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From the category archives:
Religion News
In this world of busy schedules and never-ending obligations, our lives leave little time for reflection upon the bigger issues… Like God. To help make sure He is not forgotten, Luddite Creative LLC introduces BiblicalMail.com.
BiblicalMail.com, the first, exclusive email-based daily bible, allows people the opportunity to read the Bible in small, manageable portions via email. Unlike other “scripture of the day” emails, BiblicalMail sends daily emails of the entire bible in order at intervals of the user’s choosing. BiblicalMail.com is free, simple to sign up, and easy to opt-out. It allows the user to set the time, frequency, and length of readings in addition to giving the user the option to receive the Old or the New Testaments.
BiblicalMail.com, a pet project of founder and CEO of Luddite Creative LLC, Matthew Harp, was designed to help spread the Gospel to those whose, those who had not been prior-exposed to the bible or whose daily lives distracted them from Bible study.
The initial reaction to BiblicalMail has been quite favorable, averaging about 500 hits per day within the first week of operation. Future plans of extension are already in the works, including providing content in multiple languages, adding scripture analysis by renowned theologians, and the option to read the Bible in different versions.
www.biblicalmail.com
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Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West is an award-winning feature film that documents the call for world domination and global jihad made by Islamic leaders on a daily basis. The controversial film features exclusive footage from Arabic TV rarely seen in the West, as well as interviews with former terrorists, and experts including Alan Dershowitz, Steve Emerson, John Loftus, Caroline Glick and Nonie Darwish. The film demonstrates parallels between Chamberlain’s doomed strategy of appeasing Hitler prior to WWII, with the West’s current attitude of appeasing Iran and radical Islamists.
Almost 70 years ago, Europe found itself at war with one of the most sinister figures in modern history: Adolf Hitler. When the last bullet of World War II was fired, over 50 million people were dead, and countless countries were both physically and economically devastated. Hitler’s bloody struggle sought to forge the world anew, in the crucible of Nazi values. How could such a disaster occur? How could the West have overlooked the evil staring it in the face, for so long, before standing forcefully against it?
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That’s the dilemma facing leaders of the United Methodist Church, and it may bring the long-standing practice of guaranteed jobs for pastors to an end.
Since the 1950s, United Methodists and their ministers have had a deal: Ministers went where they were assigned, even if it meant leaving a church they loved, and the denomination guaranteed ministers they would always have a job.
“It’s kind of a sacred trust,” said the Rev. Ann Moman, associate general secretary at the Nashville-based Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
But shrinking membership and budgets may make that system unsustainable. Methodist bishops and two denominational committees want to end job security for ministers, known as guaranteed appointment.
“There’s a good deal of momentum towards doing away with guaranteed appointment,” said Lovett Weems, who runs the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
Membership Declines
Job security for Methodist ministers dates to 1956. At that time, Methodists had begun ordaining women pastors, but at least one bishop refused to appoint them to churches. African-American pastors ran into similar problems.
“It started as a restriction to the power of bishops,” Weems said. “A few years later, it became a right of clergy.”
But as membership has dropped, so has the number of churches able to afford pastors. In 1960, United Methodists claimed about 10.8 million members. Today, membership is at 7.8 million. Average Sunday attendance is about 95 people. And half of Methodist churches draw 50 or fewer people to Sunday services.
The Methodist job guarantees apply only to full-time ordained clergy, known as elders in full connection. Weems said that a church needs about 125 people to support a full-time minister. In some cases, elders serve two or more churches at a time. Many churches are served by part-time or local pastors who have no job security.
Article Source: www.tennessean.com
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REPORT TAKEN FROM gothamist.com
The campaign will take over 20 Manhattan buses for about one month, and president of New York City Atheists, Ken Bronstein, says the test run could be reaching other boroughs later this year (the group’s website is taking donations for the next roll out). The ads read: “You don’t have to believe in God to be a moral and ethical person.”
Joseph Zwilling, the director of communications for the Archdiocese of New York, told CityRoom the ads were “not offensive in the Catholic Church’s view, given their wording. They’re not attacking or disparaging the Church as far as I can see.” While the message isn’t a rebuttal to that of another religious group’s, the site reports that the inspiration came from a similar campaign in London last year, which was in response to a Christian group’s whose message told nonbelievers that they would “spend all eternity in torment.”
The goal of the $10,000 NYC ad campaign is to increase membership—Bronstein says there has been an “atheism awakening” lately, and the practice was made more acceptable when President Obama included a reference to “nonbelievers” in his inaugural address. Previously, the MTA explained that the Jews for Jesus ads in the Times Square subway station were protected under the First Amendment.
