I first bumped into Greg early in my Sonlight blogging career because someone linked to one of his anti-homeschool posts. Interested in hearing his dissenting opinion, I was even more pleased to discover that he was a huge anti-creationist as well.
I've been happily following him ever since.
And honestly, if you can get beyond the language that slips in--and pours out in the comments--it is fascinating to browse his posts. Like the one from yesterday about a common Christian lie. You've heard the chalk story, yes?
I've seen it pop up now and again across the blogosphere. It seems that people, and we Christians are no exception, really love to hear tales about how our side "wins" in this or that situation. But the Snopes article says it well, I think.
Chalk this one up as a charming parable, one not grounded in the facts as reported. It's David and Goliath in a classroom setting, the shaking-in-his-boots student taking on the ogre of non-belief in the form of a fearsome professor.
And I think it is important to keep this parable in the back of our minds as we listen to other things. What other lies are out there that we may be in danger of spreading?
Homeschooling allows us the unique opportunity to walk through these topics with our children. May we use these opportunities well!
Now, for something lighter from Greg: A very fun video about Auto-Tune. I know I've heard the sound before, but I didn't know the history. And, come on... this video has Weird Al in it. [NB: Obligatory notice: The video contains some pop-rapper-type video clips that contain women in typical pop-rapper-type apparel.]
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father
"You just go, 'Oh, wow, well praise God for that... how niiice' and move on." Mrs. C, as usual, you make me smile. But I don't think the problem is even how many people believe this stuff is literally true, but that people pass it off as truth. Granted, every religion has it's wackos, but I thought this was an interesting example of something I hadn't thought too much about but know it's out there.
Thomas, great point. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you around more!
Oh how true it is, Mary Grace, that people are out there trying to help Jesus. More than that, we should focus on being like Him! Unfortunately, I too often am not.
Butter, from what research I've done into Mormonism, you are spot on: There are several sects/branches/denominations/what-have-yous of Mormonism. And, as I said above: There are wackos in all religious groups.
~Luke
Gotta clear something up for Mrs. C. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are NOT and have NEVER BEEN Mormons. They are not in any way associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, generally referred to as The Mormons, which is a CHRISTIAN religion. Two different churches, similar name. Please don't slander.
Surely I've gotten this one as a forward. At least, I assume I have. I wouldn't know--I usually delete those well-meaning Christian forwards before I even open them.
Sad, but true: too many people are happy to pump out shiny, happy lies for Jesus. As if He needs the help.
It may be a bit harsh to characterize this as lying for God. Urban legends like this one are for the most part sincerely believed by the person telling it. Once you learn to identify the flavor of these stories, though, you become a lot more skeptical when you hear them and you tend not to repeat them to others.
Greg Laden is just crazy. You know, this is kinda like trotting out the recent molestation news and saying that it's because of Christians and their wacko beliefs. (I actually saw this on a blog today! I had to tell the moron posting it that Mormons are NOT CHRISTIANS. Um, not that I think the Mormon church was in on the whole sick thing with this ONE group of nutty guys... but I know so little of the church in question that I couldn't very well argue the theology.)
And how many Christians do you know who really believe stories like this? It's the sort of thing, indeed, that feeble-minded people like to discuss in the church foyer as fact. You just go, "Oh, wow, well praise God for that... how niiice" and move on. You've done your good deed for the day by humouring them and not making a big stink in front of the visitors.
:/