Month: February 2005

Jones Soda Co.

Seth Godin is [pointing]( http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/02/need_vs_want.html) everybody to a [FastCompany article]( http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/92/open_jones-extra.html) about the [Jones Soda co.]( http://www.jonessoda.com/). It’s a great (and long) article about how to market when you’re the little guy. They built their entire brand without any traditional advertising.

But I’m not concerned about that. What’s got me fascinated is that you can order a case of 12 personalized Jones Sodas. With your picture on them. (sorry, no direct link.)

Hey, no mass media advertising, but it worked. I want a couple cases of these at my wedding. With wedding pictures on them.

Dad… ?

God’s Work

This was in my mailbox from one of my bridesmaids who is an exchange student in England this year. I hope you enjoy it.

February 08, 2005

Cover story

We’re doing God’s work — and John Prescott’s
Penny Wark
A former stockbroker turned fundamentalist pastor has ended homelessness in Southport. Would his scheme work nationwide?

PASTOR PETE is small and round, with a big white beard and a voice that bubbles with infectious vigour. He is 62 and looks like Father Christmas, sounds like Rolf Harris and is a self-confessed hugger for whom everything is possible and nothing — not even the darker recesses of the human condition — presents an obstacle to making things better. This is why the people of Southport, on the Lancashire coast, view him as a hero.
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Moral Neutrality

Politics for a Christian, in my opinion, is primarily an act of apologetics. There’s nothing wrong with participating in society simply because you are a member of that society, but as Christians, we have a duty to participate in society *as representatives of Jesus Christ* This means that very little of what we do in public is morally neutral.

As I said yesterday, we have a calling to be both salt and light. As salt, we have a responsibility to intervene and actively bring corruption to a halt (see: preservative). As light, we have a responsibility to instruct the world on the difference between sin and righteousness. Often we get to do both at the same time.

OMF Serge makes this same point with much better clarity than I could over at [Imago Dei](http://www.imago-dei.net/) in his series on [The Myth of Moral Neutrality](http://www.imago-dei.net/imago_dei/2005/02/the_myth_of_mor.html). For one thing he has concrete examples.

Hat tip: [New Covenant](http://newcovenant.blogspot.com/)

Fusion Power

According to [Luboš Motl](http://motls.blogspot.com/), who is [reporting](http://motls.blogspot.com/2005/02/goldston-about-fusion.html) on a seminar on the subject, the plans for engineering fusion power plants by 2050 are right on schedule. I didn’t even realize that fusion was considered feasible… ever. Shows what I know, don’t it?

I think I had fusion power mixed up with “cold fusion,” which may be a [nice webdesign tool](http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/), but as an engineering feat, it’s still considered unfeasible.

Hat tip: [Pseudo-Polymath](http://pseudopolymath.blogspot.com/2005/02/quick-hit.html)

Christian Politics?

One of my online discussions for seminary was a question of whether we ought to discuss politics in church. Almost everyone who responded to the question wholeheartedly endorsed the position that people should say nothing – nothing – at church in regard to politics. The most political statement that any person should make is that you should vote.

I think I was one of the very few people who pointed out that it’s one thing to pray for your political leaders and always honor and respect political authority. It’s another thing to deliberately censor yourself from political activity in a system that requires precisely that activity. Might as well have asked Constantine, upon conversion, not to pass any Christian laws so that he could properly “render unto Caesar.” In a democratic system, we **are** Caesar.

Continue reading “Christian Politics?”

Goodblog

I’ve added a new category to the blogroll at the right. The “Under Surveillance” category is going to be where I put new blogs that I’ve discovered until such time that I decide to keep them. If I decide again’ it, they’ll discretely disappear, never to be heard from again. If they stay, I’ll move them up to a ”real” category, above, and put a few notes up about why everyone ought to read my newfound blog.

[Pseudo-Polymath](http://pseudopolymath.blogspot.com/), was a quick decision. I have no idea what Pseudo-Polymath means, but the tagline is “Christianity, Ethics, Bike Racing, and current events from right of center.” I’m pretty sure it’s the ‘Christianity’ that I’m going to focus on. At least, He’s going under the “Religion” category.

Mark Olson, whose blog it is, is a good thinker, a good writer, and has a **lot** of interesting things to talk about. Here are a few of them:

Continue reading “Goodblog”