Instead of doing several different posts on all these interesting stories, I figured I would give you one big, exciting link explosion.
Christian Aliens – According to the Catholic Church there are most likely intelligent beings in the universe and they are most likely Christian. So maybe an invansion would be more like a really long missions trip?
Lesson from an Atheist – One of the most interesting things I have discovered about talking with people from different belief systems, especially those that are atheists, is that they always want to tell Christians how Christians should behave. A atheistic fantasy author in Britian is upset because he says the Chronicles of Narnia do not contain “Christian virture.” I promise I won’t tell atheists how to show “atheist virture” if atheists won’t tell me how to show “Christian virture.”
Sheep with a tape delayed Shepherd – Churches across the country (many in my area, like those mentioned in this story) are starting satellite campuses where the sermons are taped earlier at the main church and shown on big screens in movie theaters and coffee houses. It may be hard to get to know the pastor personally, but at least this way you can see how many wrinkles are on his face (especially if it is a new digital theater.)
Church is good and bad for you – Two studies have produced conflicting results. A economist from MIT identified communities of frequent churchgoers and found “higher incomes and education levels and less welfare participation, along with more marriages and fewer divorces.” While a researcher wrote in the Journal of Religion and Society that “higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion.” The problem with that study was the researcher took entire nations and compared them, instead of smaller groups like the first study. There seems to be some phrase I have heard about statistics and liars.
In non-Church news – In an age where our nation is being attacked from many different sides, environmentalists are suing the Navy, seeking “a court order to curb mid-frequency sonar, the most common method of detecting enemy submarines.” The lawsuit claims that the sonar causes whales and dolphins to go off course and get stranded, but I am bit more worried about an enemy sub staying on course and us not knowing about it.
"One of the most interesting things I have discovered about talking with people from different belief systems, especially those that are atheists, is that they always want to tell Christians how Christians should behave."
Maybe that's because Christians are always telling the rest of us how we should behave?
Tit for tat.
I always tell the youth at my church that "Lost people should act lost and Christians should act Christians."
I don't for once expect a non-Christian to live to the standard that Jesus set for Christians to live. Christians fail at it enough as it is.
I don't tell you how a gay person should act. I don't tell Sam how an "I-don't-care-enough-to-think-about-God" person should act.
That was my main point, not that people shouldn't expect decent behavior from others, but that someone who is not a Christian is going to have a hard time convincing me that they better understand what it means to be a Christian. Just like I would have a hard time convincing you that I know better than you how a gay person should behave.
There are obvious sets of moral standards that most everyone can accept and reasonably hold others to, but for Christians the bar and standard are raised even higher by Christ and we are called to live the way He did. You are not called to that, therefore I don't expect you (or any other non-Christian) to follow the highest standard for conduct.
Uh-oh, you used the value-laden "lost" word – you should have said "non-Christians".
There is a difference, however, between telling people how they *should* act to be moral, and another to stereotype, esp. using a straw man, which is what this atheist did. He didn't say "you are being immoral" (which is what xians do), but saying "xians are supposed to be like x, how come you are not doing that?"
There is even a finer distincttion, which is if xians say that an xian should act a certain way, and don't. Then the atheist can remark upon it, but to remark upon an xians actions based on HIS interpretation of xianity is merely speaking on streotype at best, and upon misunderstanding at worst.
It's like me saying, "I don't think you are a muslim because you don't kill christians."