<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!-- generator="WordPress/abc" -->
<rss version="0.92">
<channel>
	<title>joejohnston ● us</title>
	<link>http://joejohnston.us</link>
	<description>Sola scriptura ● Sola fide ● Sola gratia ● Solus Christus ● Soli Deo gloria.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:18:58 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	
	<item>
		<title>Trade Your Bible in for Porn &#8211; Scorn!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Speaking of shrill, an atheist student group has set up a table on the campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio.  Their project name is “Smut for Smut.”  If you turn in your Bible (which they consider smut), they will give you some real smut (a pornographic magazine).
Here’s the rationale in a quote [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/03/06/trade-your-bible-in-for-porn-scorn/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Are You Guilty of Being Obsolete?  Prosecutor, The State &#8211; Part 1</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Almost 60 years ago, on a popular TV show, The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling presented a dystopian tale entitled “The Obsolete Man.”  The broadcast in 1961 occurred in the middle of the Cold War – two plus months after the failed Bay of Pigs attempted invasion of Cuba, two plus months before the border between [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/03/05/obsolete-1/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Sometimes a Miracle Is Just a Miracle &#8211;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Some people see a miracle in everything.  In truth, this is not a bad approach in terms of appreciating..  Claiming the miraculous for every single thing sometimes strains credibility.  But if there is something that is difficult to explain, it might be a miracle.  Sometimes proving something is not a miracle can be more ludicrous [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/02/16/sometimes-a-miracle-is-just-a-miracle/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Tim Tebow, Super Bowl, Prior Restraint Didn’t Work – Now What?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

 


