All Around the Web: Links For Your Saturday - August 11, 2012

Everyday Theology - 8 Tips for Being a Productive Student | Some helpful tips. I have selected only a few of them here.

2. Kindle

Read books on Kindle or Kindle e-readers, highlight, add electronic notes, export/import notes to a searchable database such as Evernote. If you are a student, the days of nostalgia and paper books are over. The major complaint I hear is from people who love to read, “Oh, I just love the feel of a book in my hands.” Well, fine, you keep doing that and the rest of the world will leave you behind. When you truly realize that you can highlight and export all of your excerpts and notes from kindle, you will realize how many hours you have saved and never think twice about it again. So much of our lives are spent waiting, if you have a kindle app on your smartphone, imagine how much you could accomplish while sitting at the dentist or on the bus. Take advantage of these times.

3. Evernote

Take all notes using this application. You can sync it with your phone, tablet, computer, etc. And it is a fully searchable database. If you pay a few dollars, you can even have the software recognize writings from pictures you have taken. (i.e., you can even scan handwritten notes and they will be searchable!) And if you ever have an epiphany, you can write it down in your phone or simply do a voice recording, and then you can refine it later on your computer!

4. Dropbox

Saves files on your computer and on a cloud. You can access files on any computer, phone, or tablet. Need I say more? If you are not already using the cloud, I am not sure which planet you are living on.

5. Zotero

Best program ever! If you do research, this is a must have. It helps you store bibliographic info in a very efficient manner. It works through your web browser and hooks up with Word or Open Office. Do you remember having to learn MLA, Chicago, Turabian, etc.? Well, this program will put all of your endnote and bibliographic data into the proper format and even allow you to switch formats. Plus, you can add notes to the Zotero database so you always have access to your own personal annotated bibliographies.


Between the Times - What I’ve Been Reading (4)–Augustine’s The Literal Meaning of Genesis |

4. Do not let the latest scientific or philosophical theories cause one to look down upon Scripture.

“But more dangerous is the error of certain weak brethren who faint away when they hear these irreligious critics learnedly and eloquently discoursing on the theories of astronomy or on any of the questions relating to the elements of this universe. With a sigh, they esteem these teachers as superior to themselves, looking upon them as great men; and they return with disdain to the books which were written for the good of their souls; and, although they ought to drink from these books with relish, they can scarcely bear to take them up. Turning away in disgust from the unattractive wheat field, they long for the blossoms on the thorn.” (1.20.40)

Sounds like something that could have been written in our day, doesn’t it?

5. Do not fear attacks on the biblical account of Creation.

“Someone will say: ‘What have you brought out with all the threshing of this treatise? What kernel have you revealed? What have you winnowed? Why does everything seem to lie hidden under questions? Adopt one of the many interpretations which you maintained were possible.’  To such a one my answer is that I have arrived at a nourishing kernel in that I have learnt that a man is not in any difficulty in making a reply according to his faith which he ought to make to those who try to defame our Holy Scripture.” (1.41.21)

In other words, Augustine is saying that though he couldn’t settle on one position, he is settled in his confidence concerning Scripture itself.


James MacDonald - 5 Things We Do Today Instead of Preach the Word |

1.  Entertain
2.  Share
3.  Woo
4.  Intellectualize
5. Abbreviate


Mark Coppenger - Is Proverbs 22:6 a guarantee? |

A much better approach is to see Proverbs as a divine book of moral generalities, of rules of thumb, rather than a book of pointed prophecies, physical laws, or contractual obligations. That’s just what proverbs or aphorisms are meant to be, whether we’re talking about such secular versions as “a stitch in time saves nine” and “absence makes the heart grow fonder” or the inspired, biblical counterparts, “A gracious woman gains honor” (12:16) or “Wealth obtained by fraud will dwindle” (13:11). Though we can think of exceptions to these rules, there is deep and life-important truth in them.

As with all Bible interpretation, it’s important to know what sort of language is being used to convey God’s infallible, inerrant revelation. When someone insists that Jesus is made of wood because He says He’s a gate (John 10:9) or that He’s made of flour because He says he’s bread (John 6:35), they mistake figures of speech for literal talk. . . . 

With this view of Proverbs, you don’t lose trust in Scripture when the skeptic says, “Aha, I know a lazy man who lived like a king all his life on his inheritance” as a way to refute Proverbs 24:33-34 (“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,  and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”) The problem would arise if, in general, laziness proved to be better path to success than hard work. Which it won’t. And neither will laissez-faire parenting, where the kids are allowed to run wild and ignorant. Sure, one of the kids might turn out well, but you have to feel mighty lucky to go with passive parenting.


NPR - The Most Influential Evangelists You've Never Heard of | Christian historian David Barton has come under fire recently for his historical conclusions. NPR did the following piece suggesting that his history is anything but factual.







WORLD Magazine - Thomas Nelson pulls Barton book on Jefferson | Because of the above story, Thomas Nelson pulled the book.

The Thomas Nelson publishing company has decided to cease publication and distribution of David Barton’s controversial book, The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed about Thomas Jefferson, saying it has “lost confidence in the book’s details.” (See “The David Barton controversy,” Aug. 8.) 

Casey Francis Harrell, Thomas Nelson’s director of corporate communications, told me the publishing house “was contacted by a number of people expressing concerns about [The Jefferson Lies].” The company began to evaluate the criticisms, Harrell said, and “in the course of our review learned that there were some historical details included in the book that were not adequately supported. Because of these deficiencies we decided that it was in the best interest of our readers to stop the publication and distribution.”


Revealing Politics - What a Fluke | These man on the street videos are always a cause of alarm. The reason I post this is simply to highlight how cold abortion advocates are. In my new book on the culture of death, I point out how easy it is to defend abortion for the poor. Two women in the following video come out and say that if you are poor, you should abort your children. Wicked stuff! Also, the main question of the video is a good one. If you don't think government should be in the bedroom, then why should government fund contraception?