A True Believer’s Blog

The 234th Christian Carnival is being hosted by some guy calling himself “Wickle” at A True Believer’s Blog, and you should … wait … who? Where? Hey, that’s me! I guess that explains all of that e-mail I’ve received.

Some hosts do really clever and witty things. I’ve been kicking around ideas ever since Jeremy at Parableman said he’d really let me host. So, when it’s all said and done, I came up with nothing that worked. That, and I’m afraid of messing it up (You don’t even want to know how many times I’ve rechecked those Roman numerals). Ah, well …

For those who don’t know, the Christian Carnival is a weekly collection of posts from around the blogging community. Christian bloggers submit their posts, and the host puts the collection up each Wednesday for your reading pleasure. If you’re a Christian, you should check it out. If you’re a Christian blogger, go ahead and submit something. I’ve found several of my favorite blogs through the Carnival, and I’m sure that there’s someone else out there who would love to see what you’re writing.

As a housekeeping matter, I’d like to apologize to those who sent posts from outside this week’s date range (as a weekly Carnival, posts should be dated from the previous Wednesday to Tuesday the day before the Carnival). I didn’t catch that when I was reading the posts, and I should have. I will update to add replacement posts if you get back to me. I have, though, included the out-of-range submissions at the end. Jeremy Pierce mentioned this back in May when he hosted the Carnival.

So, with neither further ado nor profound creativity on my part, here are this week’s Carnival posts:

Jonathan at Christian Interpretation of Dreams appears to be kicking off a new blog, posing the question “Do Dreams Have Christian Interpretations?” (I was pretty sure I knew his answer before I read the post!). He suggests, ” Christian Interpretation of dreams can reveal something you should be knowing.”

FMF at Free Money Finance points to Proverbs to get us thinking about the merits of “Looking Poor, Being Wealthy.”

Rodney Olsen of RodneyOlsen.net asks, ” Is regret giving us a distorted idea of what ‘might have been’ and making us yearn for a life that we’ll never experience?” and then offers help with his post, “Living With Regret.” I guess you can skip this one if your life is and has always been perfect, you’ve never made a mistake, and … ummm, … yeah, you should take a look at what he’s got to say.

CaseyP at The Limitless poses some challenging questions and situations in “Churches: Havens for Weary Souls or Spiritual Dr. Kevorkians?” As Casey puts it, “In light of some recent experiences, I wonder if churches help or hurt those in need?” Reading the post, I think that Casey is expressing his thoughts and feelings pretty clearly.

Diane R at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet presents “Postmodern Philosophy for the Rest of Us–Part 5″ She asks the question, “What will the future church service look like if we are to meet the different generations’ expectations and thinking?” and then sets out to offer some answers and look at those problems.

Raffi Shainian at Parables of a Prodigal World explains, “A bit of humble soul-searching is essential to any Christian gathering.” Toward that end, he offers up “10 Items of God’s Grace, and How I’ve Misused Them” in one of those explorations of shortcomings that hits pretty close to home. Simply stated, and simply brilliant.

Drew of Notes from Off-Center has some thoughts about “Revivalism as Carnival” and explains, “There is a certain carnival characteristic of the phenomenon of revivalism that hearkens back to 19th Century big tent revivals - at least as they present themselves now. There is an infusion of capital entrepreneurship and a caricatured, if not jaded, focus on the plight of the individual.” Presumably, of course, he isn’t saying that carnivals are necessarily bad things, right? (Yes, I amuse myself …)

David A. Porter at A Boomer in the Pew offers “5 Truths - How to Discern False Works of the Holy Spirit” and includes the example of a man who claims to have been led by the Spirit to kick an elderly woman. Uh-huh. (Fixed the link … sorry.)

This week at Light Along the Journey John is following along with Tim Challies and a large group of bloggers as they read through Jonathan Edwards’ treatise Religious Affections. His first blog on the preface is titled Satan Loves Excited Christians. He goes on to promise, “No, that’s not a typo in the title. Yes, I know that needs explaining.” You’ve got to admit, that’s a great way to grab attention! It’s also a great post with a lot to consider.

Jot and Tittle from The Jot and Tittle offer “Grand performance or weirdest show they’ve ever seen,” a post that deals with children leaving the nest, and gets there by way of sloppy joes, egg buns, and Ho-Ho’s.

Ken Brown at C. Orthodoxy presents “a review of The Dark Knight focusing on the film’s treatment of good and evil, selfishness and sacrifice” in “Self-Interest and Sacrifice in The Dark Knight.”

Over at Parableman, Jeremy Pierce offers “Reverend (Redux), Self-Plagiarism, and the Ease of Forgetting.” As he says, “Reflections on the title ‘Reverend’ from a post in last week’s Christian Carnival, leading to some reflections on memory and inadvertent plagiarism.”

Henry Neufeld at Participatory Bible Study Blog discusses a terrible plague afflicting some churches … As he says, “One pastor believes Christians spend too much time studying their Bibles.” “Horrors! A Plague of Bible Reading!” Of course, he goes on to add, “I’m sure it will shock everyone around that I disagree.”

Jody Neufeld at Jody’s Devotionals offers “Devoted to God” as one of a series of devotionals on the earliest days of the church. Some challenges there for those of us (yes, I’ll admit it) who like to say that we’d like to see more of a return to the early days of the Church.

Tom Gilson at Thinking Christian serves up a response to a response to William Lane Craig’s Christianity Today cover article on apologetics with “Religion Dispatches: Rumors of God’s Death are Greatly Exaggerated.”

Heath Countryman at Esprit d’escalier discusses being “A Telemarketer For God” and presents the thought that evaluating a Christian’s life might be a bit more than simply keeping score.

At Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength, Weekend Fisher shares an ancient Jewish story about “Animals Too Large for Noah’s Ark.”

Lastly, I put up a post entitled “Wrestling,” which starts with a story about a Quaker wrestler during the Second World War and winds up having something to do with the relationship between modern and just war.

Although outside the date range for this week, I’m following Parableman’s lead from May and including these posts:

Eaglewings at A View from the Nest offers “Black and Whites,” and discusses the need to remain true to convictions and beliefs.

Christian PF at Christian Personal Finance asks the question, “Is buying the iPhone a sin?” and offers a video of one individual who has a very strong opinion about that very point.

So, there we have it. Next week, the Carnival will be hosted at Everyday Liturgy, and if you’re interested in submitting a post, please click here. Thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s Carnival, thanks to Jeremy for giving me a shot at hosting, and thanks to everyone taking the time to read this.

If I’ve somehow missed your post, please let me know and I’ll do my best to fix it.