1. Does the Atheist Deny What the Theist Affirms?
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2. What is Sin?
"What is sin? It is often described as 'missing the mark'—that is, failure to live up to the rigorous standard of God's holy law. But the Bible makes it clear that it is much more than that. In Leviticus 16:21, sin is described as transgression; literally, as rebellion against authority. In the prophet Nathan's confrontation of David over his sins of adultery and murder, Nathan describes sin as a despising of both God's Word and God himself (2 Sam. 12:9-10). And in Numbers 15:30-31, Moses characterizes sinners as acting 'with a high hand,' meaning defiantly. Therefore, we can conclude that sin is a rebellion against God's sovereign authority, a despising of his Word and his person, and even a defiance of God himself. It is no wonder Paul wrote that because of our sin, we were by nature objects of God's wrath (Eph. 2:3)."
From Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington's, "The Great Exchange: My Sin for His Righteousness" (p.20) (HT: Irish Calvinist)
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3. Court Says Freemasons Fall Under Religious Protection Law
Freemasonry may rank with Christianity, Judaism and Islam as an official form of "religious exercise," a California court of appeals suggested in a ruling on Oct. 3.
As such, Masons would fall under the protections of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), the landmark law that says government may not infringe on religious buildings without a compelling interest.
"We see no principled way to distinguish the earnest pursuit of these (Masonic) principles … from more widely acknowledged modes of religious exercise," the statement said.
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4. Election Scorecard: Where the elections stand today.
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5. The Chronicle of Higher Education asks What Is a 'Successful' Blog?
Is a blog successful if it gets a lot of page views? And, using the same logic, is it a failure if only a handful of people actually read it?...
Judging the success of a blog by its page views is sort of like rating a movie by its box-office tallies, a TV show by its Neilsen ratings, or a book by its place on the best-seller list.
By that standard, the best movie in the country is "30 Days of Night," the best TV show is "Dancing With the Stars," and the best novel is World Without End, by Ken Follett.
(HT: Maggie's Farm)
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6. Quote of the Week: "[A] failure to attend church on Sunday is, by Catholic standards, contumacious, an ostentatious rejection of a formal obligation. It is the equivalent of an observant Jew biting into a piece of pork." -- William F. Buckley, Jr. on Giuliani's church attendance.
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7. International hackers going after U.S. networks
About 140 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to hack into the computer networks of the U.S. government and U.S. companies, a top counterintelligence official said.
As Deane from Gadgetopia notes, "140 of 194 is…72% of the world, trying to hack our government."
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8. Aaron from The Wardrobe Door on "A caveotic blogosphere"
But why do we feel the need to add the caveat any statement of support for another's ministry? Because we fear the guilt by association that so often comes with forays into the Christian blogosphere minefield. If we say one good thing about someone else (and we are deem worthy of a takedown), many of the watchdog "ministries" or individuals spring into action and play six degrees of separation from heresy. The person we commended has said something good about another ministry which once published a book which had a book jacket quote from this person who once knew this other pastor who said they enjoyed a message by [insert heretic here].
Aaron makes a good point, even though I don’t agree with everything on his blog…
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9. Another example of the economic ignorance of Americans
Nearly half of Americans think the U.S. economy is in a recession — close to 46 percent of those surveyed in a new CNN-Opinion Research Corporation Poll out Thursday morning say the country's economy is in a recession while 51 percent of those questioned say no.
The poll finds a major difference of opinion between black and white Americans — 69 percent of black Americans questioned in the survey say the country's in a recession while only 42 percent of white Americans feel the same way.
According to CNN's Ali Velshi, the National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. A recession begins just after the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends as the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion. Expansion is the normal state of the economy; most recessions are brief and they have been rare in recent decades."
I can't say that I'm surprised. I can't think of a single period in my adult life when people didn’t think the economy was in "bad shape." (HT: HolyCoast)
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10. At the elite colleges - dim white kids
