Death into Life – Rob Bell

Another Rob Bell NOOMA videa.

Saying “I’m sorry” is saying “no” to our false self or who we want others to see us as.  It’s tearing down the facade of perfection, allowing vulnerability.

 

The Year of Living Like Jesus

I’m currently reading through “The Year of Living Like Jesus”- My journey of discovering what Jesus would really do – by Ed Dobson.  He wrote the book after hearing A.J. Jacobs on NPR talking about his book “The Year of Living Biblically”.

So far I’ve been struck by a couple things.  First, Dobson brings up the outrage some in the Christian community express when a courthouse or other public place refuses to display the Ten Commandments.  He thinks it somewhat humorous that petitions would be signed and marches organized, when most every Christian breaks one of the Ten Commandments every week – the whole “keeping the Sabbath” thing.  Is that a valid point?  Are we just cherry picking the Commandments that are easiest to keep?  Shouldn’t we be more concerned with keeping the Ten Commandments instead of displaying them?

Secondly, prayers and liturgy.  I’ve kinda grown up thinking that all prayers should be spontaneous and free-flowing, otherwise it wasn’t really me talking to God.  I didn’t often read a prayer, write a prayer or much less recite an ancient prayer.  Dobson addresses this when after growing up with said “free-flowing prayers…I soon realized that most people generally said the same thing over and over again.  Even though we were against liturgical prayers, our free-flowing prayers ended up being pretty liturgical themselves.”

I’ve really enjoyed the last couple years at Vox Dei and stepping out of a comfort zone I didn’t really know I had.  There is something about the liturgy and ancient prayers that calms me and reminds me that I don’t have it all figured out.  I don’t have all the right things to say.  Millions of people for hundreds of years have said the same prayers and they didn’t have it all figured out.  There is a measure of freedom in that.

 

9 Anti-Vaccine Studies and Responses

 I humbly concede that I do not have it all figured out by any means, but I do appreciate an article that will look at research articles from both sides while holding to the premise that this is not a black and white issue.

 

There was big news last week in the heated debate about whether childhood vaccines cause autism. The 1998 study in The Lancet, which largely launched the vaccine-autism imbroglio, has been officially retracted. Its lead author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, has also been discredited by Britain’s independent regulator of doctors for his “unethical” and “dishonest” actions in conducting the pulled study.

But Wakefield’s deeply flawed paper is not the only study that has fueled the anti-vaccination movement. Led by celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy, the movement continues to vehemently oppose mainstream science’s overwhelming consensus that vaccines do not cause developmental disorders.

Some of these papers championed by the anti-vaccination camp have serious problems of their own. Others muddy the waters or hint at conspiratorial efforts by governmental health organizations and vaccine-profiteering pharmaceutical companies to hide the truth about autism’s genesis.

Here’s a look at several of the key studies that the anti-vaccination movement has either embraced or lambasted in furthering its perspective. These studies have already fueled the controversy and will likely remain at the epicenter of future clashes over vaccine safety

Continue reading full article 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health_medicine/4345610.html?page=1

 

Silence

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.”  - Henry Nouwen

 

The Lost Generation

 

Missional Church

A 2 minute video Rustin shared with us describing the difference between traditional church and a missiona church.

 

Fuzzy Math

Check out this site, has a video and multiple pics showing how they made this with common household objects.

 

Could I get some bacon with that?

 

Remarkable drunk driver

Impressive video

 

Oops

You ever accidentally tell the wrong family their loved one just died?  So last night in the ER, we had two patients come in about the same time, both of the same gender and nationality, but maybe 30 years apart in age.

Patient A, roughly a 70 year old female, was here for cardio-pulmonary arrest (heart and lungs stopped working for some reason).  Patient B, a 40 year old female, was here for low back pain, although she did have some sort of cancer.

Patient A ended up dying despite our best efforts to save her.  The ER doctor went out to the waiting room to break the bad news to the family.  Through a comedy of errors, patient B’s family was accidentally rounded up and prepared for the doctors announcement.  The doctor then double checked by asking “are you Mrs Patient A’s family?”.  They (incorrectly) replied “yes, we are”.  Well, imagine their surprise when they found out their family member died from a severe backache!

After much screaming, crying, gnashing of teeth, and tearing of clothes (literally), it was realized that their family member wasn’t dead, in fact, she was very much alive, although her back was still a little sore.  The doctor  had to then go find the correct family and tell them the bad news (this time he was much more polished from the previous delivery).

Not quite the ol’ amputating of the wrong leg during surgery, but pretty close!