The Sixth Million Writers Award is now open for voting on the top ten short stories published online. You can read the stories from the list and then vote for them on another page. If you participate, let us know what you think about it all.
All posts by Phil
10 People A Pastor Should Fear
Jared has a good list on parishioners who should come with warning labels:
2. The young guy who likes it when you rant against stuff or preach angry. Beware of pleasing young men too much. Young men are notoriously stupid. (I know, ’cause I am one.)
3. The guy or gal who doesn’t like it when you rant against stuff or preach angry. Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. If you’re sincerely and reliably preaching the Word, toes are going to be stepped on from time to time. If you’re not being self-indulgent about it and you are speaking the truth, beware those who think you should be more “positive” like those fellows on TV.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
If you don’t talk about the trouble in your community, does the trouble still exist? That’s the question Miss Eugenia Phelan faces in 1963 when she begins asking the colored women of Jackson, Mississippi, what it’s like to work as maids for white families. Many things could be said, but the maids don’t want to talk and the white women wouldn’t know what to talk about if asked.
For them, racism is a lifestyle they cannot recognize. It isn’t only the unjust acceptance of a black boy being beaten for using the wrong bathroom. None of the main characters in this novel would do something horrible like that, but many of them do believe the maids are essentially unlike their employers. They probably carry Negro diseases. They are intellectually inferior. And if one of them act as if there is no difference between whites and blacks, they may as well be insulting the family. All of this is condoned by those who claim to disbelieve it, because it isn’t what they believe that counts in many cases. It’s what Mississippi believes.
Kathryn Stockett’s beautiful debut novel, The Help, is told masterfully by three narrators: Continue reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Atheists, the Anti-God Crowd
This may go along with Ori’s link in the previous post. Atheists don’t appear to be more rational than their opponents, just more angry. Maybe they had bad Sunday School experiences. But then “a fool says in his heart, ‘There is no god,'” so we may be talking about complete irrationality here.
Free Chocolate Today
Free Chocolate from Mars today and every Friday. Mars is giving away 500,000 coupons for free chocolate at realchocolate.com for those who register.
Wikipedia Isn’t Verified?
An Irishman punked journalists through Wikipedia, not realizing beforehand that many modern journalists don’t verify their sources. Time crunch, no doubt.
Great Online Resources and Reviews
Reformed Books: “Our goal is to honor Christ by equipping Christians in the truth by pointing you to the finest classic and contemporary resources of historical Reformed orthodoxy.”
Puritan Library: More Bible teaching than most of us could read in a lifetime.
Are Evangelical Churches Ignoring Christ?
David Nilsen reviews Michael Horton’s book, Christless Christianity:
One famous Evangelical pastor has recently made popular the phrase, “deeds, not creeds.” Evangelicals have their doctrine right, this pastor tells us, they just aren’t living it. Against such sentiments, Dr. Horton argues that many Evangelicals actually do not have their doctrine right, or at least they aren’t preaching it correctly. Evangelicals have confused the important categories of Law and Gospel, turning the Gospel message (which is supposed to be the good news of something that Christ has already done for us), into the Gospel program. If you’ll only live out the Gospel (by reading your Bible every day, joining a certain group at church, and learning how to be a Christ-like example to others), you’ll be healthy, wealthy and wise. The question to be answered is, “What would Jesus do?” rather than, “What has Jesus done?”
Gov. Palin to Write Memoir
There’s a book in the works from Gov. Sarah Palin to describe her life in Alaska and her experiences in presidential politics. She will be writing the book herself, working with a more experienced co-author. As far as I know, the co-author will not be Franklin Graham, pictured with Mrs. Palin below.
End Demand
If there were no buyers, there would be no sellers and no victims. I’m told that the demand for young girls is increasing, and the buyer is an average American man. This is evil. I’m know I’m being vague, but hard to talk about sex trafficking in any context.