Welcome back to the Christian Carnival!  For those new to this gig, the Christian Carnival is a weekly collection of some of the best posts of the Christian blogosphere. It’s open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions.  We invite submissions from bloggers and readers, and collate the submitted posts into one big round-up (or “carnival”) every Wednesday.  It is also called a carnival because it is hosted at a new blog every week–and this week, it’s my privilege!  One of the goals of this carnival is to offer our readers a broad range of Christian thought. This is a great way to make your writing more well known and perhaps pick up some regular readers.

Please kick up your feet and make yourself at home.  Don’t mind all the boxes, as I am still shaping things up in my new portfolio here.  I thought I’d break in to the freelancing scene :)  Need something written?  Have a look around!

We’ll start off with submissions, then finish up with some posts I gleaned from the web.  I am not including my own submission this time because I am still chewing on an idea for an article that talks about the difference between Hume’s is-ought distinction, which maintains a valid distinction between ontology and epistemology, and the false is-ought dichotomy, which keeps values outside the realm of truth.  One can rightly reject the false dichotomy without rejecting the is-ought distinction.  I think making clear the differences between the two will help further the dialogue in this area of philosophy and apologetics.  If you want to see my past posts on Hume’s is-ought, scroll to the “Euthyphro, Hume, Plato, Gettier” section here.  Favorite topic!

Submissions:

Displayed in the order of submission:

When We Are Hurting, Jesus Hurts With Us  at Closer2THEE  by Disciple in the Apologetics category, saying, “Do you truly ‘believe’ you are a child of God, or do you entertain the doubts in your head?” concerning doubts that arise about why God lets us suffer.  There is a hopeful message here of God’s unchanging love.

when the Lord shows up… at Adventures of a Girl Who Loves Jesus by Michelle, saying, “I’m so thankful the Lord is sovereign!”

The Importance of Teamwork! at One Money Design  by Jocelin in the Finance category, saying, “No matter the simpleness or complexity, working as a team makes any load much lighter.”

Walking Towards the Light at Walking Towards The Light by John Marcott in the Theology category, saying, “What I find fascinating is that there seems to be so many commonalities from these experiences across cultures and religions. Although the ‘sameness’ of the experience might be overstated by Moody (more recent studies have probably muddied the waters a little bit), there is no denying that many people have described what happens when they ‘die’ in remarkably similar ways…”

On Obedience to the State at Thinking In Christ by Russ, saying, “What is the proper relationship between the Church and the state? Think through the issues with this series of posts.”

Holy Spirit at Ridge’s Blog by Ridge Burns (kindly submitted by Shannon Christman) in the Devotional category, saying, “There’s a fascinating section of Scripture on the Holy Spirit in John 16.”

“Dave Mentioned That” at InFaith’s Mission Blog by John Pais (also kindly submitted by Shannon Christman), saying, “John Pais writes about a conversation with an inmate that reminded him of the importance of discipleship.”

Hypocritical Christian Part 2 at INSPIKS  by Fadi (kindly submitted by loswl) in the Devotional category, saying, “There is something else I thought about the other day while walking to work. For years I prayed and cried for something I wanted God to do. But God in His infinite love and wisdom did not give me what I had asked for!…”

Gleanings:

These are the most recent posts of the Apologetics Bloggers Alliance from the past week:

Always Have a Reason – J.W. Wartick:

• Crossing the Most Dangerous Line: How bioethicists undermine humanity