Andrew Jackson at SmartChristian.com wisely recommends that GOP voters take a “cluster approach” when it comes to choosing a candidate for the Republican nomination.

I think one of the mistakes being made right now in the GOP race, however, is we feel like we have to choose ONE CANDIDATE ONLY. What we might call the “singular approach.” So, folks are having a tendency to bounce back and forth based on how a candidate is doing at the moment, and feel embarrassed if they change from one candidate to another.

I have recently decided to take the “cluster approach.” That is, I know the cluster of candidates that I am supporting (McCain, Thompson, Huckabee), and the cluster that I am not (Guiliani, Romney, and the others). This provides me more flexibility to allow the race to fully unfold, and I will make my final decision when primary vote time actually arrives. In other words, the cluster approach allows for a little more grace for me and the candidates.

This is basically the approach I have been taking, although my “cluster” is a little different than Andrew’s. I have been supportive of Thompson and Romney, and now tentatively Huckabee; while not supportive of Guiliani, McCain and others. (Note: If you haven’t visited SmartChristian.com recently, check out the new design – very nice.)

Related posts:

• Still Leaning Towards Fred
• Mike Huckabee’s Sunday Sermon at Prestonwood
• The MPR Select a Candidate Quiz
• Memo to Evangelical Leaders on Romney
• Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
• Ravi Zacharias on Electing the Next President
• Should Christians Call Mormonism a Cult?
• Rudy, John, Mitt . . . and Fred?

Bible at school. “Alabama has became the first state in the union to approve a textbook for a course about the Bible in its public schools. There was no opposition to the October 11 vote by the state Board of Education to include The Bible and Its Influence on the state’s list of accepted textbooks. The Board held a hearing on the issue and no-one showed up; the book was approved by a vote of 8-0.” (Source: TIME Magazine)

Change for a million? A man was arrested at a Pittsburgh supermarket after he handed a one million dollar bill to the cashier and asked for change. (Since 1969, the $100 bill is the largest note in circulation.)

Turkey invasion. Wild turkeys have made a comeback in Massachusetts and are causing trouble in neighborhoods and city streets. Hmmmm, with Thanksgiving less than a month away, this sounds like really bad timing on the part of the turkeys.

How much has going to school changed? Kansas State University Professor Michael Wesch and the students in his Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class created an interesting video profiling a vision of students today. The following answers were compiled from the answers of 133 students (out of 200) who responded to the survey questions.

• My average class size is 115.
• 18% of my teachers know my name.
• I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me. Only 26% are relevant to my life.
• I buy hundred dollar textbooks that I never open.
• My neighbor paid for class but never comes.
• I will read 8 books this year, 2300 web pages, & 1281 Facebook profiles.
• I will write 42 pages for class this semester and over 500 pages of email.
• I get 7 hours of sleep each night! I spend 1.5 hours watching TV each night. I spend 3.5 hours a day online. I listen to music 2.5 hours a day. I spend 2 hours on my cell phone, spend 3 hours in class, 2 hours eating. I work 2 hours every day, 3 hours studying. That’s a total of 26.5 hours every day.
• I am a multi-tasker. (I have to be.)
• I will be $20,000 in debt after graduation! I’m one of the lucky ones.
• When I graduate I will probably have a job that doesn’t exist today.
• I Facebook through most of my classes.
• I bring my laptop to class, but I’m not working on class stuff.

What do you think? Is this an accurate picture of students today? I have to say, I would not have been able to make any of those statements when I was in school, except maybe for the 7 hours of sleep and 2 hours eating!

HT: Noel Heikkinen

Yesterday’s message in The Ten Commandments for Today series was on the fourth commandment. The message was called Remember the Sabbath, taken from Exodus 20:8-11.

Exodus 20:8-11 – 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (NIV)

The main idea of the message was that we should honor God by enjoying the good gift he has given us of a day off each week for rest and for worship. Here is a brief recap of the message:

First we looked at the origin of the command as found in creation. Next we looked at the meaning of the command for the Israelites in the Old Testament. Then we looked at Jesus’ attitude towards the Sabbath as found in the New Testament. We also examined the three different views concerning Saturday or Sunday observance.

