Is There Meaning? What Not To Bring. And Other Goodies

Thanks to Millinerd for finding this neat little tid-bit. Who'd have thought that so many great minds would have such a wide range of ideas?

Pomomusings looks at what's allowed and what's not allowed at Bob Jones University. Suprisingly one of the items includes Michael W. Smith CD's.

Slacker digs Petrarch!

Religious Literacy

I am reading a pretty interesting book by Stephen Prothero called Religious Literacy. Check out his sight to get an idea of what he thinks. It's very fair and balanced. Really, it is.

Name That Church

A book I read not too long ago described a church someone visited. It made me wonder if in the world of mega-churches and celebrity pastors would anyone be able to guess the churches name. I am going to give you a summary about their church experience and see if you can guess the church and in what book it was described minus anything which makes it too easy to figure it out. I'll post the answer in the near future.

The church's philosophy is based on self-pleasure. All God wants is for us to be rich and happy. One of the main ways we do this is by giving as much as we can to the church. Another is doing whatever makes us happy. They have an impressively large congregation with several satellite churches. The main church grew out of their seeker style services which tend to involve motivational worship meant to pep up the cruce. This includes dancing, singing, and other forms of entertainment to keep the crowd going. Once at their peak the dynamic leader would come out offering a sermon light on content, but heavvy on promises for the good life. This leader is so dynamic he is the friend of senators and actors, but only a select few chosen people have actually had the opportunity to meet him. Even fewer make it into his inner sanctum for a one on one meeting. The church is known by many, even people who do not necessarily believe. In spite of the controversies surrounding their church and its' leadership it continues to grow and influence all around it.

Can you guys guess where this comes from? I'll post in a bit after I see how close you guys are.

Zune Shuffle

Since everyone does an Ipod shuffle, I thought I'd do a Zune Shuffle:


Shonen Knife – Vegas (Live)
Mahalia Jackson – Even Me
The Weakerthans – Ships & Tangles
Beck – Salt In The Wound
John Hiatt – Take It Down
Operation Ivy – Trouble Bound
Django Reinhardt – I’ve Found a New Baby
Wilco – Lonely 1 (The White Hen Version)
Cesaria Evora – Mae Vellia
Steve Erle – The Boy Who Never Cried
Violent Femmes – Prove My Love
The O.C. Supertones – Who Can Be Against Me?