Christian Patriotism [Examiner.com]

Colorado will soon be celebrating our nation's birthday. And Christians will have a special reason to celebrate. Many of the Founding Fathers were Christians. And those who were not were indebted to the Christian culture.

But with the changes in the American culture since then, as seen Denver's PrideFest 2011, Christians are a minority. Our influence is minimal. And, at times, our patriotism is doubted.

Yet what is patriotism supposed to look like? Can a Christian be a patriot? [continued here]

Ex-Liberal Pleads with PCUSA

PCA minister, Brian Carpenter, has written a plea in the unofficial PCUSA magazine, The Layman Online. Pass it on to your theological liberal friends. Continue here.

This week's family-integrated church articles

This week was full of family-integrated church articles. 

For those interested in intelligent interactions on this issue I offer the following. The first is an article I hope many proponents of FICs can agree upon.

1. Uniting Church and Family  The proper relation requires the Gospel.

2. A Weed in the Church: A Review.  I may expand on this in detail.

3. Family-Integrated Church Series by Prof. Sam Waldron. Part 17 here. It is an irenic engagement.

4. Christian homeschooling conference: who is Doug Phillips? There is a lively exchange in the comment section. Unfortunately, it is not as productive as the discussion with Mr. Glick here. Many ardent supporters of this movement tend to jump the gun and assume that if you critique them then you are against parents having the primary responsibility of instructing their children. 

Colorado homsechooling convention: who is Doug Phillips?

"The upcoming Christian homeschooling conference begins this week in northern Denver.

And the topics covered in this conference include far more than the narrow issues of educating junior in the ABCs. Since the topics range from basic homeschooling issues to apologetics, economics and cultural issues, more discernment is required of the average parent.

But who has time to discover exactly what these speakers believe? What have they said that is relevant to what they will say?"

continued here.

Love of Technology

"Let me toss out the idea that, as our markets discover and respond to what consumers most want, our technology has become extremely adept at creating products that correspond to our fantasy ideal of an erotic relationship, in which the beloved object asks for nothing and gives everything, instantly, and makes us feel all powerful, and doesn’t throw terrible scenes when it’s replaced by an even sexier object and is consigned to a drawer.

To speak more generally, the ultimate goal of technology, the telos of techne, is to replace a natural world that’s indifferent to our wishes

 — a world of hurricanes and hardships and breakable hearts, a world of resistance — with a world so responsive to our wishes as to be, effectively, a mere extension of the self."

Jonathan Franzen, NYTimes, 2011

Review of A Weed in the Church

Here is my short review of A Weed in the Church, Mr. Brown's book defending family-integrated methodology.

I hope to have an extensive review later. For an analysis of family-integrated churches, here first then here.