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I talk/think about engaging culture, these guys talk to people.

On the flip side, I keep hearing about how important it is to build a relationship with people that one witnesses to. I guess it could be that people are called to different things.

What do you think of street evangelism? It seems like something Paul might do in Acts.

Update: I think this comment by Nathan Creitz on Cultural Engagement? « Larry Temple - Cross, Crown, and Covenant: 4 days ago is quite on target (I hope he doesn't mind me quoting his entire comment! ;)

Hey Larry,

I think we are mostly agreeing. My point is primarily that we go to two extremes sometimes. There are the lazy Christians who rarely do anything to engage culture and they just hope their lives are interesting enough to invite questions from unbelievers. Then there are those who turn people off to Christianity by damning people to hell without even knowing them (I’ve been confronted on the streets of Boston by a person who yelled at me and said I was going to hell…and I’m a Christian!).

I’m advocating for the kind of person who does neither of these two things. I try to live like Jesus lived among unbelievers by spending time with them in their homes and inviting them over to my home and loving them regardless of their beliefs or behaviors. I don’t get in their face every single time we get together (or they would stop listening to me), but I have made sure that every single one of my friends knows what I am praying for them that they will come to know Jesus because He is the only way to the Father. Some have come to know Jesus as a result, others are still friends and they often bring up spiritual conversations. Other times I feel that I can raise an issue or confront a behavior because I have that close relationship with them. On the other hand, there are times I know to keep my mouth shut. In other words, I know them and I care for them. They know my message is sincere. While a person holding a sign or yelling through a megaphone could be sincere, the person on the other side will never know it. I want to engage culture with my sincerity because I know that’s the harder road and the more rewarding. With a tract or a sign, I can be sincere, I can be insincere and no one would ever know. So, I never question a street preachers motives, just his methods. Sometimes it is effective, but it’s hard to measure how effective, non-effective, or counter-effective it can be since no one knows the hearts of the people who hear other than God. You always know where you stand when you are sharing Christ with someone you care about.

...

...

Update 2: I just realized that Nathan posted his comment as blog post on his blog, so I've removed the full comment in order not to quote too much. You can read the rest here: Nathan Creitz: Engaging the Culture for Christ (Part 2)

By using my tags on http://del.icio.us/elijahlofgren/, wordle.net generated this interesting picture:

Be careful what you listen to! I find words of songs I've heard going through my head quite a bit. It is therefore helpful to listen to pure, good, and encouraging songs.

I took these notes on my PDA while riding in the car (back from New Attitude?).

 Mr. And Mrs. Thing measure success by their thingodometer
America has too many things to think about
But THINGS DON'T LAST! One day Mr. And Mrs. Thing will hire a second-hand thing dealer to come get their things.
 One day you're gonna die and there's gonna one thing in the box.
We stand here in our things and miss the God who gave us everything.
I'm against people who put things above God.
COVETING IS THE ROOT OF ALL THE OTHER 9 COMMANDMENTS.
Let God give you the things. He knows how to handle your life.
V.5 Blessed are the meek.
Greed leads to immorality.
If you can stop greed in the bud you can stop immorality.
God cares more about what you think than what you say or do.
Wealth
v.19-24 luxuries
the ways money can corrupt or bless up
why are we in recession? Greed.
You are not gonna like this
2 treasures: on earth or heaven
2 visions
2 masters
God doesn't want you broke.
God doesn't care what size house you have or if you have a new car, but He does care if you charged.
Do not lay up for YOURSELF treasures on eart...but lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.
necessities
franklin crossroads baptist church.
90.1 radio.
By: Ron Davis Kentucky preacher 270...
Franklincrossroads.com
cecilia KY
elizabethtown KY

Let me know of any problems you run into as I try to migrate all the websites that I host to a new web server (which I've run for a few months and I'll have more control over).

Sorry for the unplanned downtime! I'm not sure what went wrong with my old web host. It seems like it may have been an upgrade that didn't go very well.

Update:

After thinking about it, and realizing that my RapidVPS server might get overwhelmed and I want to switch away from RapidVPS as soon as I need more ram (because cheaper elsewhere), I've decided to switch to Linode now instead of later. It's $20/month for 360mb of ram.

