Sorry for my lack of posts. My job is hectic, and they have me writing a couple of blogs at work, which is really taking up all my blogging time. I didn't realize how much I depended on work-time to write this blog, but evidently it was a lot. 

Anyway, it's Friday, I just bought a sixpack of Anchor Steam, and I thought I would share a couple of news items I found interesting today:

1) Dobson retired from the Board of Directors at Focus on the Family, today. And FOTF is pretty much admitting it's because they were having difficulty reaching younger people with him as the leader.  You can't make attacking homosexuals your number one priority and expect to reach young people. It just isn't gonna happen. Even if those young Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin, they still don't think it should be a huge priority among the Christian community. There are much bigger issues out there. 

It will be interesting to watch the direction FOTF takes in the future. My guess is they make minimal changes and continue the march toward irrelevancy. But who knows. My advice, and it's cliche, focus on helping the poor.  I think they'll find it actually resonates with young Christians. 

2) Andrew Sullivan's blog linked to a study that  showed the more Christians that are in a state; the more likely that state watches online porn. Heh. And the number one state for online pornography? You guessed it: Utah. Those Mormons are just as hypocritical as the rest of us.   

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/02/christianists-a.html 

I likely won't be blogging much for awhile, as I don't see work letting up, but I'll try to pop in here when I can.  And of course, if something big happens, we'll still be here.  I just renewed the blog url for another year. So we're not going anywhere until at least next march.  

I found this blog post and thought it was an interesting piece.  I especially liked reading the comments.  I'm curious to see if we can get the same kind of discussion going on here.  KenGurley writes:

Lately, I've been thinking about a report I read a year or so ago.  The report was based on a national survey sponsored by Christianity Today International and Zondervan Publishers and found in the Leadership magazine.  The report said that there were five kinds of Christians in America.

Rather than grouping these folks by their individual denominations, the survey groups them by their overall beliefs.  The five types of Christians are:

Active Christians.  These believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ and are committed churchgoers.  They read their Bibles and share their faith.

Professing Christians.  Beliefs are similar to Active Christians, but their actions differ.  They are less involved in church and less committed to Bible reading and sharing faith.

Liturgical Christians.  Primarily Catholic and Lutheran, these people are regular churchgoers, have a high level of spiritual and community activity and recognize the authority of the church.

Private Christians.  The largest and youngest segment surveyed believe in God and in doing good things.  The majority own a Bible but do not read it.  Only about one-third attend church at all.

Cultural Christians.  Little outward religious behavior or attitudes.  They are aware of God, but have little involvement with him.  They believe that there are many ways to God and that Jesus Christ is not the only way.

One item of interest was that 9 in 10 Active and Professing Christians believe that accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord is essential to salvation.  Liturgical, Private and Cultural Christians hold to "believing in God" as the main characteristic of being a Christian.  For a large percentage of people who called themselves Christian, Christ is not the centerpiece of their faith.

Based on the above categories, I guess you can call me an Active Christian.  I believe Jesus is still "The Way."  What about you?

I would say I am more of the professing Christian type, with traits of an active Christian.  I believe Jesus is the only way and I have a deep faith and commitment to serving Him.  However, I don't read my Bible or share my faith as much as I should and I have not been involved with a church (as it's commonly known) for about 4 years.  I used to be the active Christian type but found myself burnt out and empty after a number of years of living by the "rules" of Christianity.

So I'm curious, how do readers of CBC categorize themselves?

According to this article, a new Gallup Poll finds that Mississippi is the state where the most people – 85%– say yes when asked, "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" Joining Mississippi in the top "most religious" states are other notches in the Bible Belt: Alabama (82%), South Carolina (80%), Tennessee (79%), Louisiana (78%) and Arkansas (78%).  On the low end, less than half of Vermonters — 42% — answered that same question in the affirmative. Following Vermont are New Hampshire (46%), Maine (48%), Massachusetts (48%), Alaska (51%) and Washington (52%).

However, according to this article, Mississippi is also the unhealthiest state in America. It has the highest rate of teenage births in the nation, the highest age-adjusted death rate, the highest infant mortality rate, the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases, and the largest percentage of obese adults and adults who do not exercise. In 2nd place is Louisiana, and also on the list is South Carolina at #7 (with a high number of new AIDS cases and a high rate of sexually transmitted diseases), Alabama at #9 (with a high rate of obesity and non-exercising adults), Arkansas at #14 and Tennessee at #15. On the list of healthiest states though is New Hampshire at #2 (with the lowest rates of sexually transmitted diseases and lowest levels of teenage births), Vermont at #3 (with the lowest rate of new AIDS cases reported), Maine at #4, Massachusetts at #5 (with the second-lowest percentage of obese adults), and Washington at #13 (with a low percentage of adult smokers and a high percentage of adults who exercise). 

And what about education? Well this article tells us that of the ten least educated states Tennessee is #2, Louisiana #3, Alabama #4, Arkansas #7, and Mississippi #8. Yet of the most educated states, Massachusetts is #1 with 35.8 percent of the population holding four-year degrees. Also in the top ten? You guessed it…Vermont is #7, New Hampshire is #9, and Washington is #10.

Looking at these statistics I can't help but notice a strange connection. So I wonder, is being religious bad for you?

The Christian Post reports that pastors can now go to a website where they pledge to keep their sermons Bible-based, and avoid the rampant practice of so many modern-day pastors who preach sermons based more on positive thinking, personal wellness, general ethics and extra-biblical topics than they do on the Word of God.

At the LC I used to attend here in NorCal they had a guy on their pastoral staff who was a (professional) Motivational Speaker, and who was often asked by the SP to speak on Sundays, amidst a lot of flair and hoopla. They would even put up a life-sized, cardboard cut-out of him in the church lobby, of him standing with his hands held out and smiling.

His “sermons” were usually quite animated, and were filled with various jokes, antics, high-jinks and histrionics, with him bouncing — and often jumping – all over the platform, and were filled with references that always managed to center upon himself, his wife, or his child. It was quite a show.

He always "preached" on the same motivational hokum he spoke on to all the secular corporations and Fortune 500 companies, with titles like: “Believing In Yourself,” “Don‘t Ever Quit,” “You Can Have What You Want,” and “Dare To Be A Dreamer.” The only difference was in the Sunday sermons, he would typically throw in one or two Bible verses to make it sound like the people were getting a real sermon. 

As I recall, the people ate it up.

-joe

Question:  Would you support the legalization of marijuana if the government could regulate and tax its distribution?

Could this help pull us out of our current recession?

I say yes.

According to Yahoo News, President Obama wants to limit the salary of top execs whose companies are receiving Federal aid to $500,000 per year. Although I'm sure there will be the obligatory cries of unfairness and the need to adequately compensate talented individuals, I concur with his rationale and think this is an excellent idea.

And although it is in an entirely different arena, and in light of Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s recently divulged 2007 total salary of over $18 million, I wish the same could somehow be applied to the world of sports. I know these people are talented, and I understand the principles of free-enterprise, supply-and-demand, and laissez-faire. But really, does anyone actually need/deserve several million dollars a year in salary? 

Do you think Senior Pastors should also have salary caps?

-joe