Part Two in a series written by Denis Haack of Ransom Fellowship addressing the problem on how to live faithfully in a culture largely ignorant of God. The following is a portion of his article "A Model for Faithfulness" (originally posted at www.ransomfellowship.org - used by permission). ~Travis Stewart A Model for Faithfulness The Babylon Series, Part 2 ~Denis Haack Where Evangelicals Are Today At the time of the First Great Awakening (1735-1743), ...

In the winter of 2001 I had a choice to make; either I take a one week class in New Testament Greek, continuing my work on a Master's of Divinity degree or switch degree programs and sign up for a class called Movies and Theology taught by Denis Haack. Considering that I didn't feel called to ordained ministry and having parsed my quota of Greek verbs I choose to learn the language of film over the language of the ancients (after all, I figured, I know a lot of guys I ...

~ Craig Detweiler ~Is it just me or has American Idol lost its mojo? Maybe the altering of the judges booth tipped a rather fragile balance. For all her loopiness, perhaps Paula Abdul was the perfect foil for Simon Cowell’s scowl. Despite her alleged expertise, Karla Diogardi has never struck my fancy. (And isn’t a bit too early in the celebrity cycle to already sell herself out by posing naked for Allure?) While Ellen DeGeneres is a delightful person, as a judge, ...

~ by Craig Detweiler ~ How strange to see the battle over a comedy show devolve into tragedy. Yet the Leno versus Conan debate reflects an underexplored generation gap. One more baby boomer refusing to retire, blocking the path to a patient (but ultimately frustrated) Gen Xer. NBC’s late night talk show drama has echoes of royal succession plans (with all the accompanying skullduggery). Only five hosts have occupied The Tonight Show throne. When Johnny Carson was tapped to replace Jack Paar, he was under contract with ABC. It took a couple of months to make room for Carson, who ...

Painted Red JJ Heller ©2008 JJ Heller ~ I first met singer/songwriter JJ Heller and her husband Dave about two years ago when they performed a chapel service at Remuda Ranch. I was immediately drawn to their unpretentious songwriting and honest lyrical sense. They also generously donated the song "True Things" to the True Campaign, a non-profit I co-founded with the goal of challenging cultural standards of beauty and helping those struggling with disordered eating ...

Many people consider TV shows and movies good bad based on the amount of violence, sex or language present. In recent years several films have challenged this notion. The Passion of the Christ was embraced by many Christians despite its R rating while the Harry Potter films (rated PG) were rejected due to perceptions of occult material. Can we judge entertainment so easily? I don't think so. I believe we need to develop skills of discernment and eyes to see beyond the surface issues. In this article (thanks to Craig Dunham for finding this) in Time magazine author Nancy Gibbs provides ...