So one more server move! ;) I'll try to get everything back up this weekend

See: “You Tell On Yourself” Poem « A Godly Maiden

From: R.C. Sproul Changes his Views on Genesis 1

Renowned Christian scholar and apologist R.C. Sproul has taught an old earth reinterpretation of the early chapters of Genesis for many years. Recently, he corrected his course and now embraces the straightforward 6-day view, held by the ministry of ABR. We applaud him for his willingness to correct his view on this very important matter.

From: Famous evangelical apologist changes his mind: RC Sproul says he is now a six-day, young-earth creationist

But Sproul concludes:

For most of my teaching career, I considered the framework hypothesis to be a possibility. But I have now changed my mind. I now hold to a literal six-day creation, the fourth alternative and the traditional one. Genesis says that God created the universe and everything in it in six twenty-four–hour periods. According to the Reformation hermeneutic, the first option is to follow the plain sense of the text. One must do a great deal of hermeneutical gymnastics to escape the plain meaning of Genesis 1–2. The confession makes it a point of faith that God created the world in the space of six days. [emphasis in original, indicating these words are part of the Confession] (pp. 127–128)

Thanks to my Biblical Literature Professor, Dr. RV Hood for telling me about this! :)

From: ZackSaint.com » Blog Archive » Zack’s wall at the hospital

“For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is, limited in suffering and subject to sorrows and death, he had the courage to take his own medicine. Whatever the game he is playing at with his creation, he has kept his own rules, and he has played fair. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money, to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When he was a man, he played the man, he was born in poverty and died in disgrace, and he thought it all worthwhile. Hallelujah, what a Savior!”

Note: Zack Saint wanted this brought to the hospital where he was.

About Zack Saint

From: http://www.letu.edu/opencms/export/download/community-and-media/Spring06.pdf

ZACK SAINT

Sept. 17, 1983 – Feb. 3, 2006

Shortly over a month later, the university held another memorial service on Wednesday, Feb. 13, to mourn the loss of Zack Saint, 23, of Morgantown, Penn. Zack died Friday, Feb. 3, of leukemia, having successfully battled the disease as a child. Thirty LETU students were en route by car to Pennsylvania to say goodbye to the senior mechanical engineering major when they learned Zack was gone. Students and alumni from all over the country gathered in Zack’s hometown to comfort his family. One of his nurses came to know Christ through the example of Zack’s life and the prayers of Zack’s friends. Zack requested memorials be made to his senior design project, the LETU Powered Parachute Team. His family is also establishing a scholarship fund in his memory.

Note: I had Dr. Green (advisor to the Powered Parachute Team) as my professor for Fundamentals of Engineering Design (AKA Legos) class.

Amen! :)

Step 1: Create a separate login account on your PC for work

I've just created a separate login account on my PC called "elijahlofgren-work".

Don't put any shortcuts on your desktop that don't relate to work. ;)

Step 2: Create a separate Gmail and Google Docs account

I've just created a separate email address and Google Docs account: work at elijahlofgren.com using Google Apps.

Step 3: Block Facebook and Myspace (and any other sites you get distracted by) using the BlockSite Firefox extension

Finally

Be productive! Be more focussed and finish your work faster so that you can more spend time on important things like reading good books, spending time with family and more! :)

Running "top" I find that my virtual server with just 128mb of memory has 150mb of ram used by Plone. It's swapping: not good.

From: Plone system resources for a small site:

Plone and Zopes takes whooping 70 MB just to load.

I'm glad I've already decided to use CMSMS instead of spending extra time with Plone or another Python CMS. :)

After 15 years: Wine 1.0 has been Released :)

The Wine team is proud to announce that Wine 1.0 is now available. This is the first stable release of Wine after 15 years of development and beta testing. Many thanks to everybody who helped us along that long road! While compatibility is not perfect yet, thousands of applications have been reported to work very well. Check http://appdb.winehq.org to see the details for your favorite applications.

What is wine?

Wine HQ

Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code

It's finally here! :)

The Best Firefox Yet: With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before.

I think the proper role of government is being lost.

From: Lunch-Box Nazis?

Australian parents are wondering “what’s next?” after the government implemented a new childcare center policy that restricts the types of food they can put in their children’s lunchboxes.

The program, called Good for Kids, Good for Life, was recently implemented at more than 300 preschools and day-care centers in the Hunter New England area of Australia to combat childhood obesity. Not only have foods high in fat, salt, and sugar been banned from meals and snacks, but even fruit has been limited: sultanas raisins to one, three-quarter-tablespoon portion, and apples to a half-sized serving.

Read more: Lunch-Box Nazis?

