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sushil yadav Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment

The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues. The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature. Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment. Subject : In a fast society slow emotions… Continue

Added by sushil yadav on January 12, 2010 at 8:47pm — No Comments

Jarrod McKenna Obama's Nobel War Speech: What if & the Lordship of Jesus

G'day common rooters (that's so funny for an Australian and confirms all those rumours about anabaptists in the 16th century) sistas and brothas. Keep watching Mark Van's "Jesus Manifesto" for the unedited cut but in the mean time, Over at Jim Wallis blog God's Politics I've been asking "What if" Obama took a different direction at Oslo… Continue

Added by Jarrod McKenna on December 17, 2009 at 9:14pm — No Comments

J Fowler Waking Up To Christmas

Bill, of White Flint Farm, over at the Sustainable Traditions network had some hard words to say about our crazy Americanized Christmas season: "A little over two thousand years ago, an unwed teenage girl, in a barn a long way from her home, and in a country occupied by a foreign military superpower, gave birth to a son. Lacking anything else to put him in, she laid the baby to rest in an animal feed trough… Continue

Added by J Fowler on November 17, 2009 at 9:18pm — No Comments

Frank Viola About Facebook

I’ve been using Facebook for over a year now, and I like it better than any of the other social networks out there, including Twitter (micro-blog) and the Ning sites. I especially like it over MySpace. What I don’t like about it, however, is that the site seems to be ultra sensitive. I’ve had friends deactivated from it for that reason. See Mike Morrell’s recent post about this. It’s quite informative. (By the way, if you don’t know who Mike is, he’s a marketing genius. You’ll find his endorsem… Continue

Added by Frank Viola on November 16, 2009 at 8:28am — No Comments

Sarah Peplow Augustine Happy to be here

I am very happy to be included in common root -- I met Gene Stoltzfus the second weekend of October when he came to visit with my family on the organic farm we care for on the Yakama Nation reservation, and he has influenced me to find you. I am sure interested in "community planting", and would love to learn more about it. If you ever have occasion to be in Central Washington, we would love to see you. Continue

Added by Sarah Peplow Augustine on October 20, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Frank Viola Deep Ecclesiology

What follows is the afterword in From Eternity to Here. To my mind, it’s one of the most important parts of the book. So I’m publishing it here. Note that PTM has a small number of copies of “From Eternity to Here,” “Reimagining Church,” and “Finding Organic Church” for bloggers to review on their blogs. If you are interested in one of these titles to review for your blog, email Jeanette at PTMIN@aol.com, put “blogger review” in the subject line, and then give her your blog url and your mailin… Continue

Added by Frank Viola on October 8, 2009 at 9:48am — No Comments

Gene Stoltzfus Lucky in Vegas

The invitation to a gathering of reflection on peacemaking in Las Vegas came several months ago. I was honoured to join the group for a day because the question of how to respond to America’s current wars, its plans for dominance in space and the unfolding movement of robotic warfare challenges all of us, young and old, to think in fresh ways. My time in Vegas would be completed with another adventure in contemplation in the desert sands where Creech Air Force Base trains pilots for robotic warf… Continue

Added by Gene Stoltzfus on October 6, 2009 at 11:44am — No Comments

Steve Simms God's Mandate -- Move!

God's mandate is for us to move. He is about movement. He tells us to "Go and make disciples." The original word for church in the New Testament, (the Greek word ekklesia) means "the called out ones." God's church is a group of called out ones. They are called to move out of their ruts, traditions, and habits and to move forward with God. The church is not a building. The early Christians met in homes, yet they were still the church. The church is not an instution or a religious orgnaization.… Continue

Added by Steve Simms on October 2, 2009 at 1:43pm — No Comments

Gene Stoltzfus The Terror of Disappearance

The most terrifying condition in a culture where terror is practiced is the disappearance of the suspect. The victim is at the mercy of the captors. The family is totally devoid of information and feels helpless. Responses from supporters range from outrage to violence or depression. Absolute uncertainty and raw fear fills the void created by the absence of information. A person may be tortured, molested, and killed and no one may know for a generation or forever. State officials normally deny… Continue

Added by Gene Stoltzfus on October 2, 2009 at 1:36pm — No Comments

Frank Viola Kingdom Confusion: Part II

Kingdom Confusion: Part II I’d like to continue our series on "Kingdom Confusion" as promised. You can read Part I on this site or at www.frankviola.wordpress.com/ In this post, I wish to address a somewhat popular cliché that I think misses the mark on what the New Testament (NT) teaches concerning the kingdom of God. Here's the cliché: "Jesus mentioned the church only twice; but he mentioned the kingdom over 100 times. So He really doesn't care about the church as much as He does the kingdo… Continue

Added by Frank Viola on September 29, 2009 at 6:57am — No Comments

Frank Viola Kingdom Confusion: Part I

The following interview was done by Chad Crawford over at Homebrewed Christianity. In it, I speak about the kingdom of God a bit. Next week, I’ll be blogging about the kingdom in a more focused way. And I’ll be taking dead aim at the present “kingdom vs. church” fad … where the kingdom is pitted against the church. Note to all blog readers: This Friday is going to be open-phones. So stayed tuned! Tomorrow (Wednesday) or Thursday, I’ll let you all know when the ReChurch Library launches. —–… Continue

Added by Frank Viola on September 22, 2009 at 6:57am — No Comments

Frank Viola The ReChurch Library & Note on “Rethinking the Wineskin” & “Who is Your Covering?”

