OT Today: 23 December 2008

Here are the online discernment links for December 23, 2008:

• Reformata.org links without comment to a CANOE/Associated Press story about an Amsterdam nativity scene featuring a “Mary in drag.” The organization Christians for Truth is mentioned as having protested to the city.
• Orrin Judd links to comments by Joseph Alois Ratzinger’s comments that “saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction,” and links to a BBC news story.
• Job at Jesus Christology reviews and interprets the Disney movie “Meet the Robinsons;” “So what is this time machine? Your Bible. Most specificially, the prophetic and eschatological passages thereof.”
• Dwayna Litz recommends the weblog WifeBoat, an outreach to women in difficult marriages.
• Brannon Howse distributes an article by Israel Wayne on Presuppositional Apologetics. This article appears to be special to Worldview Times; I can’t find it anywhere else.
• Job at Jesus Christology offers his take on Obama/Warren: “The problem with Warren and those like him is that they offer a Jesus Christ that is Savior without truly being Lord.”
• Michael Davis offers a link and an assessment for Rick Warren’s “The Purpose of Christmas” article at Christianity Today: “excellent.”
• Michael at Chasing the Wind offers links to bad-news Christmas stories.
• Larry Schweikart, professor at the University of Dayton, author of 48 Liberal Lies About American History, appears on Richard Land Live (audi0); Land accuses John Kerry of treason, both discuss treatment of Ronald Reagan as a litmus test of the accuracy of a history text.
• Ingrid Schlueter links to an article on AMERICABlog pointing to current and cached versions of Saddleback Church pages, showing that language stating that homosexuals are not welcome in Saddleback small groups has been removed. Schlueter’s comment: “Biblical Christians are the offendees at the moment, raising sand over his removal of material from the Straddleback Saddleback website to appease his leftist, homosexual friends.”
• Lighthouse Trails links to an article by Melissa Etheridge at Huffington Post, comments “The writer, Melissa Etheridge, who met Rick Warren a few days ago at the MPAC Convention, believes that the world is on the brink of a new era. Note in the article that Rick Warren is softening his public opinion regarding the practice of homosexuality. Just as was predicted by MPAC last week, Warren is rethinking his views.”
• John Baker shares details, analysis of Warren’s address at Muslim Public Affairs Council Convention. “This statement by Rick Warren is so horrendous as it makes differences which can determine the difference between Eternal life and eternal damnation inconsequential for the sake of working together on what he calls areas of common ground!”
• Ingrid Schlueter shares a letter (PDF) from Margaret Manning at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries regarding Zacharias’s references to Henri Nouwen, comments: “The letter was in response to a listener to Ravi’s show who was concerned after hearing Ravi refer to Universalist and quasi-Buddhist, Henri Nouwen, as one of the ‘greatest Christian saints.’”
• Ingrid Schlueter also shares the Melissa Etheridge column: “Remember the column when I advised angry, anti-Warren gay activists to go back to their bathhouses because it would all be OK?”
• Ingrid Schlueter points to a press release by Patrick Mahoney and Kaitlin Clare of the Christian Defense Coalition regarding the concerns of (unnamed) pro-life groups that they will not be able to demonstrate at the Obama inauguration.
• Ingrid Schlueter links to Sam Guzmán/Always Ready sharing this John Piper video (“You Must Suffer”).
• John Sexton links, comments on the waning influence of religion in America: “Sounds to me like people believe religious influence is waning every time a Democrat wins the Presidency. As I’ve argued before, I’m not sure that really holds this time around. Obama was clearly the most religious of the two major party candidates.”
• Job at Jesus Christology comments on the Focus On The Family/Glenn Beck/Mormonism flap, layoffs at Focus. “Also, if the role of the gospel is to transform the world, then the Bible itself would declare the gospel to be a failure. Why? Because the Bible makes it clear: the world is never transformed. It is never subdued. It remains wicked and rebellious to the very end.”
• Ingrid Schlueter relays a press release for a new book by David Cloud/Way of Life Literature: “Contemplative Mysticism: A Powerful Ecumenical Bond.” I am interested to note Cloud’s preference for the King James Version of the Bible.
• Ingrid Schlueter links to a TMZ story on Rick Warren. Warren not only keeps company with sinners, he buys used books at their thrift stores, etc.
• Reformata.org apparently links an MSNBC story on the Saddleback website edits story, but the link itself is missing.
• Job at Jesus Christology calls out Atlanta church Ebenezer Baptist Church for inviting Rick Warren to speak on January 19th as part of their Martin Luther King Jr Day observance.
• Vic Eliason welcomes Brannon Howse to the Crosstalk airwaves (audio) to discuss the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (December 17). Howse says the convention “treats children as adults” including free access to pornography. Also, Eliason scolds evangelical Christians who voted for Barack Obama.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Christian Right Shockingly Upset by Amsterdam’s ‘Pink Christmas’
• Pope says humanity needs ’saving’ from homosexuality
• -Pope: Modern Culture Pushing God Out
• World Briefing | Europe: The Vatican: In Speech, Pope Calls Homosexual Behavior a Violation
• Saddleback Church Deletes Page on Creationism and Homosexuality?
• The Pope’s Favorite Rabbi
• Away In A Manger
• The joy of celebrating a godless Christmas.
• In new video, Rick Warren accuses gays of “hateful attacks,” “hate speech,” “Christ-ophobia,” and of being “evil”
• Hitchens on Rick Warren
• Rick Warren is an Idiot, but Give Obama a Break
• Is Christmas Only for Christians?
• Warren’s church removes anti-gay statements from website.
• Melissa Etheridge ♥ Rick Warren
• Rick Warren’s Website Ditches Gay Damnation
• OC Pastor Has Gay Friends, Eats Gay Food, Opposes Gay Marriage
• Does Rick Warren’s Muslim Outreach Represent the Evangelical World?
• An Easily Flattered Melissa Etheridge Forgives ‘Big Fan’ Rick Warren [Rick Warren]
• No Hand Reaching Back

Tags: Amsterdam, Barack Obama, Brannon Howse, Christianity, Christianity Today, Christians for Truth, Dwayna Lit, Dwayna Litz, Erol Sarabi, Gallup Poll, Glenn Beck, Huffington Post, Ingrid Schlueter, Israel Wayne, John Piper, John Sexton, Joseph Alois Ratzinger, Larry Schweikart, Meet the Robinsons, Melissa Etheridge, Orrin Judd, Presuppositional Apologetics, Richard Land, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Sam Guzman, TMZ, United Nations