Man Kills Wife for Changing Facebook Status to ‘Single’

Here’s the story.  Just be very, very careful when you edit your profile on Facebook!!!

Evangelicals Catholics Together

Chuck Colson just had a terrific interview with Christianity Today about the ECT movement in which he has been central. With the recent death of Richard John Neuhaus, Colson’s equivalent on the Roman Catholic side of the dialogue, CT interviewed Colson about the origins, contribution and possible future of ECT.

Colson asserts that even the Pope agrees that Martin Luther got it right on justification by faith. Peter Kreeft, Roman Catholic philosophy professor at Boston College, former evangelical and author published by InterVarsity Press (with, of course, no note on the back cover that Kreeft is Roman Catholic) asserts the same. I can agree with this on the formal level, though I haven’t seen much of it at the pew level. But I think we are far beyond the days when evangelical Protestantism just assumed that RCs were a “works righteousness” movement and therefore not fully placing saving faith in Christ. The deep reverence for Christ I have witnessed among my RC brothers and sisters, their singular belief that Jesus is the one mediator through His shed blood, their supernaturalism and spiritual worldview, commitment to the Bible as divinely inspired, etc., give evangelical believers much more camaraderie than do the more liberal Methodist, Presbyterian or UCC churches on the corner that struggle with a consistent spiritual (as opposed to materialist and secular) worldview.

I think the evangelical movement is dealing with a lot of its goofiness as it has been tossed back and forth by every new fad that creates new churches and casts them away every decade. Younger evangelicals are finding the liturgy, the Lord’s Supper, spiritual disciplines, ordered prayers and monastic aspects of RC life intriguing and life-giving. It is sensing in ever new ways that worship and communal spirituality are not built alone on the rock of a good sermon and fast tune.

I remember when RC Sproul called Colson out over the ECT, supposedly like Paul called out Peter, referred to in Galatians, and wondered (perhaps out right accused) if Colson was being a carrier of another Gospel. The rally cry fell on deaf ears. I think evangelicals know innately that the consistent supernaturalism of the RCs puts them on our side of the line (or us on theirs). Of course, I know RC in its western and North American version, not the version of Latin America, etc., where there is a level of volatility between evangelicals and RCs that seems to call this whole thing into question. But that’s another discussion.

Below is the interview….

Son of Hamas Leader Converts to Christ

This is a 45 minute video from Fox News.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/53159/fox-news-specials-escape-from-hamas

Tracking charitable contributions of politicians

Call it a hobby, but I will be tracking the charitable contributions of those who run for political office.  While I have never known who gives what at the churches I have served, the reality is that those who are committed to the good purposes of the church substantially commit finances. I think there is a parallel in public service, too.

Sen. Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, showed annual earnings of more than $200,000 and sometimes $300,000 between 1998 and 2007. In 2007, their most generous year, the Bidens gave $995 to charity. In 1999, their charitable donations added up to $120.University of Cincinnati law professor Paul Caron, said Biden’s lack of charitable giving ”is jarring” — that a couple making over $200,000 a year would give so little to charity — between 0.06 and 0.31percent of their income.

Independent Sector, a nonpartisan coalition of approximately 600 charities, foundations and corporate philanthropy programs, reports that 89 percent of American households contribute to charity, with an average contribution of $1,620, or 3.1 percent of income.