You can read it here: Feminine Grace: Once I Tried to Use Him

"As dad always reminds us, we're human beings not human doings. Our worth is not found in what we do, but in what God has done for us."

-- My sister Anna Lofgren on June 11, 2008

Dr. Dobson's response to this question from his excellent book Life On The Edge

A person doesn't go to college just to prepare for a line of work -- or at least, that shouldn't be the reason for being there. The purpose for getting a college education is to broaden your world and enrich your intellectual life. Whether or not it leads to a career is not the point. Nothing invested in the cultivation of your own mind is ever really wasted. IF you have the desire to learn and the opportunity to go to school, I think you should reach for it. Your career plans can be finalized later.

-- Life On The Edge page 74

I want to type up more from other similar questions and answers, but I really should go finish eating breakfast, but this is a really good quote:

There is no more important job in the universe than to raise a child to love God.

-- Life On The Edge page 75

A good song! :)

Re: Poll: How Many Websites?

My old CMS (Plone) was just a disaster and I'm happy to be rid of it. The Plone management UI has a thin veneer that's friendly for entering and editing content, but if you want to go beyond that for customization and maintenance, you have to work with the underlying Zope management console which was the most cryptic thing in the world. I'm a professional software engineer with nearly 20 years development experience, and I found it difficult to work with.

Finally, Plone had performance issues, used too much memory, and some of its modules (news and events) were very inflexible and forced me to work within their limitations. Good riddance.

From: General thoughts on CMS and PyLucid

The reason I'm interested in PyLucid is that it is written in Django.

I've been administrating and using Plone for a year now. I think it sucks greatly, but the other free CMS's I've seen suck even more. What I'd like to see would be a CMS that offers the features of Plone (I mention below which particular features are of interest to me), but that is easy to understand, administrate, and develop. And be a bit lighter, of course.

As such, I think I'll give PyLucid a try before doing much more with my plone demo site

Why would I ever consider not using CMSMS?

1. I now like programming in Python MUCH better than PHP.
2. I want versioning and auto-save, but I don't want to do much more PHP programming (for fun, I'm fine with doing it for jobs) ;)

A great post here: words - Michele Lofgren - Luke's Family Website :)

Some notes I took in the car on my laptop to/from New Attitude (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!)

Communication/Speech

• "... Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." - Matthew 12:34b (ESV)
• Homemaking - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY MYSELF (from reading about 1.25 page of it). ;) Anna's reading it now. Published by Vision Forum. Written by J.R. Miller
  

  Few things are more important in a home than its conversation, and yet there are few things to which less thought is given. The power of communication, which lies in the tongue, is simply incalculable. It can impart knowledge; utter words that will shine like lamps in darkened hearts; speak kindly sentences that will comfort sorrow or cheer despondency, breathe out thoughts that will arouse and quicken heedless souls; even whisper the secret of life-giving energy to spirit that are dead." (p. 181)

From Don Francisco Lyrics - That I May Know You - Sneakin':

...

Say what? You got some sin that belongs to me? Nope-- used to belong to me. Belongs to Jesus now. You go give it to Him; see what He says.... What? It's got my name on it? Naw. That's not me. That guy died 'way back in 1974. Everything he owned belongs to Jesus now. You go talk to Him....

...

You can download the song (and other ones by Don Francisco) for legally FREE as MP3s here: Don and Wendy Francisco MP3s

See this good poem: When I say "I am a Christian"

Thanks to Samantha Brooks for sending it to me!

Cute :)

P.S. John Piper's book, Don't Waste your Life, is very good, and is also completely free as PDF if you want it! :)

Enjoy: My Photos – New Attitude 2008 :)

Good stuff from Rob in Space: Things I know

...
I can live for days on praise from my wife
A child who loves words
I am a sinner
A smile from a child lifts my soul
A child who's kind, sweet and terrible
I am forgiven
I love a consistent routine
I am random
A child who's nuts
I value being valued
Summer in Alabama is hot
A child who builds
There are times to talk
There are times to not

Thanks to Miriam Hart for the links to these!!

