First, I would like thank all of my readers and friends for keeping up with On the Bema. Your support and interaction with the blog has been fantastic! Keep it up. Second, I would like to thank all of my fellow bloggers for their support. With that said, I will now be blogging for the Times Union Newspaper (Albany, NY) as their protestant religion blogger. The Times Union has a vast blog section on their website that you should check out. Thank you again for your readership and see you over at the Times Union Newspaper protestant blog
Monthly Archive:: September 2009
A recent ACORN undercover video has shown us how important “image” can be. The video depicted two individuals seeking assistance with their fictitious prostitution operation. ACORN workers gave pointers on how to avoid certain laws and tax rules. The result of the undercover video was a disaster for ACORN. Their funding was pulled by several government agencies and now the IRS is looking into their organization’s financials. ACORN’s image has been tarnished. We too can have an image problem. How people perceive us is important to our job, family, and standing in the community. Even false accusations can ruin our life. We should be conscience of our image, but not
Is prayer becoming a religion unto itself? That was the question that The Wall Street Journal asked in its recent article entitled “Prayer’s Place in America.” A disconnect between prayer and religious affiliation has arrived: 39% of Americans attend church weekly yet 75% pray at least weekly, according to the Pew Religion Forum. And maybe most remarkably: 35% of those who don’t identify with any religion at all — the “unaffiliated”– pray weekly or daily. In fact, 58% overall, and 66% of American women pray daily. With 39% of Americans attending church and 75% praying at least weekly, there seems to be a separation between religion and prayer. Or at
Judson Press contacted me a few weeks ago and asked me to write a review of nuChristian: finding faith in a new generation by Russell E. D. Rathbun. Be on the look out the week of October 12 for a review on the book. Hopefully, I will have a Q&A with Rathbun and feature him as a guest blogger. My review will be a part of a blog tour for the book. Check back. Judson Press :: Product Catalog :: nuChristian
People love to watch a control freak melt down. A popular reality show about overly controlling brides-to-be is now in its sixth season (what reality show isn’t?) The show’s description reads: “Who among us has not met a Bridezilla?” This reality series from WE takes us inside the hectic wedding preparations of brides-to-be who are determined to have the perfect wedding–no matter how many tantrums they must throw to achieve that dream. Every episode we meet a new bride who is more selfish and controlling than the previous one. This unique reality show, shows the life of brides-to-be and how they fight with their friends, family and future husband to
The saga continues for the Kanye West story, but his time President Obama has unwisely gotten himself involved. (Remember Henry Louis Gates Jr and the Harvard Police?) The President called Kanye West a “jackass” for interrupting the MTV Music awards during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech. You can find the audio of the President’s incident here. If you want to pass up on the audio, here is the transcript of the event: “I thought that was really inappropriate. It’s like, she’s getting an award, why are you butting in?” Obama says in the audio clip. “I hear you. I agree with you. The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person.
Even the Washington Post is commenting on our high profile “Outbusts”. It seems that the “outburst” topic is catching on. Outbursts by Kanye West, Rep. Joe Wilson, Serena Williams Leave Decorum Behind – washingtonpost.com. You can read my commentary on why these outbursts are happening here: http://onthebema.com/2009/09/14/5-reasons-why-we-love-angry-outbursts
The recent outbursts of congressman Joe Wilson, tennis star Serena Williams, and rapper Kanye West strikes a note within our own anger and need to be heard. Congressman Joe Wilson has now become famous for shouting out “You lie!” during President Obama’s speech to a joint session of congress. Wilson has faced addition criticism for the way he has handled his apology to the President. Serena Williams made waves during a Grand Slam match in which a line judge called her on a serve violation. Williams then cursed out the line judge, shouted at tennis officials, and was finally suspended from the match. She was quotes saying, “”If I
When “The Great Recession” began in December of 2007, the stock market lost huge amounts of equity and value. The Bush administration made efforts to keep businesses and banks afloat. The word “bailout” became a catch word in our cultural vernacular. Later, the Obama administration put forward more plans and policies to try to improve the economy. Political pundits and financial consultants keep talking about the “cost” of all of these governmental plans and programs. Numerical amounts of millions, billions, and trillions were used to put a price tag on these programs. Terms like “deficit”, “gross national product”, “credit”, and “macro economics” flooded TV and radio. Before and during this
It seems that the H1N1 “Swine Flu” is changing church and changing the way congregations do “church”. Churches in Sweden, who use a common cup, are using strong or fortified wine for communion to fight against Swine Flu. In Anglican, Catholic, and other European churches, it is more common for churches to share one cup to drink from instead of individual cups for communion. As reported on by The Local , church leaders hope that fortified wine will give better protection against the spread of swine flu when the common communion cup is used from parishioner to parishioner. The change is a local decision and the Church of Sweden said
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