New post idea. As a friend of mine challenged me the other day: "It’s easy enough to talk about God to those who already know—like the group here. But you just try talking to other people—ones who don’t think like we do. How do you get them interested in God?"

In other words, how to witness to a world that doesn't want to be witnessed to? How best to speak of God?

I'd love to see some practical ideas on talking God in a God-hostile world...

Best,

Jonathan

I'm excited with the number of young people giving micro-donations to Spectrum on Facebook!

I've spent a good hour of my morning on the new app store on iTunes and can't wait until the iPhone 2.0 software update rolls out so my iPod Touch can finally log onto my university's 802.1X network!

I also read three chapters in this book and expanded my outline. Thesis is lord!

For all you Alexander Carpenter fans out there, his mug is the latest to go up on the Caricatures blog. Come give his cartoon some love.

Johnny!

I'm so glad you know all this computer stuff and that you are dedicating your skills to this noble cause. Thank you!

I won't ask you how your thesis is coming because when I was doing what you are I got to the place that I was ready to shoot-to-kill the next person who inquired!

Alex

Yesterday Jerry Winslow told me about a major lecture he downloaded by Martha Nussbaum on Roger Willimas at the University of Chicago (I think). Wow!

This prompted me to wonder if it would be possible to list major academic and culturally timely presentations as "Recommendations." Perhaps only this word or something like it would be placed on the home page with a link to another page where the lectures would be actually listed. Maybe one per week? I'm willing to join others in scouting the web.

Also, there used to be a place where everything that had been posted was listed in reverse chronological sequence. I've lost track of where this now is. Help!

Finally, who qualifies as an "absolute uique visitor?"

Thank you for your excellent work. The results speak for themselves!

Dave

Alex, so many thanks for all your hard work in keeping this blog going. Almost had withdrawal symptoms yesterday when, after numerous times I wasn't able to access it. Something like the D.T's.

Yes, that's a great idea for folks to contribute an article or newsworthy item which could start a lively conversation. Thanks again for all the hard work that you, and the others here have contributed.

Thanks for the kind words, Caricaturist and Elaine.

That sounds interesting Dave.

How about each Friday we post an open thread on which anyone can just drop in an interesting link or quote from their week of reading and media life?

I applaud Spectrum for keeping the conversation open about things. I have come to a place where I appreciate the diversity of thought, experience, practice, and opinion within the Adventist church. Some of the saints want us to be a monolithic army all wearing the same uniform, marching to the same beat, following the same orders. I am happy that the umbrella seems to be larger than that. The fact that we have such a "spectrum" is good for us and a constant reminder that, individually, we have no corner on truth, knowledge, or wisdom. But through respectful and challenging dialogue, we can gain awareness from someone else's experience. I have started intentionally seeking experiences which challenge my viewpoints so that I don't become too confident in my way of seeing the world. People act in ways that make sense to them.

I think the answer to building bridges with our non-Adventist or non-Christian friends is to open ourselves up to such an engaging process. And most importantly, to listen....listen...listen.

I've been reading a lot of 19th century philosophy this week to prep for my oral comps in the fall.

Just watched "An Inconvenient Truth" last night. (I know; I'm way behind the times.)

Wow. We're really in big trouble...

I like Open Thread Fridays, and whatever happened to the Spectrum Church? That was a good idea.

Hi All,

Well its off to the Calgary Stampede for Diana and I tonight and then Alberta Campmeeting on Sabbath. Just wanted to say as the father of a gay Adventist son I really appreciate the thoughts you all provide. Alex and Dave I really appreciate your thoughts. May you all have a GREAT SUMMER. I invite all of you to join us for the 2009 Stampede and Campmeeting July 3 to 13 Enjoy!!

Fun and valuable reading:

Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (Miroslav Volf)
Unspoken Sermons (George MacDonald)
Participation and Democracy (Carole Pateman)
The Death of Adam (Marilynne Robinson)
Rhetoric & Incommensurability (Randy Harris)
The Crucified God (Jurgen Moltmannn)

Practical ideas on talking God? Hmm. I have practical ideas on doing restoration.
Generally I'm down with the idea of prayer as action. For me that starts with a very, very large concept of family. Then comes radical openness and minimal othering. Your mileage may vary, but then diversity is part of God's signature here...

I will be traveling shortly; bless you all wherever you are!

Dave,
Martha Nussbaum's book "Frontiers of Justice" is interesting. I'd be curious to get your or Jerry's take on that and/or the podcast this summer.

Absolute unique visitor is the baseline metric for tracking site performance. It means that about 100,000 unique IP addresses came to our site. For an institution, one IP address could represent hundreds of users, for a home user, 1-5 people. One person could be at home pressing refresh repeatedly which would drive up the total hit count but the absolute unique visitor count would stay the same.

I think the reverse comment feature you're referring to was available on our old typepad blog.

As for your suggestion, Alex and I have talked about resurrecting the blog round-ups. I think your contribution would be a good addition to such a weekly round-up. We'll be in touch on this!

Johnny, how refreshing of you to ask for ideas for thread topics from the posters/lurkers.

My suggestion, since the "Sabbathing" topic has attracted such interest, is to ask one of the staff of the Worldwide Chruch of God, J. Michael Feazell, Joseph Tkach or Michael Morrison (especially Michael) to explain what their church went through relative to their change in postion on Sabbath and celebrating the Jewish Festival. What a phenomonal story that SDAs I believe can learn from even if the outcome is different than they came up with:

http://www.wcg.org/

I'm attending GIEN (gien.adventist.org) and am gaining perspective on how to keep people interested in a presentation.