Finally we closed with the following six positive applications for observing the fourth commandment today:

1. Strive for a proper balance of worship, work and rest in your life.
2. Set aside time each week for public worship.
3. Reflect on the five purposes given in Scripture for the fourth commandment.
       – a time of rest and refreshment,
       – a sign of belonging to God,
       – a special day for public worship,
       – a way to show your trust in God’s provision,
       – a reminder of God’s redemption in Christ.
4. Seek and follow the leading of God’s Spirit concerning work and other activities on Sundays.
5. Avoid the opposite extremes of “business as usual” or legalistic observance.
6. Follow the convictions of your conscience without judging others.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

Real-time salary calculator. Want to see how much money you make in real time? Just enter your payment amount whichever way you like: hourly, weekly, monthly or annually. Then the program calculates the money you make per day, per hour, per minute and per second. (HT: Presurfer)

Albert Mohler shares his most recent thinking on global warming. “Did human beings cause it? I’m going to be very honest with you, this is where I have had to change my thinking somewhat. This is where I have had to assume that it must be that humans have at least some contribution to this.”

Youth pastor Scott Greene reflects on his experience of going back to high school for two weeks at the age of 33. “After sitting on my experience for over a year and reflecting on this “Back to School” season, here are a few suggestions I would like to offer to parents if they want to have a better relationship with their kids.” (HT: MMI)

John Newton (1725-1807) shares his thoughts on public prayer over at the Resurgence. “The chief fault of some good prayers is, that they are too long; not that I think we should pray by the clock, and limit ourselves precisely to a certain number of minutes; but it is better of the two, that the hearers should wish the prayer had been longer, than spend half the time in wishing it was over.”

Tullian Tchividjian provides a brief list of five questions that can help you discern the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher. “Question 1: Does the preacher ground everything he says in the Bible? Does he, in other words, begin with the authority and sufficiency of Scripture? A reliable carrier of God’s truth … doesn’t simply use the Bible to support what he wants to say … He submits to what the Bible says.”

Alan Bevere expresses skepticism concerning the alleged miraculous appearance of the late Pope John Paul II in the flames of a memorial bonfire. “I believe in the miraculous, but I have always thought it odd that God would communicate with us in flame-like appearances, french toast, and tree bark.”

Minnesota Public Radio presents the Select a Candidate quiz:

By answering a series of questions about major issues, you can quickly learn which candidates are most closely aligned with your views. You’ll be able to learn more about each candidate, hear his/her positions on many issues, and find out how your results compare with those of others who take the survey.

Q: Does “Select a Candidate” tell me who to vote for?

A: Absolutely not. Its main purpose is to introduce you to the candidates who are running and their positions on the issues.

I took the quiz, and these were the results I got back for the main candidates:

• Fred Thompson – 26 points
• Mitt Romney – 21 points
• John McCain – 20 points
• Mike Huckabee – 18 points
• Rudy Guiliani – 15 points
• Barack Obama – 4 points
• John Edwards – 2 points
• Hillary Clinton – 1 point

There is also a simplified version of the quiz at WQAD that has eleven questions instead of fifteen. I took the WQAD quiz too, and it gave me back the same candidates in the same order but with a different scoring system.

I have been leaning towards either Thompson or Romney for the Republican candidate, so it is interesting that they came out as the top two on my quiz. I guess this also means that if it comes down to Fred Thompson versus Hillary Clinton in 2008, now I know who to vote for!

Related posts:

• Hillary Godmother
• Still Leaning Towards Fred
• Mike Huckabee’s Sunday Sermon at Prestonwood
• The Cluster Approach to the GOP Nomination
• Memo to Evangelical Leaders on Romney
• Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
• Ravi Zacharias on Electing the Next President
• Should Christians Call Mormonism a Cult?
• Rudy, John, Mitt . . . and Fred?

