Nothing but the Blood

Now that you’ve gotten over the misleading post title it’s time for some blogging silliness and all will be made clear…

The rules:

Put your MP3 player on shuffle. If you don’t have one, pick random CDs and tracks from your collection!

For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS:

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?

How deep the Father’s love for us (Red Letter)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

Peace (Northern Conspiracy)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

Babies Breath (Brave Saint Saturn)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?

All Creatures (Red Letter)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

Recall (Brave Saint Saturn)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

Author and Perfecter (Red Letter)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

Softly and Tenderly (Team Strike Force)

WHAT IS 2+2?

Psalm 40 (E-Pop)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

Dedication of St Patrick (Marshillbillies)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

What have we done? (Northern Conspiracy)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Give me a new heart (Team Strike Force)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

I’ll fly away (E-Pop)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

I fell away (Brave Saint Saturn)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

All along the road (Noise Ratchet)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

Filthy Roman Cross (Northern Conspiracy)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

O praise him (David Crowder Band)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

No depression (The Marshillbillies)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

Moons of Mars (Noise Ratchet)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

He speaks (Sons of Thunder)

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?

Disappear (Noise Ratchet)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?

Sound of Atone (Team Strike Force)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

Wonderful King (David Crowder Band)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?

Till we have faces (Noise Ratchet)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?

Only you (David Crowder Band)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?

Manchuria (Pinback)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?

A false sense of security (Rodeia)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

Thank you for hearing me (David Crowder Band)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?

Tis so sweet (Marshillbillies)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Nothing but the blood (E-Pop)

Now do the same and copy and paste it as a comment or on your own blog…

(HT – Andy)

Page 56

Time for a little blog/book game (for people with nothing worth posting on their blog at the present moment, like yours truly):

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your Facebook wall/blog post
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

“Societies that have rid themselves of all religion have been just as oppressive as those steeped in it.” Timothy Keller, ‘The Reason for God‘

(HT – Gordon)

What if Jesus were Emergent?

This is absolutely hilarious – Jesus, the emergent, engages in a ‘conversation’ with the Samaritan woman at the well (HT – Cobus).

Theology of the Fall for Dummies

Theology of the fall in popular culture.

Wilson’s got an Evangellyfish – and You can Read it

Doug Wilson’s new novel, ‘Evangellyfish’ is being serialized as a blog. Doug is possibly one of the most creative communicators of truth out there today. The way he sculpts humour to make important points is often masterful. So make sure you read the regular installments.

6 Reasons to Stay in South Africa (for Christians)

If I ever tell a bad joke on this blog there’s always a good chance I learnt it from my good friend Sam. Just to prove my point take a look at his 6 ‘not so godly’ reasons for not emigrating from South Africa:

Lest we fall too easily into the trap of seeing ourselves as super spiritual- let’s be honest about some of our not-so-godly motivations for staying:
1. It’s too darn expensive.
2. Who’s going to look after our parents, in-laws and Maltese-Poodle?
3. I don’t really like Aussies anyway!
4. Where else in the world can you get a bunny-chow for under ten bucks?
5. Those who do bail will think I’m so kingdom-focussed for staying.
6. Surely I’ll earn God’s favour and blessings because of my martyr-like attitude (so long as He doesn’t find out about points 1-5, oops!)

10 Things You Never Knew About NT Wright

 

The good ol’ bishop Tom Wright doesn’t mention these things too often.

(HT – Byron)

For My Girlfriend

Robs, I thought you might like this one. (HT – Mark Meynell)

Emo Elmo

I stole this from a friend’s Facebook profile – I couldn’t resist – I’m sure she won’t mind. Now enjoy with me…

How to Jinx your Football Team

***Note: When I use the word ‘football’ I’m not referring to the American variety  – a sport in which the ball hardly ever touches the foot – instead I’m referring to soccer – a sport in which ones foot is regularly engaged***

Now I know Christians are not supposed to believe in superstitions and all but here’s a guaranteed way to jinx your favourite football team and condemn them to rubbish performances. Its simple really. Use your favourite football team as a sermon illustration about what real consistent quality looks like. I did it and it worked! After a string of near-perfect results Arsenal drew at home 1-1 with the mighty giants of English football: Birmingham!

The Big Boys…According to Facebook

Who are the biggest ‘influencers’ in western Christianity today? Who are the real movers and shakers in the Christian public sphere? There’s only one guaranteed place to turn to for real answers when it comes to social influence: Facebook!

So here’s the top 10 Christian icons according to Facebook groups (…well the top 10 I could find, or chose to find anyway).

1. Rob Bell – Rob is the undisputed heavyweight of Christian Facebook leaders. His Nooma/Rob Bell group weighs in with 2775 members.

