Jolly Digest 2-16-05

I've been trying to come up with a funny intro to today's Jolly Digest that correlates the the title of the post, being a "digest" with the fact that I haven't posted a Jolly Digest in awhile.  I was going to say something about indigestion or some other gastronomical thing, but nothing funny would come.  I am reminded of what one of my music directors once said to me - "you don't try to sing and I won't try to preach."  So, I'll quit trying to be funny and you can quit rolling your eyes here.

Carnivals, Symposiums and Assorted What-Not . . .

Tis the season for Carnivals, symposiums and things like that.

Once again I remind you that your best one stop shop for information on Carnivals is the King of Fools who publishes a list of all the Carnivals each Wednesday.  Here is a post with links to this week's carnivals.

I'll just call attention to a few of the carnivals that I want to highlight.

Christian Carnival at Wittenberg Gate - there was a mixup in getting it posted, so Dory, the new proprietor of the carnival hosted it at her place and was kind enough to include my own entry from yesterday on "What is the Gospel," in it although it was late due to the mixup.

While we're on the subject of the proprietor of the Christian Carnival, the old proprietor, Nick Queen at Patriot Paradox has a new venture called the New Blog Showcase, of which #1 is now posted.  Joe Carter once said that Hugh Hewitt is the George Bailey of the Blogosphere, and I wouldn't argue with that.  But I do think that there are a couple of other folks out there who are extremely Bailey-esque in their blogging.  Joe himself has many Bailey-esque qualities, and of course my buddy Adrian Warnock comes to mind but I would rank Nick Queen up there with Hugh and Joe and Adrian. Nick has really done a tremendous job of getting new blogs noticed by hosting the Christian Carnival and the King of the Blogs tournament.  Now, this newest venture of highlighting new blogs continues a tradition he has already started.  Just as George enabled so many folks to fulfill their dreams, Nick has done a terrific job of helping many new bloggers become a part of the community and become more widely read.

Mike Russell at Evangelical Perspectives has launched a new symposium titled:

A Theological & Apologetics Symposium: Neil Anderson

He's calling for papers critiquing Anderson and you can find more specific info in this post. It kills me to miss something like this but I'm probably going to have to pass because it's been years since I have read anything by Anderson.  So, I am looking forward to reading the entries.  I know that John Piper has reviewed some of Anderson's work, so if you are going to enter the symposium you might want to do a Google search for some of Piper's critiques to help you research.

Talking to Muslims instead of simply talking about them . . .

Catez at Allthings2All has been dialoguing with Maryam at Dervish on the Qu'ran and the Bible.  Catez has written Why I Read the Qu'ran and The Qu'ran: Plagiarism of the Bible and Omissions.  Maryam has responded with Response to 'Why I Read the Qu'ran." 

Andrew at Weapons of Warfare is also addressing Islam in his post "Exposing Islam." 

I'm glad to see dialogue happening and Christians addressing Islamic issues. It may not lead to one side converting the other, but it can help both sides address substantive issues instead of straw men, as often happens in these kinds of things.

However, a word to the wise is in order for all of us.  I know very little about Islam, but I spent a good part of last fall studying Islam and listening to different speakers who had lived in Muslim lands.  All of them had differing perspectives, but one thing they all agreed upon was that Muslims don't come to Christ through debate (of course, I can't think of anyone else who has come to Christ through debate either).  Muslims who have come to Christ almost invariably do so through the ministry of a Christian who has spent years and years knowing and loving them and embodying the gospel to them.  This is not to denigrate the efforts of those who seek to educate us about Islam, let's just make sure we use our educations wisely and lovingly.

Comments

[mumon]

Do you honestly, for a microsecond think that posts with titles like "Exposing Islam" and with content like "plagiarizing the bible" is a dialogue with Muslims, or are you so arrogant that you don't see that ...uh, never mind... it's obvious that you'd rather love-bomb those poor brown people who don't know Jeezus.

[Andrew]

mumon, you might try reading the post you lambast rather than wildly state that it isn't dialogue. If it isn't dialogue, why has Maryam of Dervish (http://www.maryams.net/dervish) written five comments in response to that post and on two other posts as well.

So please...next time read before you bite. There happens to be an amazing conversation going on between myself, Maryam, and Catez of Allthings2all.

[mumon]

The responder is being far, far too kind; I did read the posts in question. I suspect that, like many in the United States in minority religions, she is cowed by the increasing belligerent tone taken by Christians today against religious minorities.

I'm not Muslim, but really the patronizing tone of the Christians is pretty repugnant.

Let's face it one could just as well write "Exposing Fundamentalist Christianity;" in fact, you'd do well to address the issues copious documented on infidels.org rather than slander miniorty religions.

You yourself admitting that love-bombing - in essence what you're advocating- is more effective.

It is high time you and your co-religionists stopped bearing false witness against those who follow different relgions than you do. Plain and simple.

[Andrew]

Could you explain what you mean by the term "love-bombing" and why you think I advocate it?

See, far more of my time at WW has been directed at atheism and its related philosophies than Islam.

But I would hardly call Islam a "minority religion." To say so reveals a worldview limited severely the borders of the United States. Well I'm not writing from within those borders. Islam is second largest religion in the world ranked by raw number of self-reporting adherents, and it is growing very fast, unlike Christianity which is declining. While that's not relevant to which is true, it demonstrates that Islam is in fact a very important idealogy to confront.

There are many hollow and deceptive philosophies in the world today; Christianity must defend and attack all of them.

Oh and since when have you ever read anyone cowed into agreement on the internet? Especially between relatively obscure bloggers both who have nothing to lose or gain.

[Catez]

I think you are arguing against a straw man mumon. I know Joe Carter allows a bit of vitriol on his blog comments but it really isn't necessary. The only person upset seems to be you. Those of us in the discussion have enjoyed it.