Amazing: Libera - Far Away

Also nice:

I really like this song (playing on the radio right now where I am):

I really like Python so far (so much so that I may want to use python instead of php for most stuff). :) I want versioning for my website (so I can revert any page edit). At work they are switching to plone-based sites. Trying out plone 3.1 should be fun. :)

More about plone: What is Plone? — Plone CMS: Open Source Content Management

From: World Friendly

In his column for Plugged In, Adam Holz made another important observation: When a star such as Miley suddenly makes a left turn it's also fair to ask what influences in her life might have contributed. There's a not-so-subtle clue embedded in the first paragraph of the Vanity Fair story. Talking about her TV habits, Miley gushed about one program in particular, saying, "It's my favorite show! I love it!" The series in question? "Sex and the City." Whether Miley's been watching an edited version in syndication or the nudity- and explicit sex-filled HBO original, her affinity for a show that glamorously showcases shallow sex and skin demonstrates a disconnect between the values of the faith she professes and her own media choices. Few of us can relate to posing salaciously for a fashion magazine, but I'm guessing many of us can relate to indulging in an episode or two of a racy TV show, laughing at a course joke (or telling one) or hanging out with a questionable crowd. If you're like me, your legalism alarm is probably going off. You know where I'm headed, and you're already screaming, What about freedom in Christ? Everything is permissible! (1 Cor. 6:12). That's true. Legalism has no place in the life of a saved-by-grace believer in Jesus Christ. But permissiveness alone is not a virtue.

...

A few weeks ago, I heard a message by Hunter Smith. The Indianapolis Colts Punter talked about the values the world holds — money, power, sex — and how the pursuit of these things has no place in the life of a believer. He quoted James 4:4: "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."

I'd heard that verse before, but this time it hit me full force. Of all the things that could make me an enemy of God, friendship with the world isn't what I'd expect. I could understand if the verse said, "Anyone who joins a Satanic cult is an enemy of God," or even, "Anyone who denies the existence of Jesus...." But, "Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God?" It seems a little extreme.

After all, isn't being familiar with popular TV shows or appreciating the world's sense of humor an enlightened way to live as a Christian? Paul seems to say nothing is off limits (as long as its beneficial). And he quoted the Athenian's own poets to get his point across (Acts 17:28). Those who don't know Christ seem to respond positively to someone who understands their world. It feels good to be accepting and in the know.

[Click here to read the rest of this thought-provoking article]

Last semester, I bought They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations after hearing about it in chapel. I look forward to reading it sometime.

This article makes me think. Maybe it's not so bad to not really know much about or be involved in the secular culture in which we live. I guess I was thinking that "fitting in"/"being able to relate well to" the culture was something I should aim for. But we're not called to fit in with the culture. We're called to be the salt that makes people thirsty for God.

Some good comments regarding the Colorado ruling on this boundless post: My Eight Year-Old Daughter Must Now Share the Girls Room with Grown Men

I have heard girls who lived on my sister floor at college say that they watch Sex and the City. I haven't watched it myself, so I didn't comment on it. But it doesn't sound like something that is worth spending ones time on or filling one's mind with.

From: Boundless Line: Flee Sexual Immorality (Sex and the City, That Includes You)

On her blog, Carolyn McCulley writes:

I do think that churches by and large have camped out on the "just say no" message for so long that we've obscured clear, biblically-grounded messages on sexuality.

But I don't think watching "Sex and the City" is either helpful for obtaining this clarity or God-honoring. And I think it is particularly unhelpful for single Christians. I can relate to the frustration that Camerin expresses when she writes: "And, like the TV series, the film offers much that will resonate with singles—and yes, even Christians—who see themselves not just as a demographic in a Barna poll but as sexual beings who wrestle with balancing loneliness and a desire for romantic love with a commitment to purity and platitudes like 'true love waits.' (And waits. And waits.)"

Girl, I hear you on the waiting. I know all about that. But I fail to understand how filling one's eyes and mind with depictions of sexual sin makes it any easier to wait. In fact, I think it has a direct correlation on why so many are still waiting for marriage. Monogamous commitment to one flesh-and-blood person is hard to initiate or maintain with the visual feast of flesh that we so casually accept.

Reading more in When God Writes Your Love Story: The Ultimate Approach to Guy/Girl Relationships a day or two ago, I found Leslie Ludy saying similar things about how the church sometimes tends to say just don't go "all the way" etc. There's more to purity than that.

From: When God Writes Your Love Story: The Ultimate Approach to Guy/Girl Relationships page 113:

In spite of the emphasis in the Christian circles on purity being equal to "virginity," I began to realize that there had to be more to it than just not having sex. Otherwise, I wouldn't feel so defiled every time I have my heart and physical body to a guy. I had thought of "losing my purity" as a forbidden line I was never to cross. But after painful reflection, the truth burned deep into my heart -- in getting as close to that line as I possibly could, I had lost something already.

