Around the Horn – 09.23.10

Reforming our Mission
Spurgeon responded to those who claimed that the doctrine of election betrayed a vision of a harsh and unloving God. “God is good, infinitely good in His nature,” Spurgeon insisted. “God is love; He willeth not the death of any, but had rather that all should come to repentance. …Our friends very properly insist upon it that God is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His work; that God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy; let me assure them that we shall never quarrel on these points, for we also rejoice in the same facts.”  Spurgeon refused to see or to acknowledge a conflict between God’s omnipotent will and His love. “There is not the slightest shadow of a conflict between God’s sovereignty and God’s goodness. He may be sovereign, and yet it may be absolutely certain that He will always act in the way of goodness and love. … If the sons of sorrow fetch any comfort from the goodness of God, the doctrine of election will never stand in their way.”

There’s Something Worse Than Death
People often talk as if Jesus was above frightening people with scenes of judgment. But such sentiment exposes soft-minded prejudice more than careful exegesis. Often Jesus warned of the day of judgment (Matt. 11:24; 25:31-46), spoke of condemnation (Matt. 12:37; John 3:18), and described hell in graphic, shocking terms (Matt. 13:49-50; 18:9; Luke 16:24). You only have to read his parables about the tenants or the wedding feast or the virgins or the talents to realize that Jesus frequently motivated his hearers to heed his message by warning them of coming judgment. It was not beneath Jesus to scare the hell out of people.

Sex Isn’t Selling
Of course it’s long been one of the truisms of marketing – sex sells. But this article contends that, for the first time in recent memory, sex is no longer selling. Sex no longer accomplishes what it once did; sex no longer piles up the profits.  The focus of the article is pornography and its coming decline. It seems that pornography has been unable to adapt to the realities of Web 2.0, realities that dictate that everything must be free. Or nearly everything. Porn producers are saying that they have seen revenue fall 80% over the past three years; Playboy is bleeding money and laying off staff; actors who were once paid $2000 a scene are now being paid just half of that; revenue for major distributors has fallen 30% in just the last year.

Gah, You Christians are SO Judgemental
Judgment, in and of itself, is not necessarily bad. To make a judgment means to form an opinion or a belief. I make a thousand judgments every day, and so do you. I judge Diet Coke to be good. I judge Diet Pepsi to be bad. I judge abortion to be wrong. I judge adoption to be good. I judge firefighters to be brave. I judge babies to be adorable. I judge teachers to be underpaid. Some of my beliefs are based on what the Bible teaches, other opinions, like the fact that Diet Pepsi stinks, aren’t at all.

Top 5 Floatingsheep Maps
If TV has taught us anything, it has shown that highlight clips are both an easy and popular way of filling some space. So dug into Google Analytics to see which of out maps/postings have received the most hits. Not necessarily what we’ve put the most work into but a People’s Choice sort of a thing.  Enjoy them again or for the first time…click on the maps to see the original post.