OD Today: 28 December 2008

Starting today I’m going to break the day when WordPress does, at midnight London time, more or less.

• Julio Severo copies a Life Site News article about Cleber and Bernadeth Nunes, who have been convicted of homeschooling their children in Brazil; the article says the judges acted in the best interest of the school system rather than looking at the merits of the Nunes’ case.
• Cindy Kunsman offers guidelines for leaving a cult, including how to find an exit counselor, with lots of links.
• Ingrid Schlueter scolds Seabreeze Church, of Huntington Beach, California, mentioned in yesterday’s New York Times on churches facing foreclosure, for canceling Sunday services but not their New Years Eve party: “I can assure you that while the dancers will be ‘dressy’ for shaking their fannies on the dance floor New Year’s Eve, the church members don’t bother with such niceties when it comes to the worship of the King of Kings on the Lord’s Day. That, people, would be legalism.”
• Dwayna Litz shares email claiming unnamed liberals’ parse Matthew 25:40 incorrectly; if I read this correctly, the author believes good works should be reserved for other Christians.
• John Baker links to an article from Der Spiegel interviewing Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, about the prospects of using Abraham as the starting point for a “United Religious Nations — just as there is the United Nations in New York.” Unfortunately, Metzger seems to think that “Christians associate themselves with .. Esau.”
• Orrin Judd links to a Telegraph (UK) article about 2008 being a tough year for Global Warming theorists.
• Angela Harms weighs in on what it’s like to be a non-post-evangelical emergent Christian: “But while post-evangelicals are standing around talking to each other, people like that are not being invited in to experience this beautiful thing that is Jesus Christ. And I’m not (though I’m stubborn enough to be here anyway). I’m bored with the emergent blogosphere, and hungry for getting into the meat of this path. I don’t want to talk about how Christianity is changing, and who is happy about it and who is not. I want to sing about how wonderful he is, how grace is the most amazing thing, how following him is what life is all about.”