Mark Driscoll is a wee little man

I don't care for the provocative title, but this is an outstanding essay by Fred Clark about the nature of church.

Mark Driscoll is a wee little man

5 Broken Cameras

I want to see this film. It was featured at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Alaska Airlines

So Alaska Airlines has just announced that they will no longer be giving out scripture cards with meals on their flights, out of concern for causing some people offense. Fair enough, but what I find offensive is being forced to listen to a credit card sales pitch every time I fly.

The Driscoll Interview--A blow-by-blow

Kinnon has written an excellent "blow-by-blow" analysis of Justin Brierley's controversial interview with Mark Driscoll. His description is spot-on.
http://kinnon.tv/2012/01/the-interview-was-it-of-the-undisciplined-or-undiscipled.html

MLK

Driscoll sticks foot in mouth... again.

Seattle's resident bully pastor has stirred up controversy again after referring to UK Bible teachers as "a bunch of cowards" and "men in dresses preaching to grandmas" in an interview given to Justin Brierley of the British magazine Christianity. In response to the hoopla, Driscoll attempted to clarify in a post on his website in which he referred to the interview as "the most disrespectful, adversarial, and subjective" he has had. The editor of Christianity magazine responded by saying ‘Justin’s interview with Mark Driscoll was robust and fair, and I utterly reject the claim that it was adversarial, disrespectful or subjective." Brierley has posted the audio of the entire interview online, so that people can judge for themselves. It gets particularly interesting towards the end when Driscoll learns that Brierley's wife is a pastor and proceeds to bully and insult the interviewer.

Benjamin Franklin's Daily Schedule

From his autobiography:

L.P. - Into the Wild

Somebody left the gate open
You know we got lost on the way
Come save us, a runaway train
Going insane

How do we not fade away?

Behind the Swoosh

This is eye-opening and unsettling. I appreciate how what began as the study of theology led to empathizing with the lowest, advocating for justice and speaking truth to power.

12 New Year's Resolutions for the TSA

I fly a lot and so, unfortunately, have had many "interactions" with the TSA (and I have yet to go through the full-body-scanners). This article by Christopher Elliot, entitled 12 New Year's Resolutions For The TSA In 2012 speaks my mind. Rebecca Hains, the college professor who was in the news recently when the TSA confiscated her cupcake, put it well when she said, "It's not really about the cupcake; I can get another cupcake. It's about an encroachment on civil liberties. We're just building up a resistance and tolerance to all these things they're doing in the name of security, when it's really theater. It is not keeping us safe." It is the cumulative effect of giving up our civil liberties bit by bit to government bureaucracy that concerns me. Historically, such incremental creeping authoritarianism has led to larger-scale oppression. It is the old frog in the kettle analogy.