Daily Read 10/04/2008

RELIGION IN AMERICAN HISTORY: Is the Mortgage Crisis a Spiritual One?

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• The Spiritual side of the subprime mortgage crisis. God is not to blame, but the spokespeople for God get it wrong sometimes. – post by umjeremy

• While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California Riverside, he realized that Prosperity’s central promise — that God would “make a way” for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, toxic expression during sub-prime boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe “God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house.” The results, he says, “were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers.”

Why Evangelism Methods Must Change « Church Planting Novice

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• “Getting to heaven is not the goal of discipleship” – right on. – post by umjeremy

• Deficient view of Heaven. Many evangelism programs are focused on “getting people to heaven” not treasuring Christ or living out his mission. Ultimately, we don’t GO to heaven; heaven comes to earth through the already/not fully lordship of Christ. Moreover, going to heaven is not the goal of biblical discipleship. Treasuring, obeying, and sharing Christ is.

Flexitarians: Can You Be a Part-Time Vegetarian? | Newsweek Project Green | Newsweek.com

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• I must be a flexitarian! I’ve finally found my orientation! – post by umjeremy

• It might seem like being a vegetarian of convenience isn’t particularly inspiring, but a growing number of experts and even some famous foodies are fans. They say that cutting back on meat, rather than abstaining completely, may be a practical compromise that benefits our bodies and our environment.

Joel Osteen and “Joel-Likeness” – Challies Dot Com

Todd Wilken, of the radio program Issues, Etc, often evaluates the sermons of popular preachers on his broadcast, and has done this for several of Osteen’s messages. He evalutes the sermons on the following three criteria:

1. How often is Jesus mentioned? For his purposes, a simple tally will suffice.
2. Is Jesus the subject of the verbs? Is Jesus the one who acts, or are you?
3. What are the verbs? What has Jesus done and what is He doing?

tags: joel osteen

• Interesting methodology for evaluating sermons. – post by umjeremy

• Todd Wilken, of the radio program Issues, Etc, often evaluates the sermons of popular preachers on his broadcast, and has done this for several of Osteen’s messages. He evalutes the sermons on the following three criteria:

  1. How often is Jesus mentioned? For his purposes, a simple tally will suffice.
  2. Is Jesus the subject of the verbs? Is Jesus the one who acts, or are you?
  3. What are the verbs? What has Jesus done and what is He doing?