What topics do you want to discuss on the blog?
This week is a bit different. Instead of discussing a topic we select, we want to hear what you guys are interested in discussing. While we love talking and praying through the things to discuss, we recognize the danger of being trapped in our own Christian bubbles and missing very important topics. So what do you want to discuss? If you want, we can set you up as a "Contributor" and you can write the next post yourself. Personally, I believe the more the merrier. The more diverse the perspectives we hear, as crazy as they may sound to one or some of us, the better -- each of us has a background/experiences/wisdom that will challenge and refine us as we seek Truth. (On that note, if you have friends who might be interested in the blog, please share it with them...several of you have asked and, yes, we would love to hear from all kinds of different people. Just let me know if they want to get the weekly email.)
The intent of the blog, as noted at the top of the page, is twofold: 1) To destroy the idol of money and restore Jesus to His rightful throne in each of our lives, and 2) To encourage men to change our communities and maybe the world to the glory of God through the way we do business. So, generally, we talk about how to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do as we make and spend money. That said, we will obviously veer off the business/money course to tackle a specific issue here or there. So what do you want to discuss? Some ideas might include:
The intent of the blog, as noted at the top of the page, is twofold: 1) To destroy the idol of money and restore Jesus to His rightful throne in each of our lives, and 2) To encourage men to change our communities and maybe the world to the glory of God through the way we do business. So, generally, we talk about how to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do as we make and spend money. That said, we will obviously veer off the business/money course to tackle a specific issue here or there. So what do you want to discuss? Some ideas might include:
- The environment
- Politics/politicians
- "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words"
- In depth look at Proverbs or the life of Daniel
- Giving to the church vs. missionaries vs. nonprofits
- Is saving and/or retirement Biblical?
- Marketing/advertising in general and based on religion, sexual orientation, etc.
- Spiritual implications of globalization
- Debt
- Obesity
- Genetically modified food, cloned animals, and/or humane treatment of animals
- Corporate giving and/or community involvement
I'd better stop. What do you want to discuss? All ideas are welcome...feel free to post anonymously if you'd like.
PS -- if you know how to develop websites, let us know. We have been talking about moving someday to a different format where people can post articles, websites, etc.
posted by Matthew at 10:32 PM
11 Comments:
Have you guys heard about the Kroger pharmacist that refused to sell the Morning After pill to a customer and was reprimanded? The official statement by the Kroger spokeswoman was: "Our role as a pharmacy operator is to furnish medication in accordance with the doctor's prescription or as requested by a patient." Seems like a possible topic.
I'm doing my taxes right now and got to thinking about charitable deductions. Honestly, I think they are counter-productive. They were intended to encourage people to give more, to reward people for generosity, but the expectation of a monetary reward defeats the intention of true generosity. It encourages us to give because we will receive. That is certainly not Biblical. I think if we eliminated any "reward" for generosity people would have to search their hearts for their true motive. The idealist in me says that will increase the dollars given (not to mention the spiritual impact of being charged to truly sacrifice) because the call to give will go deeper with a few instead of "a mile wide and an inch deep." Here's for a call to repeal charitable contribution deductions. I would love to discuss that.
This article has nothing to do with picking a new topic but it does focus on some of the topics we have been discussing.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/CostcoTheAntiWalMart.aspx?page=1
It talks about Costco and how they use some strategies that are opposite to how Wal-Mart operates and how Costco is still making a profit. Costco may not practice this type of business to be Godly but it still an example of a big corporation that doesn't cut all costs in the name of profit margin.
The USA Today had an article recently about the importance of religious education: http://usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-03-07-teaching-religion-cover_N.htm
That could be an interesting topic I haven't thought much about. The article also questions the spiritual implications of placing a heavy emphasis on math and reading. I'm sure there are some teachers out there who could enlighten us.
i think we should talk about greed.
i'm always down for talking about consumerism, too.
Topics: church vs. state and how they need to coexist and not fight against eachother. Education was originally designed so that people could learn to read the Bible and now it is forbidden to read one in a public school. separation of church and state was that the gov. wouldn't interfere with the church not to protect the gov form church.
From a letter written by our friend James Dobson calling for the resignation of Rich Cizik, the National Association of Evangelicals' environmental lobbyist:
"More importantly, we have observed that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children."
Three points (at least) we could discuss: 1) Is climate change real? A lot of big time scientists say the changes are totally consistent with historical trends. 2) Why is climate change the only environmental issue we talk about? 3) More importantly, why do "evangelicals" make abortion and gay marriage the only issues we should talk about? Are we incapable of discussing more than 2 issues?
I read two stories about Muslims that might be topics. In one, Muslim cab drivers refused to drive passengers with alcohol because to do so would be participating in sin (according to them). In the other, Muslims at grocery stores refused to handle, scan or bag pork because a strict interpretation of the Koran prohibits the handling of pork. Should they be forced to do these things? Should we have convictions this strong as Christians?
How about this, in regard to politics:
Should we as Christians be obligated to support a certain candidate because he/she claims to be a believer?
Let's say Bush had one more eligible term. Would it be wrong as a fellow believer to vote for Hilary or Obama instead of Bush?
to add to the last comment ... the Catholic Church explicitly stated that voting for Kerry last election would be committing an act of sin due to his condoning of abortion. Did the Catholic church go too far?
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