which comes through the truth of the Gospel). Which is why we should cling to the Gospel and trust in the Gospel and place our faith in the Gospel for it is God’s power for salvation."

The Sin of Busyness

Busy Busy, shockingly busy.... much much too busy for you.

Lately there is a whirlwind of activity, a TaDa list a mile long, and a lot of people who feel like we never are available to do what they want us to do, including faithful blog readers who expect a little new content from time to time. So sorry. I sit and try to write, but my head shuts down and I go find mindless activity like reading all my Facebook friends' updates. My oldest has started his summer job as a lifeguard, so there was a flurry of activity getting him set up with the required uniform and bus pass. There is VBS this week. Half of my man's volunteer team is on vacation, and 75% of the team or more will be out on Father's Day. We're planning a business trip that I get to accompany him on which means I have to plan to get the kids dealt out like so many cards.

When there are so many things on our plates, it's not always easy to figure out what to do. Some things happen because of urgency-- I have to just drop what I'm doing to feed the kids. They're at my elbows right now telling me we need to make something for supper so they have food before VBS. The last few nights they've been eating something thrown together and eaten in the car on the way over, or on the sidewalk outside the church. We cleaned the bathrooms today because they were fixing to be condemned. Urgency sucks us in despite our efforts-- and often are just maintenance issues that have been neglected by others who wait for you to do it, or have tampered and broken or messed up something. Urgent is rarely important.

Other things happen because of importance-- I open my Bible (ok, technically I touch the Bible icon on my iPhone), I listen to sermons, I read, I check my prayer request lists, I do laundry. These things are important, but to most people who catch a glimpse of this activity I look idle-- and I look like a prime target for whatever urgent thing they want me to do.

Last, there are the projects that I have chosen because it is time to do those things or because it's a call on my life. Blogging is a project that I prayerfully considered and chose. Remodeling was the alternative to moving. And helping Jeff with his business is my calling. In order to accomplish the projects in the last category, I have to make a concerted effort to ignore the Urgent, and make concrete plans to begin my work after the Important.

This season of our life has kept my man and I constantly discussing the difference between Urgent, Important, and Projects. We evaluate what goes in each category. We pray over what we've accomplished, what we are doing, and where we are headed, and what we'll do next. We pray against the Tyrrany of the Urgent. We have to decide what gets put on back burners, what is removed from our dockets, and we have to repent of forgetting the Important.

How do you handle monitoring your time so that you are stewarding it well, and not committing the sin of busyness? And how do you handle others who misunderstand your drive and are put off by their low ranking in your priority list?

Talk to me!