Around the Blogosphere…

Best Cartoon: 
St. Thomas The Doubter Church with “New”

Best News:
Arrested Development: New Episodes and Movie on the Way

Best Series:
Daniel Kirk reviews The Bible Made Impossible 
“People don’t agree with each other on what the Bible says. Not only this, they don’t agree about what the Bible says about significant, defining issues of faith and practice. This is because the Bible is not, in fact, univocal on important issues.”
[I gotta get my hands on this book! Sounds right up my alley.] 

Best Metaphor: 
Jennifer Fulwiler with “Prayer: Because Sometimes You Need to Be Dog-Whispered”
“When prayer time first approaches, I shrink away, convinced that I simply must keep obsessing about whatever it is that has captured my attention at the moment. But when I actually enter into silence, both internal and external, it’s such a drastic change from my normal mode of living that it startles me into a new frame of mind. Contemplating the eternal instead of fixating on the temporal requires such a huge shift of mental gears that it breaks me out of whatever short-sighted rut I’d been in.” 

Best Writing (nominated by Joy Bennett):
Dana Reinhardt with “His Name is Robert Downey Jr.”

Most Enlightening: 
David McRaney with “The Benjamin Franklin Effect”
“For many things, your attitudes came from actions which led to observations which led to explanations which led to beliefs. It is well known in psychology the cart of behavior often gets before the horse of attitude. Your actions tend to chisel away at the raw marble of your persona, carving into being the self you experience day-to-day. It doesn’t feel that way though. To conscious experience, it feels like you are the one holding the chisel, motivated by existing thoughts and beliefs. It feels as though the person wearing your pants is performing actions consistent with your established character, yet there is plenty of research suggesting otherwise. The things you do often create the things you believe.”

Most Relevant:
Nish Weiseth with “Choosing to Listen”
“…Maybe instead of using hurt-words like ‘cult’ and ‘brainwashed’ we ask our neighbors & classmates about their family, their story, their faith, their hopes, their dreams.”

 Most Ridiculous:
Calamities of Nature with “Ten Years Later”

Most Exciting:
Alise Wright guest posting at Jamie Wright’s place with “How A Wife Does It”
[Two of my favorite bloggers in one place?! That’s exciting]]

Funniest:
Westboro Baptist Fail

Most Likely To Change Your Mind (nominated by Anne Bogel): 
Kristen Howerton at Rage Against The Minivan with “Here, Let Me Ruin Halloween for You”
“A report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture about cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and other African countries estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions.  Many of them have been taken from their families, or sold as servants.  U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations since they don't own them.  This includes Hershey, Mars, Nestle, and the US division of Cadbury . . . who collectively represent pretty much every snack-size candy bar that will be available in stores this Halloween.”

Most Likely to Start an Argument Between You and Your Friends:
Roger Olson with “Some Thoughts About Conversations/Debates Between Calvinists and Arminians”
“It seems to me that most 5 point Calvinists I know seem bound and determined to believe anything they think the Bible says regardless of how horrific that may be.  In other words, IF they became convinced that somehow they had been overlooking something in Scripture (as they think I do) and, in fact, God and the devil are actually the same being such that God is evil, they would believe it because the Bible says it.  I, on the other hand, presuppose that God cannot be evil; that goodness and being belong inextricably together or else there is no ground for basic trust… Even Calvinist Paul Helm, a leading evangelical Calvinist thinker, agrees (as I show in my book) that “goodness” attributed to God cannot be totally different from every understanding of goodness (and love) we know of.”

Most Likely to Make You Cry (in a good way):
Jan Johnson with “Weeping Prayer” [found this over at Elizabeth Esther’s blog]
“In Christian spiritual tradition, certain kinds of weeping are a charism, or gift of the Spirit.”

Best Title: 
Ed Cyzewski over at Emerging Mummy’s Place with “Men’s Ministry for Guys Who Don’t Want to Kill Stuff”
“Men’s ministry lacks metaphors and activities for guys like me. I was the last guy picked for anything involving sports. I opted for the tiny barbells at the gym. It took me years to forgive my college roommate for tackling me 'just for the fun of it.' I’m not an aggressive guy. If you’re the kind of guy wondering, 'Could I take this guy?' The answer most certainly is: yes.

Best Message (Eshet Chayli!): 
Joy Bennett with “Burn Ladies, Burn”
“We need to embrace this God-given role for women. The ezer-kenegdo is no passive calling. Women are called to be strong and valiant battling our Enemy alongside our brothers. God wants us to be women of valor.”

Best Image: 
Kathy Escobar with “Pericardiums”
“A healthy pericardium means we can feel pain & engage in the realities of real life but not have it completely devastate us."

On the Blog…

Most Popular Post:
“10 Reasons I Support Women in Church Leadership”

Most Popular Comment:
In response to “I Don’t Want An Easy Faith,” Ed Cyzewski wrote:
 “What I've found is that we can get into ruts in both directions. Once I get used to asking questions and searching, I can become uncomfortable with landing on some answers. Of course we don't want to make the mistake of becoming unnecessarily dogmatic or prideful in the answers we seek, but I think an "easy faith" can cut both ways. Having broken out of one kind of easy faith, I've found another one.”

I didn’t include any articles about the death of Steve Jobs or about the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon. Posts about news items tend to bleed together in my mind. Have you read anything related to these subjects worth sharing? Anything else online catch you eye? What’s happening on YOUR blog?