And that’s when I got to thinking…

Why do people believe in the literal “mark of the beast,” not to mention all the other problematic images in Revelation? Is it really because they read scripture and that was the most obvious interpretation (I’ll save questioning their hermeneutics for later)? Is it really only because that’s what’s been passed down to them (I’m sure this is often it!)? Or is it because it makes for very effective scare tactics?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that dispensationalist literalism makes for very powerful conservative propaganda. I believe that this is part of the reason it is so alive and well in our world. While George W. Bush was in office, dispensationalism was used as propaganda for people to support war in Iraq and to give up on peace making in the middle east. Now that we have Barack Obama in office, it’s the mark of the beast language that scares people into looking negatively upon anything the president does or says. Whatever the situation, dispensationalism is good at twisting current events, no matter how horrific they are or how really good they really may be, and adapting itself so that everything is secret knowledge for the conservative dispensationalist. So the question is, do dispensationalists believe their outlandish interpretations because they’re being honest with the text or is it because it conveniently fits into their conservative bias and fear mongering? Is the literal and future mark of the beast expectation a reasonable interpretation or is it just a convenient scare tactic?

The Song of the day comes from a lesser known hip-hop artist Noodle the Innocent Child with his song Celebrate Life. You can hear more of his music here and here.  I am interested to hear more of his music when it comes out. 

Swearing an Oath
I know Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no, but if all those executives responsible for the latest recession had pledged something similar to the link above we may not have had such a recession.

No Room at the Inn (for Palestinians)
This story is one of many that I hear coming off the wire. And we wonder why Israel is so unpopular in the Middle East.

The Death of Progress
This post expertly questions whether progress is really progressive. We need to think long and hard about the idea of “growing” our organizations and more about the nature of the organizations we run.

Halloween: Yes or No?
One person argues that the Puritanical fear of the occult and the general evangelical hatred towards the Roman Catholic Church is what originally created the fear of Halloween. Perhaps, he argues, we have come to believe our own propaganda?

A Theology of the Land
tallskinnykiwi talks about and quotes Christian farmers who are doing what they can to bring justice and equality to what Paul called “the whole created order.”

Pray for Glenn Beck
He surely needs it.

New Smashing Pumpkins album to be Free
If you love Smashing Pumpkins, you’d better read this.

The Jesus we Never Knew
:

2.  Mark talks about using IM as a professor.  I applaud anyone in higher eduction who is using technology to help their students.

3.  What would you think of adding an Hindu Snowman in a Nativity scene?

4.  Tim Keller on the one gospel.

5.  I think that Americans need to think before they act:

6.  James McGrath’s review on The Religious Case Against Belief.

7.  Was it a Silent Night?

8.  What do you think of Caroline Kennedy going for the Senate Seat (what is her platform)?

9.  Brandon talking about the Christian response to shoe throwing.

10.  If you are in the area, you should think about going to Common Root 2009.  I can’t make it because of school and the distance.

11.  A good post on Sex and Money.

12.  Obama talks about how to judge his success.

And Remember:

2.  I am growing increasingly frustrated, as I wrote here, with the call to bail out the auto industry.  Obama’s new chief of staff, Rahm Imanuel, is trying to play a bail-out of the auto industry as a chance to help upstart and “retool” to create more energy efficient cars.  What do you guys think of this?  I don’t think it will make a big difference.  I think that if the auto industries had looked at the rising gas prices and tried something innovative and cost effective, there would have already been more results in this industry.  Am I wrong? 

3.  Marty notes that American companies ignored our inreasingly changing world and kept producing SUV’s, while Japanese company took stock of the world and created more reliable cars.

4.  MGM is teaming up with Youtube to put full length movies and TV shows online.  While the initial stages don’t sound that exciting, this is a big development for the internet world.

5.  This video about “what it means to be Christian” is well made and worth looking at:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qikulEn37U&hl=en&fs=1]

6.  Over at seeking alpha, there are demands being made if an auto bail-out is to occur. What do you think of their demands?

7. At Crystal Clear Conservative, there is also naysaying going on with the auto bail-out.

8. Jake has some good analysis of the evangelical vote in the 08 race.

1) The richest person will be the one who combines the iPhone with the kindle and can do it at low cost.

2) Google and apple will team up to create an online library that can be accessed through their cellular device.  There will be previews of books and the ability to buy books online.

3) There will be more decentralized books being written and desiminated via cellular devices than ever before.  Writing will become more free-form in nature.  Novels will be writen for niche audiences and complex artistic books will be much cheaper to make and print for visual enjoyment (i.e. comics)

4) Just as news has become individualized, books will also become individualized and the amount of books will increase because of the relative decrease in start-up costs.

In other news….

1) Some are arguing that evolution can inspire faith.

2) Jesus manifesto is dealing with issues of dispensantionalism and eschatology.  Sam argues on there that the dispensationalist view of the second coming holds a paradox: the first time Jesus comes to save the prostitute and the second time he comes to kill them.  He struggles with how to make the two different missions of Jesus come together.  He brings up the point that our end-times eschatology influences of practice of church (for the intellecutal: ecclesiology).  Often a dispensationalist theology, he argues, makes us unconcerned with the present world.  Do you agree?

3) Visit here for up to date news on decisions for Obama’s cabinet.  I personally would like to see Colin Powell in his cabinet. What do others think about this?  Some think John Kerry will be the next secretary of state?  Really?  What do you think?

4) The New York Times writes on the difficulties Obama will face after his inaguration.  What is the main issue that you want to see Obama address in his first one hundred days?

5) FFF argues that education is a socialist regime.  I argued in my letter that Obama should provide more reforms and more resources for schools, but do you think the federal government should just take a step back instead and let states deal with these issues?

6) Brian Walsh argues if Barack Obama can be a post-imperialist president.

Andrea talks about whether or not pastors are abusing their exemption from taxes.

Justin wonders if Obama is really a socialist.

Andre talks about how another Christian president might not be the answer.

In an especially interesting article, Kelly talks about why she is not totally happy with Shane Claiborne.

A NY times article on Obama and Easter.

I think that this easter post will blow you away.

Surprise ALERT: Separation of church and state did not originate with Jefferson, but with the Baptists.

Over at Kingdom Conversations, I have begun seriously looking at the WOW hits of 2008.

Amazon Kindle is a new eBook device that sounds interesting, but is just too expensive for me. The eBook device allows you to wirelessly download books to your device on a screen that “reads like paper.” I predicted gizmos like this would come out, but it doesn’t take a prophet to see how much the eBook business is going to boom in the future.