Don't let this be discouraging. No matter what you've done, or what you've been through, God will forgive you if you repent and you can live a life of joy.

I found this article both interesting and thought-provoking. From: What Not to Say about Marriage:

Getting married is part of growing up. It's a biblical responsibility we're asked to take on -- a calling. Talking about it is just the beginning. If you're with a man who's scared away by the mere mention of marriage, it's time to take your conversation elsewhere.

Genuine repentance does not turn from one sin while safeguarding others; partial repentance is as incongruous as partial pregnancy.

"His in-laws wonder why a Yale graduate isn't walking the ... halls of power. One reason may be White's frequent prayer that God 'would grant us a heart of wisdom to understand how little we know, and how much we still have to learn, ... The more we grow up in Christ, the more we will understand that the Christian life is not about mastering a body of knowledge, or even about achieving a level of self-sufficiency.

The Christian life is about learning to walk in a continual growing dependence on Jesus Christ

-- WORLD Magazine, Jan 26/Feb 2, 2008

From: CitizenLink: Colorado Governor Signs Dangerous Legislation

“Who would have believed that the Colorado state Legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation?

“Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence. The legislation lists every conceivable type of organization to which this law applies, including restaurants, bathhouses, massage parlors, mortuaries, theaters and ‘public facilities of any kind.’ Those who would attempt to protect females from this intrusion are subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and up to one year behind bars.

From: CitizenLink: Dr. Dobson Sounds the Alarm on ‘Restroom’ Legislation

"Restrooms are not the only problem," Minnery wrote. "The bill adds a prohibition against discrimination in sexual orientation to more than 23 separate provisions of Colorado law that already prohibit discrimination in various areas of public life. Some of them threaten the religious liberties of every Christian, Jewish or Muslim business owner, who operates a business on faith-based principles.

"A refusal to do business with someone based on a sincerely held religious belief that homosexuality is wrong would violate the law."

From: Cover up! Locker rooms going coed: 'This is an encroachment on religious beliefs, free exercise of religion'

Focus on the Family Action has been running radio ads that highlight the possibility of child predators entering public restrooms if the bill passes, because "all public restrooms, including those in our public schools, will be open to anyone of any sex."

Bill supporters call the ads "fear mongering."

"We must be sure to have protections not only against blatant acts of discrimination that occur, but also against the subtle discrimination that remains so pervasive!" said Equal Rights Colorado.

Soulforce, a group that compares the movement for "freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people" to the civil rights campaign of the 1960s, says Dobson's "words cause unnecessary fear and panic ... dividing parents from their gay sons and lesbian daughters, and neighbors from one another."

From: A preview of what's to come - The Denver Post

If anyone wants to know what the country will be like if the Democrats manage to win the presidency this fall and obtain decisive legislative majorities, they should first look at Colorado.

...

Whatever one's reaction to this bill, it represents a compete reversal of policy since 1992. That was when the state's voters passed a constitutional amendment preventing homosexuals from obtaining the same protected legal status then reserved for race and national origin, among other things.

At the time, opponents of Amendment 2 said they had no desire to obtain such status. During that same period, there was no discussion of the right of same-sex partners to marry.

Well, that was then. This is now.

If the Democrats win the big prizes in November, the winners will be organized labor and the gay and lesbian lobby — and Colorado's transformation may be viewed as just the beginning.

Read the rest: A preview of what's to come - The Denver Post

From: Self-Condemnation?

Is that you? Do you struggle with letting go of the past and moving on with life? Are there things in your life for which you cannot forgive yourself?

Here’s what one expert says about feeling unforgivable.

And here’s the conversation with Dr. Dobson about getting past self-condemnation.

From: BreakPoint: "Isolated Teens" By Mark Earley

Meanwhile, parents may show more concern over their teenager making good grades than on forming Christ-like character. In fact, another George Barna survey found, astoundingly, that only half of the Christian parents surveyed thought that their children having a relationship with Christ was as important as a good education. My goodness.

Clearly, it is time to knock down the walls that separate us from our teens—both at church and at home. As moms and dads, you must reclaim the God-appointed role of spiritually parenting your children and teens in a biblical worldview. And, while recognizing the value of teen-specific ministry, we need to do more to integrate our teens into the life of the whole community, where they can share their gifts and talents with the entire body of believers.