The Worldwide Church of God has a very extensive compendium (which I printed out several years ago) explaining in great detail the reason for the change regarding the Sabbath which they formerly observed.

Douglas,

The video put out by WCG, "Called to be Free" is an incredible story, and so well told in this production. I defy anyone to watch this and not get teary. I've watched it several times (we have one), but I believe it is available on-line.

Great suggestion.

PS I mostly lurk, but this brought me out of my hidey-hole.

Carol

The Worldwide Church of God swung from Old Testament/Herbert Armstrong to New Testament/Evangelical...and lost most of their members, TV program, college, income, etc. Truth sometimes has consequences. Perhaps they should have settled on the Teachings of Jesus, which is the best of the old and new. But they still probably would have lost most of their support. Change is difficult...even when it is for the better. Positive reinforcement of the best of their past might have been a good transition methodology...rather than the sudden changes they instituted. Their world really did turn upside down. 'Called to be Free' is on YouTube.com. By the way, wasn't one of Robert Brinsmead's books used as a primary source for convincing WCG to reject sabbatarianism?

I'm leaving Sunday to attend Kinship Kampmeeting in Reston, Virginia. Kampmeeting, especially the Friday evening Communion Service and Sabbath morning, provide my spiritual high for the year. I'd like to invite Dan Clarke, and any other parents of gay and lesbian sons and daughters to attend some year.

I've been reading some Irish history lately. My major heritage is Scotch, Irish, English and Dutch, but I identify most with my Irish part and get very riled up with my English part as I learn how they treated the Scotch and Irish! Just finished Malachy McCourt's _History of Ireland_ and ready to begin _The Celts_ by Gerhard Herm.

I'd be interested in a thread about why and how so many of our religious liberty directors have reversed their traditional stance when it comes to gay rights, and believe we should legislate our moral views on others whose religious beliefs differ...

Loved the cartoon!

Thanks for the invite Carrol. Our Son Ken left today to spend the week at Kampmeeting. If you get a chance our son's name is Ken. His partner is non-adventist and will not be attending. We keep praying that maybe at kampmeeting he will meet someone who will help him realize God's will for his life.

We can't say we endorse the idea of same sex marriage but are trying to understand what it means to be gay and Adventist. I am currently reading "Christianity and Homosexuality - Some Adventist Perspectives" and am shocked about the ways we as a church have treated the those who are "gay". We have to learn that God will act in the way that He sees fit and in the time that He determines it is the right time to act.

I'd just like to say as well that God has blessed me so much in the past 3 years. After over 40 years of pornography addiction God has freed me. Praise God!. He also saw to it that the love of my life, My wife Diana, took me back after a n affair. God is so Good!

Take care All1

Have a happy Sabbath!

OK...How about a complaint about the website? I've written a couple times but no response. Don't know if this is just me, or others have the same problem, but on my computer using Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7 I can't scroll past any blip.TV embedded image on the main blog page. This means that right now I can't look at anything older than June 26. The page doesn't load/display the navigation stuff either, so I can't get to the archives at all. It is frustrating. I used to access it fine using Win XP and another version of IE, but not after getting this new system. Does anybody else have this problem, or any suggestions on how to fix it? (and no, I'm not looking for "go get a Mac" suggestions, please!).

Alex,
It's great fun to see that one of my favorite "modified" cartoons has been given a new life. Success has spurred you to greater efforts and, consequently, a wider, more inclusive readership. Thanks for the cartoon memory! Andy

Robert,
The answer is "Go get Firefox 3.0." I am amazed that people still use Internet Explorer.

A few Comments & Suggestions:

I, too, have been unable to find the listing of the blogs in reverse chronological order. Is this still available?

I’m would also be interested in finding out exactly what “reverse comment feature” means. I know I would appreciate having an avenue to access all comments made by each of the listed user names. Many times I would like to go back and re-read what someone has written but find it nearly impossible to do if I cannot remember the date and/or blog title.

I would love to see a review on a very old book: “A Severe Mercy” by Sheldon Vanauken, and also a new one: “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible” by A.J. Jacobs. From an online review, the latter appears to be both thought provoking and very entertaining! Has Phillip Yancey’s book, “Disappointment with God” been reviewed here before?

A special thanks to Alex and his team for bringing us the stats and maps on the Spectrum readership. It gives a much better idea of the worldwide interest in the Spectrum website. I have found it very fascinating.

A couple of interests I have, that I would like to see explored further are:
1. Baptism upon receiving Christ into one’s heart / Church Membership after studying and accepting SDA beliefs.
2. Value of Prayer / What makes a difference in God’s answers?

Kudos to the whole team for the good work you are doing here on this website!!

Gaylene: Funny you should ask. Two of the books you mentioned were reviewed on this site. Here are the links:

http://www.spectrummagazine.org/reviews/book_reviews/2008/01/10/a_severe...

http://www.spectrummagazine.org/reviews/book_reviews/2008/03/06/year_liv...

The Yancy book has not been reviewed here. I've read it & IMO is certainly well worth reading.

I agree that indexing/organizing past material is a big hole and one that should be addressed. As you might imagine, the group producing this site is stretched thin, and this need demands considerable skill with Drupal - the software used to make the web pages. However, as I am on the web team, I'll bring it up when we next meet. Thx for your participation. Good to hear from you again.

Does anyone know how the Calgary Stampede went this year? In an earlier comment on this thread Dan Clarke said that he and Diana were heading that way, but I haven't heard anything since. Dave

So much for writing without doing my research first! :) I probably should stick to writing during the middle of the day instead of the middle of the night!!

Thanks for the links, Rich.