This week (probably Wednesday or Thursday), Present Testimony Ministry will be launching a new “ReChurch Library.” The ReChurch Library will include the following 7 resources (at a huge discount). 1. The Untold Story of the New Testament Church (book) 2. Pagan Christianity (book) 3. Reimagining Church (book) 4. From Eternity to Here (book) 5. Finding Organic Church (book) 6. Bethany (booklet) 7. Challenging the Simple Church Movement: Taking Higher Ground (audio CD containing numerous sp… Continue

Added by Frank Viola on September 21, 2009 at 7:02am — No Comments

Gene Stoltzfus Torture: Trials of The Unspeakable

Torture has been on my mind. I know that I need to push back its cover from where it dwells in the shadows. I know that my nation may refuse to do so when they use torture as a means of waging war as a path to peace. Lecturing others about torture comes more easily. I have learned in the last fifty years that laws preventing torture, and molestation will not stop it. But law will help. However, only a moral conversion will change things. People tell me human nature will never change. I believe c… Continue

Added by Gene Stoltzfus on September 14, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

Frank Viola Discipleship, Mission, and Church: A Plea to Learn Our History

“Discipleship” and “missional.” These are the two big buzzwords on the Christian landscape today. Of course, there is also “simple church.” But that’s another discussion for another time. As I speak in conferences throughout the world and meet people who have jumped on the discipleship bandwagon, or the missional bandwagon (or both), I make several observations. Two Streams of Missional There seems to be two different streams in the missional world: 1)Those who are stuck with D.L. Moody’s m… Continue

Added by Frank Viola on July 27, 2009 at 7:55am — 1 Comment

dlw Excerpt on Abolitionists from "The Metaphysical Club" by Louis Menand.

I excerpt this passage from pages 12-15 to show the similarities and diffs with many current neo-anabaptist point of views. Abolitionism arose out of the Second Great Awakening, the evangelical revival that swept through New England and then uptstate New York between 1800 and 1840, and that also spawned temperance, women's rights, and other social reform movements, along with a number of utopian and religious sects, most famously the Mormons. The foundations of the abolitionist movement were th… Continue

Added by dlw on June 1, 2009 at 1:09pm — No Comments

Naomi What Sotomayor teaches us about racism

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is Obama's nominee to fill the the Supreme Court Justice vacancy. Sotomayor is a woman. And she's Hispanic. Two characteristics that have not gone unnoticed. In 2001 Sotomayor disagreed with the notion that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion. “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.” This statement made in 20… Continue

Added by Naomi on May 30, 2009 at 12:31pm — 4 Comments

Jarrod McKenna God is not White (biblical-post-colonial-theology from Australia)

G'day, for those interested, http://blog.sojo.net/2009/05/29/god-is-not-and-has-never-been-white... I’ve written this article for "God's Politics" blog to share the amazing (and sadly often unknown!) contributions of Australian Aboriginal theologies. It has had a profound effect of me and the Peace Tree Community. Please post to your profiles & share with others if the voice o… Continue

Added by Jarrod McKenna on May 30, 2009 at 5:32am — 2 Comments

Kurt Are You a Neo-Roman or a Subverter of Empire? Quote to Ponder: Richard Horsley

I have had to take a break from blogging for the past several weeks. 1) I have moved to a new city for a new and exciting ministry opportunity 2) I am in the middle of researching the Roman Empire and Luke's Gospel. I have not adequately interacted on my prior "atonement" post, but will come back to the subject after my life slows back down. I wanted to post a "Quote to Read more… Continue

Added by Kurt on May 23, 2009 at 1:55pm — No Comments

Frank Viola Are You in the Wilderness?

So many Christians I meet today, whether in person, on social networks, or through emails, tell me that they are living in a spiritual wilderness. They feel alone, spiritually isolated, and they don’t have too many Christian friends that they are experiencing a rich and full fellowship in Christ with. Some of them attend a church on Sunday morning, yet still, they are living in the desert and they know it. Some have given up on the traditional form of church altogether. And they are in serious… Continue

Added by Frank Viola on April 28, 2009 at 6:06am — No Comments

Kurt Discussing the Atonement When Its No Longer Cool!

I have been doing some thinking about the atonement in recent months and even though I am behind the trend of making this a focus during Lent leading up to Easter, I decided to blog about it anyway J . At seminary, I have a professor who has pushed me to think outside of the box on what we mean when we use terms like: gospel, mission, and especially atonement. Mark Baker Read more… Continue

Added by Kurt on April 21, 2009 at 11:46am — No Comments

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