Top 10 blog posts Oct 28-Nov 3

Since not every reader visits this blog and notices the shared feeds section at the top, I'd like to share some of my favorites of the past week.

Sunday
1-At An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution, Steve Martin attempts to define the nuances of the word "evolution" to his fellow Christians. He begins

Much of the confusion in the evolution debate lies in the meaning of the word “evolution”. Since it can have several different meanings, and even the scientific definition of evolution can include several distinct components, it is not surprising that many confusing and confused arguments are articulated. Certainly the conversation is very difficult when conversation partners discussing evolution do not share the same definition, conflate several of the definitions, or elevate one component of evolution to be descriptive of the whole.

Monday
2-At Evolution News and Views, Catholic evolution proponent and professor at Brown U. Ken Miller is challenged for claiming to much. The post begins,

Ken Miller was recently quoted in a campus news article saying, “We have the fossils. … We win." Professor Miller’s logical fallacy was pointed out years ago by those who attempted to clarify reasoning in paleontology, systematics, and evolutionary biology, and it led some scientists (like Colin Patterson) to the conclusion that a paleontological pattern may support or falsify an evolutionary hypothesis, but it can never absolutely prove one (i.e. fossils can’t make Darwinism positively “win”).

Tuesday
3- Guy Muse posted two fantastic pieces on church planting. The first one, Effective Church Planting, got me to fast this week. "Prayer and fasting should be a regular practice. It should not be an occasional thing." The second post is his reflections and hopes on what a church planting movement will look like in his city. His conclusion is intense.

The Church in Latin America is indeed exploding in growth, but it is not along the same lines as the Asia CPMs. I have a strong sense that God is up to something truly remarkable in bringing about His Kingdom here, but have yet to decipher the mystery of all that God is up to in our midst. All we have so far are clues, hints, hope, anticipation, and faith that God is up to something really BIG!

What will CPM look like in Latin America? Only God knows. But in the mean time we are asking God for 500,000 new disciples in the coming five years in Guayas. We understand our task as making disciples. His to build His Church in whatever forms it may be expressed.

How many new disciples are you praying for?

Will you pray with us--I mean not just read this--but really pray for a continent wide spiritual awakening and revival and a massive bringing in of the harvest in Latin America?

4- The Native blog notes an apology from local morning radio shock jocks for blaming local Indian high suicide rates on incest.

Wednesday (Halloween)
5- Funny puns from Ben Witherington.
6- Don't miss this post. Macabre pumpkin carvings inspired from the Bible at Mayfly. If you don't know your Old Testament fiends very well, you might have to look up Sisera and Eglon. Very, very funny.

Thursday
7- The bent blog ponders the rise in Oil prices and the hopeful rise in bicycle commuting and the options available to cyclists.

Friday
8- Zero energy house exibit A: The ASAP house as presented at Inhabitat. At the ASAP website, there was an email address for the architect, but it bounced back to me, YMMV.
9- Zero energy house exhibit B: ZeroHouse as presented at Jetson Green.

Saturday
10-Ajith Fernando, who I heard speak at Urbana 1987, writes at Christianity Today about the need to get back to the priority of Evangelism. He tells of his organization's refusal of more relief funding in Sri Lanka after the Tsunami in order to return to evangelism over relief.

see more posts on biking, conservation, native Americans, humor, creationism, evolution, houses, missions, missionaries, conversions church, house church