Posts filed under ‘Religion’
Fair warning: I am about to cross (topical) streams here for a moment and speak to my Christian brothers and sisters.
I spoke on Sunday night at the 2010 NRB Convention about Desiring God’s policy of “Making it Free”: Giving all of our content away online for free, without requiring registration.
One common question was a concern about continuing to see revenue. “If we are giving away all of our content for free, how will we be funded? (And thus be able to continue operating.)” This seemed to be a common concern, perhaps bordering on a fear.
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A couple weeks ago at the Gospel Coalition Conference, I was fortunate to attend the Band of Bloggers lunch and hear some high profile bloggers speak a bit about different aspects of blogging as a Christian. For some reason, I couldn’t help but think of what I might share, given such an opportunity. What follows is the result of that pondering. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a post for my religion geek friends (though those interested in cultural studies in general might find it interesting too).
I just read an interesting book by Ed Stetzer, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that reach them.. I consider myself a bit of a student of the culture we live in as well as a data geek. This book has some interesting insights into the “younger unchurched”.
“Younger unchurched” being defined as those not currently involved in weekly Christian church services. This of course is an important statistic if you believe that there is an eternal destination, and that destination is determined by your stance on Jesus.
You can read my review at my other personal site.
What is encouraging to me about this book is that churches are waking up to the fact of their hypocrisy (of course we’re hypocrites! that’s kinda what it means to claim to be a Christian…), but even more importantly waking up to the fact of their lack of concern for the individual story.
This book is a collection of mass survey studies and hundreds of personal interviews with very wise and caring observations made based on this research.
Written primarily to a Christian church leadership audience, I think many who care about such thing (whatever side of the argument you are on!) would enjoy reading it.
Not sure they are the first or only group doing this, but it is the first loud buzz I’ve seen come into my circles.
Lifechurch.TV, renowned (in emerging, evangelical, church circles) for their innovative use of the Internet and social media technology has implemented Google’s Translator API into their chat rooms. Make it possible for people from all over the world to talk to each other.
Pretty amazing, IMO.
It’s made possible by the API from Google Translator, which currently applies to 34 languages. The translation tool detects the native language from your browser or the words you’re typing and offers simultaneous translations for both the person speaking and the person reading.
Before I list reasons four, five, and six, I realized I did not do so good a job giving a basis for my non-God-likeness at each point. One comment was made on the last point about our being made in God’s image. I do not intend to give a defense of the Christian doctrine of Imago Dei, but rather I’d like to point out that the commenter has it a bit backwards.
Reasoning that “because we are like this so must God be like this. In brief, we are made in God’s image (in the true sense of the word: an image being a two-dimensional representation of a three dimensional reality… read “Flatland” for a more thorough philosophical explanation of this topic.)
The doctrine of Imago Dei usually refers to our capacity for reason, abstract thinking, relational need and ability, awareness of a higher power, and relational needs. Much more, however, it refers to God’s concern for us, as we are beings made in his image. And because of this, a human life is a very sacred thing.
Enough of that digression. here is part two of my 9 things. Read part 1 here.
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Digital Designer, Developer, & Strategist
Matt has been creating Web sites for a decade, playing nearly every role on a Web team at least once. A love for art, a knack for code, and a love for people have fueled his career.
Matt is the Sr. Web Manager for Desiring God Ministries. More importantly, he is a Husband, Father, Musician, and Jesus' friend.
Matt writes about technology (of all kinds), productivity, and sometimes theology. Read more about Matt here.
