So the hottest topic this weekend, and perhaps for the first 8 months of this year is a talk show host. And so we have yet another theo-/biblioblogger criticizing Glenn Beck, refuting many of his and David Barton’s claims.  I wish I could ignore Beck, but I guess I still love watching horror film so I watch the Glenn Beck Program every once and a while.

I never really could compare Glenn Beck to anyone in history who lived and died although some people try to pin the “N” word on him that he likes to use all the time, but then, Roland Martin tweeted that Glenn Beck is like Elmer Gantry. And that was it, everything came together, like a Glenn Beck conspiracy theory. Joel has rightly labeled Beck a false prophet, but I think there is more involved than just religion. Glenn Beck is a spokesman for Goldline, and he even suggests that the solution to the nation’s financial problems is to call Goldline and buy gold. So, every time I hear Beck say it is his divine destiny to do this or that, or to that God told him to do this, I will think: Gold told him to do that. Beck is a man of Gold. A 21st Century Elmer Gantry.

So, I have a book recommendation for all the progressives and conservatives who are being driven crazy by this con-artist. Calm down. Look in the mirror. Smile. Then, go to your local library. Check out a copy of Sinclair Lewis’s Elmer Gantry , and it will all make sense. And while you are at it, thank Roland Martin for this insight.

Or you could just buy more gold from Goldline.

So, I must make an admission about my views on The Voice, the story-oriented translation by Thomas Nelson/Ecclessia Bible Society for emerging/emergent Christians.  While I find this version refreshing yet inferior to the New Revised Standard Version, it has not been without its flaws.  The Voice of the Psalms, chapter 131, verse one says, “O Eternal One, my heart is not occupied with proud thoughts; my eyes do not look down on others; I don’t even begin to GET INVOLVED in matters too big, matters of faith, state, business, or the many things that defy my ability to understand them.” The words in italics are words added to give a sense of narrative to passages.  I do not know about the original context of this passage, I doubt that it had anything to do with the Psalmist avoiding earthly matters. In the context of the passage, if we go with the NRSV, it seems as if the Psalmist is having a conversation about creation, referring to the YHWH, the  Creator as the hope of Israel, while the writer is calmed like a child being nourished by its mother. I find it utterly difficult to comprehend this passage, even in a narrative sense, as informing Christian readers to avoid prophetically speaking to government and business institutions, if one is to take the passage from the Voice literally.  At the very least, the practical application of the Voice’s translation of Psalms 131:1 means the defense of a status quo, and at the most, potentially the message that U.S. American Christianity should withdraw and isolate itself, since it has nothing of relevance to say to democratic republics or corporatist-capitalist institutions.  I do not think this is a large leap, especially when a passage suggest that matters of “state and business” are somehow incomprehensible.  I thought that only God received that much respect, as the transcendent and Holy One.

“If God had a theme song, it would be

The rules for this meme are simple:

1- Pick what you think is a good ‘theme song’ for God.
2- Post your audio or video on your blog.
3- Tag 3 people (for obvious reasons- and if you don’t understand why, don’t participate).

So there is a slight difference between “Secular” music and “Christian” music, so I have chosen God’s own Song Writer, the Man in Black and his hit “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” The message is just that obvious, but in case you do not understand, no one can run from God. No one. No not one.

Tag, You’re it!:Rob Kashow;Celucien;and Chad

All kidding aside, I think that Ben Meyers in his latest article on blogging and theology got it right; that the church fathers and mothers wrote as a form of spiritual practice, even recording unimportant and minute details like we do on Twitter.  If you have a chance, check out Ben’s post.