Samantha Pierce

I don't know if this is part of the Christian symbolism series or not but it's really interesting. "The Second of February (variously called Candlemas, Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Presentation of the Lord), 40 days after Christmas, is the old end of the Christmas Season and marks the day when the the Virgin Mary received the Jewish purification ritual and presented her firstborn Son to God in the Temple of Jerusalem."

Here's an update I recieved last week from a mission in Sri Lanka (the same one I mentioned here ). Greetings from Sri Lanka, All is well here on this one month anniversary of the tsunami -- can't believe that much time has passed. We have developed a nice routine -- our Sri Lankan brothers and sisters in Christ have been hosting a men's Bible study and children's "VBS" in the late afternoon as the clinic is winding down. JC has been overseeing the public health teaching for the camp, and over 100 people showed up. We are trying to prepare the camp for our departure next week. Each evening we all -- Sri Lankans and Americans-- have supper together followed by devotions and prayer. We are planning some home visits in the camp during the remainder of our time here. We saw quite a few people from the camp on Monday and Tuesday, but today most of the patients were from neighboring towns, which so far is not presenting problems but has the potential t...

I probably shouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole but I've been known to do things that I shouldn't. Christians are some of the most contentious people I have ever met. I don't quite get the current fire-storm take a look and maybe you can figure it out. These are just a few of the posts involved in this mess (there are trackbacks too). World Magazine: heresy by implication (1/26/05, I think this started it) Delinking (1/27/05) Blogrolling Backlash (1/29/05, illustrated) Christian factions in the blogosphere (1/29/05) Herding Cats- The explosive movement in Evangelical blogosphere (1/29/05) I really don't care one way or the other. I consider myself to be at the fringe of the Christian blogdom. Given this mess I am happy to remain there. But one thing I must address. At some point someone complains about the new Decablog *. The implication seems to be that there is some favouritism or exclusionary action going on here. The secret to the Decablog li...

What's that you ask? Well click here to find out. Hubby and I are trying to figure out how we can get there and what to do with the kiddies if we both go. Since we are in blog poverty I may have to put up a tip jar or something and start blegging. The idea of the GodBlogCon is about a week old but it's picking up steam.

I'll add my voice to those of these fine folk in saying that complaining about the coat Dick Cheney wore this week during the holocaust remembrance ceremony at Auschwitz was bloody stupid. Peg at what if? has a great post about the matter. It is not for those who are easily shaken by the horrors of the holocaust. Honestly, there has got to be something wrong with you to carp about someone's clothes at an event like that. When confronted with reminders of Auschwitz , Dachau , Buchenwald , and countless other places the last thing I think of is who wore what when.

Vatican praises woman who died after refusing cancer treatment that required abortion VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Tuesday praised an Italian woman who died after refusing cancer treatment that would have required her to have an abortion. Rita Fedrizzi was died this week, three months after giving birth to a baby boy. "She was aware that if she gave birth she wouldn't have had any hope of surviving," the Vatican newspaper wrote. "Despite that she went through with her choice, the choice of welcoming new life even at the cost of her own death." I would make the same choice in a heartbeat. Pray for this woman's family as they grieve over her loss and celebrate the gift of life she gave to her son. Via World Magazine blog

Alright here we go. Slacker that I am I forgot to do this last night. Lately I've been thankful for: Warm clothes and lots of them. Being one day closer to spring. The humidifier. Friends who lend a helping hand. The grace and mercy of omnipotent God BadgerMum is also thankful . What are you thankful for?

I never bother to talk about evolution because people on all sides of the issue tend to get real twitchy when you start to question whatever theory they adhere to. Veins start bulging, the nervous eye ticks start going, and well, things just generally get ugly. So I don't discuss theories of evolution with Christians, theists, agnostics, or atheists. People just can't seem to behave themselves when talking about it. Some Christians seem to go off the deep end arguing that the earth is only a few thousand years old, all references to days in the Genesis creation account mean 24 hour periods, and anyone who doesn't believe likewise isn't really Christian. Don't get them started on carbon and radiological dating. Then there are the insultingly smug scientist/philosopher wannabes who carry on about dumb bible thumping fundies afraid to come out of the woods and what not. Always ready with the canned assumptions and accusations of ignorance and wanting to take everyone ...

One of the bloggers on World Magazine's blog made this unfortunate remark about the TNIV translation of the Bible, "Considering the TNIV’s gender-inclusive language, Rolling Stone’s anti-Christian agenda may yet realize some fruit." We *are* only talking about a translation. Is it really wise to make the claim that a mere translation of God's word somehow goes against Christianity? I don't think so and neither does hubby .`

Hello loyal readers! I've a post in the works about evolution prompted by this and this . Should be done by tomorrow evening.

