What are we teaching our kids? Morality? Or Christianity? There IS a difference.
Phil Vischer, creator of VeggieTales and founder of Big Idea Productions, writes:
“I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, “Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,” or “Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!” But that isn’t Christianity, it’s morality.”
It’s not about the dream at http://www.worldmag.com.
What Gospel-Centered Preaching Is and Does
“To equate the Gospel as merely an entrance to the Christian life is a misunderstanding of the real ramifications of what the Gospel truly is.”
Sadly, Christianity presented as mere morality is normal these days. This is why a Gospel-Centered approach to preaching/teaching is vital.
An Example Human Depravity
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” ~1 Timothy 6:9
I Am Not Fat and I Don’t Drink Sugared Soda
“A culture that redefines food choices as moral issues will demonize the people who don’t share the tastes of the priest class. A culture that elevates eating to some holistic act of ethical self-definition – localvore, low-carbon-impact food, fair trade, artisanal cheese – will find the casual carefree choices of the less-enlightened as an affront to their belief system. Leave it to Americans to invent a Puritan strain of Epicurianism.
[I]f soda is poison, then portion size is irrelevant. The Mr Yuk stickers don’t say “call 911 but only if you drank a lot of bleach. A little is okey-doke, though.” So it’s not a poison unless you drink huge amounts all the time, which is also true of shampoo and vodka and sugary lemonade little kids sell at card tables on the corner in summer, and motor oil. Right? So it’s not poison.
Unless you’re on TV and want everyone to like you because you’re concerned about the right things. Being concerned about fat people like being concerned about Tibet; it requries nothing but expression of the proper sentiment, usually containing sadness for The Children, but also some righteous anger for Big Food, which has tricked everyone into eating more. The idea thatsome kids are fat because they have lousy parents doesn’t apply, because whoa whoa whoa now we’re blaming the victims, the people who for some mysterious reason can’t arrange a family meal and influence their progeny’s ingestion. For those people, obesity just happens, somehow. But in general, it’s because of soda, because everyone saw that YouTube clip with the stack of sugar cubes, right?”
Over at: Lileks
The World’s First Coffee Machine That Takes Orders By Text
This is totally stout. If I am ever able to open a coffee shop, this may be in it. (Yes, I would love to open a coffee shop).