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Report Taken from townhall.com
An anonymous donor is apparently donating thousands of dollars for the express purpose of advertising atheism in the New York City subway system. According to blogger Gothamist, yesterday kicked-off a month-long advertising blitz in a dozen Manhattan subway stations with signs advertising the slogan, “A Million New Yorkers Are Good Without God. Are You?”
In addition to promoting godlessness, the advertising will reportedly also be promoting a new book called Good Without God, by Greg Epstein.
The ads are being coordinated by “New York City Coalition for Reason,” an umbrella organization comprised of local atheist groups, City Room reports. According to their website, “All Big Apple COR organizations share common ground—promoting wider acceptance of a more rational and realistic view of the universe—but each has its own particular emphasis. Some advocate for scientific knowledge, reason, and skeptical inquiry. Some focus on the promotion of dogma-free humanist ethics, and an appreciation for life and the lives of other persons.”
New York isn’t the only city being targeted by these outspoken atheists. Chicagoist is also reporting on billboards that have popped-up in the Windy City: The billboard, located at LaSalle and Grand and paid for by the Chicago Coalition For Reason, says, “Are You Good Without God? Millions Are.”
The CCoR describes itself as “an exciting group of organizations in the Chicago area, each of which celebrates a human-centered and naturalistic approach to life. For us, non-dogmatic and rational approaches to ethics, culture and the human experience are the most meaningful and satisfying.”
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High on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, there is a baffling mountainside “anomaly,” a feature that one researcher claims may be something of biblical proportions.
Images taken by aircraft, intelligence-gathering satellites and commercial remote-sensing spacecraft are fueling an intensive study of the intriguing oddity. But whether the anomaly is some geological quirk of nature, playful shadows, a human-made structure of some sort, or simply nothing at all remains to be seen.
Whatever it is, the anomaly of interest rests at 15,300 feet (4,663 meters) on the northwest corner of Mount Ararat, and is nearly submerged in glacial ice. It would be easy to call it merely a strange rock formation.
But at least one man wonders if it could be the remains of Noah’s Ark, a vessel said to have been built to save people and selected animals from the Great Flood, the 40 days and 40 nights of deluge as detailed in the Book of Genesis.
The Genesis blueprint of the Ark detailed the structure as 6:1 length to width ratio (300 cubits by 50 cubits). The anomaly, as viewed by satellite, is close to that 6:1 proportion.
According to researchers, the bible states that Noah’s Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, the same location as the anomaly in the above photograph.
Source Article: panachereport.com
Source Article: space.com
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At Lighthouse Church of All Nations in Alsip, the congregation can get more than just prayer at the Sunday worship services.
If a lucky — or “blessed and highly favored” — churchgoer is in the right seat, they can also receive a cash prize.
At each of the three Sunday services, the Rev. Dan Willis pulls a number of one seat from a bag and the worshiper in that seat wins a cash prize. Two of the churchgoers win $250 and the third gets $500. The church gives away $1,000 each Sunday, Willis said.
The cash prize is part of Willis’ recent focus on helping his congregation pay bills and begin a debt-free life, he said.
“We’ve had soooo many of our people displaced from jobs, facing foreclosure,” he said. “When people’s faith was high, their debt was down. When their faith was down, their debt was high. I realized the two are connected.”
Willis concedes the cash prize is a gimmick to fill the pews. But he’s unapologetic about the plan, because it’s working. On a typical Sunday, his church draws about 1,600 people to its three Sunday services. But since the money giveaway started, about five weeks ago, the congregation has grown to about 2,500 each week, he said. The money for the giveaway comes from the church offering. Lighthouse is a non-denominational church.
“If I can get someone in here and teach them and give them money, that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.
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David Kinnaman, the Barna Group president who oversaw the research between 2006 and 2009, said that the younger generation’s reliance on social networking and interpersonal relationships is an indication future generations will distance themselves further from the Bible if their societal interpretations are discounted.
“The central theme of young people’s approach to the Bible is skepticism,” Kinnaman said. “They question the Bible’s history as well as its relevance to their lives, leading many young people to reject the Bible as containing everything one needs to live a meaningful life. This mindset certainly has its challenges, but it also raises the *With each generation of young people there seems to be a greater need to question authority. A recent study shows when it comes to the Bible that need is no different. According to Christian Everyday, a new survey by the Barna Group Christian research firm reveals that different generations of Americans read and interpret the Bible differently. possibility of using their skepticism as an entry point to teaching and exploring the content of the Bible in new ways.”
Similarities across age ranges show that a vast majority consider the Bible a sacred text. Also, similar proportions regardless of age subscribe to the polar opposite views that the Bible is infallible or that it is not inspired by God.
Source: eurweb.com
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