The Tebow Family Tackles (sorry I couldn’t help it) the Super Bowl
In spite of all the snarling, whining, and threatening, CBS aired the ad sponsored by Focus on the Family featuring Pam (mother) and Tim (son) Tebow.  Pam Tebow talked about her “miracle baby,” how hard it was, and how she still worried about “little [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/02/08/tebow-super-bowl/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Tim Tebow, Super Bowl and Prior Restraint &#8211; Part 2</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On Monday, we scampered down the road of women’s groups trying to act as censors.  In that post, it was noted that the arguments for censoring were not only flawed, but bordered on mere excuses that would not hold up unless you were committed to their point of view.  Another quote to bring home the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/02/03/tim-tebow-super-bowl-and-prior-restraint-part-2/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Tim Tebow, Super Bowl, and Prior Restraint &#8211; How Quaint!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[How quaint.  I wrote about Banned Book Week in October when Marian, the Librarian proclaimed an entire week to rail against the evils of censorship.  During that same week, non-Christians worldwide celebrated International Blasphemy Day supposedly as a protest to censorship, but really bordering on “hate-speech” against the Christian God.  Even the founder of the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/02/01/tim-tebow-super-bowl-and-prior-restraint/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>I Saw a Christian Christmas Play That Terrified Me!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Children’s Christmas Pageants are supposed to be uplifting.  They usually embrace some kind of definition of the spirit of Christmas – Christian or secular.  This can take the form of a telling or reliving of the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus or some version of a secular Christmas tale.
In December, our church did [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/01/13/christmas-play-that-terrified/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Merry Xmas &#8211; I Mean, chi mas, I mean &#935;&#961;&#953;&#963;&#964;ό&#962; mas, I mean Christmas &#8211; Part 2 &#8212; And Happy New Year!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In the last post, the meaning of Xmas was discussed.  As it turns out, Xmas is not an attempt to take Christ out of Christmas, but the Greek letter chi standing for Christ.  We then talked a bit about the usual anti-Christmas stuff that goes on.  The premise was that God, the Creator of the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2010/01/02/merry-xmas-part-2/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Merry Xmas &#8211; I Mean, chi mas, I mean &#935;&#961;&#953;&#963;&#964;ό&#962; mas, I mean Christmas &#8211; Part 1</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Many people get themselves in an uproar when someone uses the abbreviation Xmas.  To them, it symbolizes the effort to remove the Christ from Christmas – if not to obliterate Christian overtones to the holiday.  And clearly, there are those who use Xmas with that intention.
It seems legitimate for committed Christians to get exacerbated about [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/12/22/merry-xmas-i-mean-chi-mas-i-mean-%cf%8c-mas-i-mean-christmas-part-1/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Happy Holidays &#8211; I mean Merry Christmas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The holiday season is upon us.  It does start earlier and earlier each year – at least in the stores.  In the good old days, you didn’t see Christmas decorations until Thanksgiving.  You didn’t see Halloween stuff in the stores until October.  Well, it’s a lot different now.
The store displays relating to holidays are now [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/12/17/happy-holidays-i-mean-merry-christmas/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Do You Remember March 31, 2005?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On March 31, 2005 Terry Schiavo died.  If you don’t remember the name Schiavo, maybe you’ll remember that there was a nationwide controversy surrounding her husband’s efforts to pull the plug.
This case – probably mostly forgotten – was a high point for “the culture of death” and a low point for prolife and disability advocates.
But [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/11/27/do-you-remember-march-31-2005/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>How Could The Day Get Past Me</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On Monday, November 23, 2009, I thought about November 22, 1963.  The entire Sunday, the date never entered my mind.  This is the first time in 45 years that I haven’t thought about the Kennedy  assassination on November 22.  I have noted with each passing year, however,  the media coverage shrinking.
I am a little mad [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/11/24/how-could-the-day-get-past-me/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Fortress of &#8220;Everybody Agrees With Me&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[What’s the biggest social problem facing the western culture?  Is it poverty and class warfare?  Is it overpopulation?  Is it economic inequality?  Maybe it’s secularization or religion.  Perhaps it’s militancy.  Not sure what the biggest problem is, but a very big problem has to do with the “polarization of ideas.”
It appears one of the biggest [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/11/23/the-fortress-agrees/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Your Category &#8211; Your Afterlife &#8211; Your Choice</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s pretty clear everyone has an opinion about the afterlife.  These opinions range from “there is none” to very elaborate envisioning of the future.
This is not always a favorite topic – especially if it seems very far off.  If you are an atheist and to some degree an agnostic, this question causes little concern.  Death [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/11/12/your-category-your-afterlife-your-choice/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Berlin Wall &#8211; Can You See It As Wrong?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s pretty unlikely that you’ve spent a lot of time thinking or talking about either Communism or Eastern Europe.  We don’t even use the term “Red China” much anymore.  Most twenty-somethings probably don’t even know that much about Communism apart from their college years.  They also don’t know how worldview colors so many other things [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/11/09/the-berlin-wall-wrong/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Do You Have Your Worldview, Philosophy and Religion in Synch?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I met a Hindu at a steakhouse the other day.  I was a little surprised.  He said he didn’t worry too much about eating his uncle. Then I went to a Chinese restaurant full of Jewish people eating pork lo mein with parmesan cheese.  I met both a Communist atheist and a Communist Christian.  I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/11/05/do-you-have-your-worldview-philosophy-and-religion-in-synch/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Sometimes a Piece of Sci-Fi is Just a Piece of Sci-Fi: There&#8217;s a Pundit Behind Every Flying Saucer</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Freud was all about one thing meaning or symbolizing something else.  So much so that it was alleged that his incessant cigar smoking was about something quite different.  He defended himself by saying “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
It has been documented that Freud smoked around 20 cigars per day.  That would mean he [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/11/04/sci-fi-is-just-sci-fi/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Parents (Teachers): You Have Responsibilities, Few Rights, and Not Much Power &#8211; Part 2</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In part 1, we hypothesized that both parents’ and teachers’ effectiveness has been undermined by significant and long-term efforts to disempower both groups.  We stated that this disempowerment did not diminish the responsibilities heaped upon teachers and parents nor ameliorate subsequent blame.  In fact, blame directed at teachers and parents  has increased.  We further hypothesized [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/10/27/parents-teachers-you-have-responsibilities-few-rights-and-not-much-power-part-2/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Parents (Teachers):  You have Responsibilities, Few Rights, and Not Much Power &#8211; Part 1.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I just retired – as of this school year – from approximately 31 years of teaching.  I haven’t retired from 25+ years of parenting.  Being a parent and a teacher causes a strange kind of schizophrenia including multiple personality (dis)order (for those of you who are running or 35 watts, this is hyperbole).  Think like [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/10/14/parents-teachers-part-1/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Top 10 (Or More) Reasons Your Church Might Be a Christless Church</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s a great concern today that the modern evangelical church has, at best, marginalized Jesus Christ in the church or, at worst, kicked him out completely.  Below are some “Top 10” (or more) lists on the topic  These are not necessarily in order of importance.