2. John Piper – The Pope of the Reformed tradition runs with a 1423 member group.

3. Donald Miller – Christian author of the moment Donald Miller weighs in with a group of 1203 members.

4. Mark Driscoll – The future Pope of the Reformed tradition ‘resurges’ into 4th spot with a group of 1059 members.

5. John MacArthur – Spreading Grace to You MacArthur rolls in at 5th with a group of 647 members.

6. Brian McLaren – Everyone is going to hell with Brian McLaren in this group of 624 members.

7. CJ Mahaney – If you’re Reformed and Charismatic then he’s your man! CJ whips out a group of 425 members.

8. Tim Keller – The missional maestro from New York racks up a group of 360 members.

9. Matt Chandler – The local ‘Village’ pastor steps up to the big league with a group of 264 members.

10. Benny Hinn – Through an absolute miracle Benny wiggles his way into the top 10 with a group of 215 members (although I couldn’t quite figure out if the group was an appreciation group or something he shouldn’t show to his family).

And there you have it – on the flawless authority of Facebook. (PS – let me about any other interesting ‘Christian Icon’ groups).

The Wealth of a Student

I’m the 1,149,766,905 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>

I don’t know how accurate this little website is but it’s pretty sobering.

 

Who’s Behind You?

moar funny pictures

When Your Preaching is Just Not Getting In

My eye just caught this peculiar little statistic while I was glancing at the October edition of Christianity Today earlier today: Apparently 12% of people questioned in America admitted to checking their emails on their mobiles during church services.

In our rural churches here in South Africa people go to sleep when the sermon is boring – in the States they check their emails.

Eina!

Eina!, originally uploaded by a_dOgshOw.

It’s been going around the net, but this is brilliant! Copy it and paste it to your fridge!

Religious Rugby

Dion has theologically determined who will win the rugby tomorrow night.

My Daft Friend Rory

Rory’s acquaintance Earlier on this week I had a bit of a bizarre conversation with my friend Rory. Now my day started out much like any other, I had managed to drag myself out of bed just in time to catch the rush hour traffic at 7:30 (my favorite past time) only to result in me being very late for my 8 o’clock lecture. As I sat for half an hour in the frozen traffic I decided to chill out to some Bob Marley tracks and by the fifteenth song I eventually pulled up onto campus. Disillusioned about missing yet another 8 o’clock lecture that week I heard a cheerful greeting from my friend Rory who was as late as I was for his lecture. We contemplated being diligent and catching the last twenty minutes of our lectures despite our tardiness, but that thought soon passed and we opted for coffee in the cafeteria. As we sat down Rory began to enlighten me on the rather bizarre experience he had the previous morning.

Rory was up particularly early the previous day because he was writing a philosophy test and wanted to revise the concept of Descartes ‘Cartesian circle,’ a concept he was particularly struggling to wrap his head around. As he was meandering his way up to campus he was pondering all he had read on the topic, when out of nowhere one of our friendly campus squirrels appeared on the garden path in front of him. As he was about to side step the bushy tailed creature he heard a voice say, “Why so deep in thought dude?” Rory looked round about but saw no one and so continued to walk on, but again heard someone say “What’s on your mind guy?” Thinking it may be Corné and Twakkie he surveyed the area again, Rory then looked down only to see that it was none other than the bushy tailed creature who had directed these questions at him. Now Rory, being the rather daft guy that he is, proceeded to tell the squirrel what preoccupied his mind. At this point of the story I stepped in, ‘Good gracious Rory could you be Dr. Doolittle?’ he ignored my sardonic remark and continued.

After telling the squirrel about the test he was about to write and the dilemma he had in understanding a particular concept the squirrel attempted to explain to him that it was all rather simple and that Descartes seemed to be committed to two different priorities. He told Rory to consider that if we clearly and distinctly perceive some proposition p, then it is true that p. And he abbreviated this to (CDp –> Tp), reading that if p is clear and distinct (‘CD’), then it is true (‘T’)…and I forget the rest of what Rory said because at this point I out rightly asked him if he was stoned? Annoyed he simply said that if it weren’t true then how was it possible that he aced his test? Recognising this was a rhetorical question I decided it would be best not to try and be a smart-ass and answer it. Plus at this point i caught myself hoping that I would run into a squirrel that was accomplished in the art of law, seeing exams were approaching soon.

Sound ludicrous?

It’s supposed to, because what is even more ludicrous is that I had a very real conversation with a friend earlier this week who told me that he believed that the gospel may very well be true and that he thought it was amazing that Jesus would die for sinners, but that it just wasn’t for him. This not only saddened me but I thought it was utterly ludicrous to turn down the free gift that God offers through Jesus Christ.

Champion of Orthodoxy!

You’ve gotta love this: Apparently yours truly has been hard at work attempting to win over the Emergent Africa crowd to ‘orthodoxy’. LOL!

I feel like some sort of super-hero with a mask dressed in spiritual ‘tightie whities’ (however you spell that) championing the cause of the orthodox in these troubled times of wide-spread blogging heresy! Does that make Anthony my side-kick?

Noah According to the Stoned

Mark Driscoll discusses theology with the weed community…

The McLaren Code

Its been cracked! My brother has figured out where Brian McLaren gets his inspiration from – the evidence is there, if you look carefully. (Don’t worry I’ll give ol’ Mac a rest after this one).