Here are some Christian endorsements for the new Ten Commandments movie opening Friday, October 19, 2007:

• “A dazzling animated epic for the family” (The Dove Foundation)
• “A great story … a great Moses … great reasons families should see The Ten Commandments” (American Family Association, Rev. Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman)
• “A wonderful movie for families” (MovieGuide, Dr. Ted Baehr)
• “The Ten Commandments film is both delightful and powerful. It is one of those rare films that every child and adult should see.” (Mission America Coalition, Paul Cedar, Chairman)
• “What usually comes out of Hollywood is not worth commenting about, but every now and then there is a cause to celebrate … I commend Promenade Pictures for their work in helping bring The Ten Commandments to the heart and soul of the nation.” (Ten Commandments Commission, Dr. Ron Wexler, President/CEO)

Christian Slater, who plays Moses in the film, will appear on Thursday, October 18 on Fox & Friends and Hannity & Colmes. (So, does an endorsement by Christian Slater also count as a “Christian” endorsement? )

Source: PR Newswire

Related posts:

• The Ten Commandments Movie Trailer
• More on the New Ten Commandments Movie

I found these quotes after preaching on the Third Commandment last week. If I had found them earlier, I might have used them!

• I heard someone say: “You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.” The corollary is: “You never learn to pray until your kids learn to drive!” Swearing and praying are the two most common ways to use God’s name.
• Turning to her daddy, seven-year-old Susie asked, “Why doesn’t Tommy talk?” “He can’t,” replied her father. “Babies as small as he is never talk.” “Oh yes, they do,” Susie reassured him. “At Sunday church last week our teacher told us that Job cursed the day he was born!”

From: Christians.org

I have been following Darrell Bock’s posts on the book, The Jesus Puzzle, by Earl Doherty. Doherty argues in his book that Jesus never really existed as an historical person. Dr. Bock, who is Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, responds to Doherty’s points one at a time.

This set of posts provides a great resource for those interested in learning more about the historicity of Jesus. You will also find some lively interchange between Bock and his commenters in the comments section on each post.

• Point 1: Jesus of Nazareth and the Gospel Story
• Point 2: The Josephus Citation about Jesus
  The Debated Josephus Text – Antiquities 18.63-64
• Point 3: Paul and the Epistles
• Point 4: The Roots of Resurrection
• Point 5: The Ancient Greco-Roman Dualism of Platonism
• Point 6: Mystery Religions and Christianity
• Point 7: Paul, the Intermediary Son, Wisdom and Logos
• Point 8: Gospel Roots
• Point 9: The Nature of the Gospels — Midrash?
• Point 10: “Q”
• Point 11: The Early Christian Movement
• Point 12: The Human Jesus

Bock closes out his series with these words:

What we have seen in our look at all twelve of these points is how problematic they are. There is little of credible historical judgment here that says Jesus never existed. The origin Doherty posits cannot explain the documentary evidence we possess or the form of the earliest Christianity to which that evidence gives witness. There is no puzzle put together in this book; only pieces unrelated to the real Jesus or the emergence of what became Christianity.

I am grateful to Biblical scholars like Darrell Bock who take the time not only to make valuable information like this accessible on their blogs but also to interact with their commenters in such a gracious manner.

From Breitbart.com:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prayed at the Biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ on Wednesday, promoting religion in the quest for Middle East peace during intense diplomacy.

“Being here at the birthplace of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has been a very special and moving experience,” said the top US diplomat, a devout Christian whose father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers.

HT: SmartChristian.com

Talk about a sermon illustration – check out Pastor Lee Cummings’ amazing prop for his message series I Love the Eighties at Resurrection Life Church in Richland, Michigan.

(Video length: 0:44)

All I could think was, “Wow! And here I thought it was pretty cool this past summer when we added a graphic to the slides on my message series.”

So, what do you think of props in church? Helpful? Distracting? Gimmicky? Depends on the church’s culture?

HT: iThinkCafe

Here are two fascinating flash video maps from the Maps of War website. The first map shows how the geography of religion has evolved over the centuries. Pay special attention to Christianity’s explosive growth that began with the rise of modern missions in the 1700-1800′s.

                                            History of Religion

                      (5000 years of religious history in 90 seconds)

The second map traces the major empires of the world showing who has controlled the Middle East over the course of world events.

                              Imperial History of the Middle East

                      (5000 years of imperial history in 90 seconds)

HT: World on the Web

Related post: Map of the World’s Religions