One thing you will notice when you highlight every prayer, every supplication on towards God that is uttered in the text of the New Testament is that you will never see a New Testament prayer that ends with the phrase “In Jesus’ name. Amen,” even though the same text teaches you to pray in Jesus’ name. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to draw the conclusion that we are, first, to pray in the name of Jesus, and second, praying in the name of Jesus doesn’t mean ending your prayer with the phrase “In the name of Jesus. Amen,” because it is never done in the New Testament.
Tips for Approaching Introverts with Ministry Opportunities
Many introverts are cautious about making commitments—they want to think them through and may be concerned about the required energy level. Rather than ask for commitment, give them a chance to try filling a role on a short-term basis.
Americans Like Evangelicals After All
It doesn’t appear that evangelicals actually experience more oppression than others. In a 2006 study, about 1 in 3 evangelicals said that they hear negative remarks about their religion often or occasionally. That’s close to the national average of 29 percent. (For Mormons it was 60 percent, for Jews 38 percent.) If evangelicals do not actually hear many more negative remarks about their faith, it might be that we’re simply more sensitive to hearing them.
Regardless of our personal experience, evangelical Christians’ sense of being disliked is reinforced when we hear others in our group, especially leaders, telling us we are disliked.
Dumb, Directionless, Defenseless
Sheep are dumb and directionless. They are also defenseless. Left to themselves, sheep will not and cannot last very long. Just about any other domesticated animal can be returned to the wild and will stand a fighting chance of survival. But not sheep. Put a sheep in the wild and you’ve just given nature a snack.
Make the Bible Your Native Tongue
Our limitless access to prepackaged devotional, inspirational, and theological insights from others can unwittingly give us a BSL — Bible as a Second Language — orientation on God. But intimacy with him is better reached via a firsthand relationship through his word than through someone else’s translation of it on our behalf. There’s a place for both — God has given us teachers (Ephesians 4:11). We simply must be careful becoming so co-dependent on the one that we fail to do due diligence with the other.
There is no age limit on being a student. In fact, one of the best gifts that a parent can give a child is to visibly be a life-long learner. Education is at its best when it launches us into a lifetime of discovery. Christianity ignites its deepest transformation when we live as disciples, students committed to learning and imitating the Teacher.
Great design = getting people to do what you want
Unethical design, then, is using the power of design to get the user to do something he regrets. Great design is pushing/focusing the user to do something that he’ll thank you for later.
Designing for ‘everyone to do anything’ is difficult to do well and ultimately a cop out. It absolves the designer of responsibility, sure, but it is also design without intent or generosity.
Great designers can easily answer the question, “what do you want the user to do?”
Stolen Bible Returned 42 Years Later By Guilt-Stricken Thief
They never thought they’d see it again, but 42 years after their Bible was stolen in 1971, Holy Trinity Church in Hastings, England, received an intriguing letter in the mail. The anonymous note was sent to church treasurer Simon Scott and read, “You won’t believe receiving this letter and you certainly won’t believe receiving a bible in the post shortly,” according to the BBC.
To the surprise of the church administration, a huge box containing a large leather-bound version of The Holy Bible, complete with brass clasps, later arrived in the mail, just as promised.
After Years in Solitary, an Austere Life as Uruguay’s President
In a deliberate statement to this cattle-exporting nation of 3.3 million people, Mr. Mujica, 77, shunned the opulent Suárez y Reyes presidential mansion, with its staff of 42, remaining instead in the home where he and his wife have lived for years, on a plot of land where they grow chrysanthemums for sale in local markets.
Visitors reach Mr. Mujica’s austere dwelling after driving down O’Higgins Road, past groves of lemon trees. His net worth upon taking office in 2010 amounted to about $1,800 — the value of the 1987 Volkswagen Beetle parked in his garage. He never wears a tie and donates about 90 percent of his salary, largely to a program for expanding housing for the poor.
Ohio couple married 65 years die 11 hours apart
Relatives of an Ohio couple who died at a nursing home 11 hours apart on the same day said their love story’s ending reflects their devotion over 65 years of marriage.
Harold and Ruth Knapke died in their shared room on Aug. 11, days before their 66th anniversary, The Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/16KBNAJ ) reported. He was 91, she was 89.