Your pastor wears Hawaiian shirts, jeans, and no shoes. (see my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/10/13/top-10-reasons-christless-church/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Laureate of &#8220;huh&#8221; &#8211; Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize</title>
		<description><![CDATA[(This one has to be in the first person, folks.)
My first reaction was “huh” followed quickly by “oh brother” and “for what?” …. But I think we have all gotten used to the “moral intelligentsia” superimposing greatness on their chosen ones.
President Obama was inaugurated on January 20.  The nominations for the Nobel Peace must be [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/10/10/laureate-of-huh-obama-and-the-nobel-peace-prize/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Banned Book Week:  Propagandized and Lied to by Marian the Librarian, Part 2</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In part 1, we argued that Banned Book Week was fundamentally misleading.


We defined “banned” and questioned whether banning was actually a real problem in the United States.


We questioned the lumping of “banned” with “challenged” books as a challenge was not fundamentally in itself a problem.


We stipulated that “banning” in America, if it occurred, could be [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/10/09/banned-book-week-propagandized-and-lied-to-by-marian-the-librarian-part-2/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Banned Book Week:  Propagandized and Lied to by Marian the Librarian, Part 1</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week was Banned Book Week.  This celebration, sponsored by a consortium of organizations including American Library Association,  wants people to realize that others challenge the availability of books.  The specter of “banning” and “censorship” causes a certain emotional reaction – bringing up pictures of wild-eyed mobs with torches or the “Fire Department” of Fahrenheit [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/10/08/banned-book-week-coldcocked-and-lied-to-by-marian-the-librarian-part-1/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>CFI Founder Paul Kurtz Blasts CFI&#8217;s Sponsorship of International Blasphemy Day</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It wasn’t surprising to see the religious not too thrilled with yesterday’s International Blasphemy Day.  Yet it was notable that the founder of the Center For Inquiry, Paul Kurtz lambasted the organization regarding activities of Blasphemy Day.  An excerpt follows (emphasis added):

The celebrating of &#8220;Blasphemy Day&#8221; by the Center for Inquiry by sponsoring a contest encouraging new [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/10/01/paul-kurtz-blasts-cfi/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Happy International Blasphemy Day (Well, maybe not so happy.)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today, September 30, is the first  International Blasphemy Day.  It’s a day to regale in blasphemy.  Think about it:  atheists, agnostics, self-proclaimed intellectual elite, godless liberals, college students and unbelievers everywhere can spend the day blaspheming the God they don’t really believe is there.  Seems paradoxical. 
The reason (excuse?) for the day is fighting for free speech [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/09/30/blasphemy-day/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Church Is NOT Full of Hypocrites &#8211; Unless You Decide to Join</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
hyp⋅o⋅crite
1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.
Origin: 
1175–1225; [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/09/24/hypocrites/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Does Your Pastor Wear Shoes to Church?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Tim Challies had an interesting post,  I&#8217;ve Never Been Mistaken for Brad Pitt, about the problems with “regular” pastors evaluating themselves against so-called celebrity preachers.  This is compounded by the availability of inordinate numbers of preachers on the internet.
This got me to a thinking ……..
What is a celebrity pastor?  Is it the guys who rove [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/09/22/pastor-wear-shoes/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Talk Like a Pirate &#8211; Arrrrggghhhhh</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ahoy!
Tomorrow will be natter like a pirate day.  Do ye reckon pirates really nattered this way? Even if they didn&#8217;.  Itr fun, once in awhile, t&#8217; natter like a pirate.
I prefer t&#8217; comic-like pirate like ye saw on Peter Pan.  Th&#8217; Croc &#8216;n Captain Hook were classic.  Lot&#8217;s o&#8217; fun, mate.
So put on yer eyepatch.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/09/18/talk-like-a-pirate-arrrrggghhhhh/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>If They Have Self-Esteem &#8211; Everything&#8217;s Possible &#8211; Maybe</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You know when something doesn’t feel right, right?&#160; When my boys were in Little League and soccer during their elementary years, a couple things would happen.&#160; Everybody would get a trophy.&#160; They would ask what the final score was and nobody would answer.
Even in school, things that didn’t make sense happened.&#160; Everybody would get a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/09/15/if-they-have-self-esteem-everythings-possible-maybe/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>9/11 &#8211; We Can&#8217;t Ever Forget</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I was standing outside of a classroom where I used to be an educator of sorts waiting to help a teacher administer an important beginning-of-the-year reading test.  A teacher across the hall looking rather pale said to me that something terrible was happening.  She lead me to her computer.  There was a one line news [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://joejohnston.us/2009/09/11/911/</link>
			</item>
</channel>
</rss>