I received this email last week. Names of people and places have been omitted because I'm just paranoid. Encourage your friends and family members and those within our churches to pray specifically for the electoral process. Historically, the previous totalitarian regime would not allow individual citizens to vote. Democracy will not be realized in Iraq if intelligent and competent officials are not elected to those strategic leadership positions within the emerging government; freedom will not have an opportunity to ring throughout this country if the voting process fails. Announce this prayer request to your contacts throughout your churches, neighborhoods, and places of business. Those with leadership roles within the local church post this message in as many newsletters and bulletins as possible. There is unlimited potential for God's presence in this process but if we do not pray then our enemy will prevail (See Ephesians 6:10-17) A prayer vigil prior to the end of ...

Is up at Sidesspot . There are a few posts in it marking the upcoming anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision.

Via Instapundit . Blogger Ali responds to Boxer's repeating of the trollish supposition that he may be a CIA agent among other things. Very classy. I'll be adding him to my blogroll. (previous Instapundit posts about this are linked to here .)

" This is a fun one, because it tends to disturb the squeaky-clean "niceness" that has unfortunately become identified with modern-day Christianity. " Uh huh, freaky.

It's been a long day. I think I'll have to start writing these posts up on Wednesday night and post them in the morning before I run out the door. Anyway, I'm thankful for: Not crashing the car in the snow (there's at least 6 inches on the ground now). The anti-lock brakes and traction control that helped keep me from crashing the car in the snow. Getting to bible study early enough to get a parking spot in the driveway. Chocolate and almond biscotti with semi-sweet dark chocolate on the bottom and hot orange tea. The best breakfast I've had in a long time. Hot gooey brownies. Friends to share a cup of tea with. A working furnace. The chance to sit in on Ethan's class today. Ethan's teachers and therapists. This exchange as reported by one of Ethan's teachers. Teacher: Oops! I dropped your jacket! Ethan: It's a coat. Internet access! The chance to wander around the grocery store all by myself . I got this post published on ...

Blogger keeps having brain farts. It has eaten every post I've tried to make today. I just got done reconstructing my last one. We'll see what it does to this one. Figures. This is the first one that went through on the first try all day. But the update didn't. I guess I'll be backing up everything I write today in a separate file. Grrrr.

Instapundit has been following yet another mainstream media scandal. One Sarah Boxer of the New York Times wrote an article in which she speculated that some Iraqi bloggers might be CIA operatives. Here's what Instapundit has so far. The one that started it. The next one. Some fall out. More fall out. Instapundit's most recent post. Arthur Chrenkoff round up. Claiming that Iraqi bloggers that are not anti-American must be CIA operatives or part of some elaborate psy-ops scheme is not new. When I first started reading Iraqi blogs more than a year ago someone would make the claim at least once in every other post I read. It was usually trolls looking to stir up trouble who made such claims. (They also said things like, "Your English is too good to be an Iraqi!") After a few months the accusations got pretty tired. That a journalist would repeat such claims...well, that's not really very surprising any more.

I was too timid to call Senator Barbara Boxer a partisan hack after her performance at Dr. Rice's confirmation hearing yesterday but La Shawn Barber wasn't . I don’t like Barbara Boxer, and not because she’s a liberal. That can be excused. I don’t like her because she’s a misinformed, envious partisan hack who hates the country that allows her the freedom to run for political office despite being a misinformed, envious partisan hack. I’d like to see Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Boxer in a real debate, not what passes for one in the halls of the United States Congress. Rice would intellectually eviscerate and pulverize her. What are the ethical implications I wonder of first saying that an individual is qualified for a particular job and that you have no doubt that that person will get that job and then proceeding to accuse that person of being unethical? I'm convinced that the real test of a person's appropriateness for public office these days is how well a person manag...

Fr Jim Tucker of Dappled Things has started a new series describing some of the symbols we find in Christianity. His post announcing the series is...well read it for yourself . It has been fascinating to read so far. I think it helps to flesh out the faith of any Christian who is not already familiar with the symbols he highlights. Christian Symbolism 1: The Fish Christian Symbolism 2: IHS Christian Symbolism 3: The Pelican Christian Symbolism 4: Alpha and Omega (I knew this one.) Enjoy!

From Healing Iraq The United Iraqi Coalition is almost frantic in its election campaigning. Their posters and banners are all over Baghdad which makes me wonder how it is in the south. Their slogans are scrawled on every wall in town, and of course you have the obligatory picture of Sistani stamped on every poster with the words: "vote for the choice of the Marji'iya . The fatal mistake of boycotting the elections by Sunni Iraqis is going to make that easier. The Sunnis have been acting like spoiled unhappy children when things don't go their way. They start breaking up things and threaten to mess everything up. 'Either I play or I burn down the playground,' as we say here. The threat of civil war and factional violence is a very real one. No matter what government results from elections, Sunnis would deem it illegitimate and the violence or the 'burning down of the playground' will continue. Two Shi'ite mosques have been attacked over the last ...