James Watkins on Easter, cure for wintertime blues, Larry Norman's death and more

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JAMES WATKINS' LENT, GOOD FRIDAY AND EASTER ARTICLES, DRAMA, ETC.

February 18, 2008: Webzine
heavy topics with a light touch

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll come back regularly for constantly updated humor and helpful articles on everything from sex to sects. (Please save it as a "favorite," then tell a friend.) And now, this issue's heavy topics with a light touch:

• Christian ire over Iranian Christ? Nope!

• "Cure for the wintertime blues"

• The Dredge Report: news and skews

• Interest in suicide and death on rise

• Gay rights and Frey writes—deja vu all over again!

• Go west young writer

• Have a meaningful Good Friday and Easter

• Iraq War: five years later

• Larry Norman: only visiting this planet 1947-2008

• Last issue's heavy topics with a light touch

• Longer boat for tunnel of love?

• "Naughty donkeys" give elephants election advantage

• Pagan Christianity argues Church "unbiblical"

• Top ten most popular sites at jameswatkins.com

• What does God smell like?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
have a meaningful good friday and easter

For those of us who live in the Midwest, life and color have been bled out of the scenery and psyche. But Easter promises new life on both a phsyical and metaphysical level. I trust that you experience rebirth and resurrection this weekend outside your door and inside your heart.
• Lent, Good Friday and Easter articles, columns, comedy-drama . . .

Later Wednesday, March 19, 2008
iraq war: five years later

Here's how I've addressed the war:
• March 18, 2003 (five articles and columns)
• March 20, 2006 (16 articles and columns)
• August 7, 2006 (Why do Shiites hate Sunnis?)

Saturday, March 8, 2008
'naughty donkeys' give elephants election advantage

Late-night comic Craig Ferguson refers to his audience as "naughty donkeys," but the real naughty donkeys seem to be Democratic candidates. After Hillary "Monster" Clinton and Barak "Hussein" Obama finish eviscerating one another in their campaigning, the elephants may simply rerun the old Democratic attack ads to put John McCain in the White House.

Some bipartisan comments on election 2008:
• Last Candidate Standing TV show
• Candidates need a brain—and heart
• Mike Huckabee's real role in the 2008 campaign
• WWJE? Who Would Jesus Elect? (From 2004 campaign)

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
go west young writer

Other than Sandy Cove Christian Writers' Conference—that I directed for eleven years—Mount Hermon is my favorite writers' conference, right in the middle of California's redwoods area. (Imagine Star Wars' moon of Endor without the Ewoks!) I'll be speaking at a couple seminars and meeting with potential writers March 14-18.
• Mount Hermon Christian Writers' Conference
• Sandy Cove Christian Writers' Conference
• What I'm looking for in writers

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
gay rights and frey writes—deja vu all over again!

Proving once again that history repeats itself—repeatedly—here are two stories I’ve covered here in depth before:

First, Massachusetts courts validated same-sex unions, and now it’s the California Supreme Court hearing arguments concerning same-sex unions. Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund overwhelming was approved in 2000 defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman. The law is being challenged by gay-rights groups.

Glenn Lavy, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, argued, “The law California voters passed defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Californians know this is the foundation for strong families. But certain special interest groups are trying to bypass the democratic process by asking the court to redefine marriage.” ADF has warned that the court would be guilty of judicial activism if it were to overturn the will of the people.

So—once again—some thoughts on same-same unions, civil unions and traditional marriage:
• Same-sex unions v. marriage
• Civil unions v. marriage

Second, two years ago James Frey’s memoir chronicling his drug addiction and recovery shattered into A Million Little Pieces when it was learned that he had “made up” and “exaggerated” details in the book. Just last week, the Holocaust memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, by Misha Defonseca, was revealed to be fiction.

And just this week, the critically acclaimed memoir, Love and Consequences, by Margaret B. Jones was exposed as urban legend. The half-white, half-Native American girl’s story of being raised in south-central Los Angeles with gang members and becoming a drug runner for the Bloods, is also pure fiction. Her real name is Margaret Seltzer, who is white, grew up with her biological family and attended private school in the well-to-do LA suburb of Sherman Oaks.

So—once again—some thoughts on lack of literary credibility:
• Top ten signs a reporter is lying
• If your mother says she loves you, check it out!
• Truth in "a million little pieces"

Monday, March 3, 2008, Cleveland Airport
the dredge report: news and skews

I have a two and a half hour layover in the Cleveland Airport—which should knock some time off purgatory—so why not update my spoof of "The Drudge Report." I haven't changed it since Bill and Monica were making the site one of the most popular on the Internet. Yep, 'bout time!
• The Dredge Report
• The Sound of Monica musical comedy

Later Monday, March 3, 2008
what does God smell like?

Jil Mazellan, the children's director at College Wesleyan Church, sent the staff these questions from her girls' mentoring group:

How did God start?
What is heaven?
Is heaven truly wonderful?
How big is God?
How did He come alive?
What does He smell like?
Why doesn’t He have everybody believe in Him?
How is He with us wherever we go?
How come He doesn’t get rid of the devil?
How is He everywhere?
What color is God? How old?
What does He wear?
Why can’t we see Him?

I'm guessing that if God wore cologne, He'd choose Calvin Klein's "Eternity." At least that's my answer. Thanks for praying for Jil and children's workers everywhere!
• Questions and answers about God

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
larry norman: only visiting this planet 1947-2008

If you enjoy contemporary Christian music, you have 1960s pioneer Larry Norman to thank. Dubbed the "father of Christian rock," Norman musically asked, "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?" and then answered with such classics as "Only Visiting This Planet," "Six O'clock News," and "I Wish We'd All Been Ready."

Just hours before he died of heart failure Sunday, he wrote on www.larrynorman.com, “I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home.”

Larry Norman was definitely a "prize" and deeply affected my love for God and for contemporary Christian music during the "Jesus Movement" of the 70s. Thanks for the music, Larry. Rock on!
• Official Web site
• Nice tribute at ThinkChristian
• Good bio and discography at musicianguide.com

Later Tuesday, February 26, 2008
longer boat for tunnel of love?

Hmmm? How do I put this delicately? Okay, every day I get at least 50 ads offering more excitement in the tunnel of love if I'd just get a longer boat. Not so! Every single medical study proves that the most exciting areas of the tunnel of love are around and just inside of the entrance. A dinghy will do!

If you want more excitement in the tunnel of love, read . . .
• Three secrets to x-ceptional boating

Saturday, February 23, 2008
i'm outa here! heading to florida for writers' conference

Probably the best cure for the "wintertime blues," is getting out of Indiana! Next week I'll be speaking and looking for great writers at the Florida Christian Writers' Conference.
• Where I'll be
• What I'll be looking for

Friday, February 22, 2008
interest in suicide and death on rise

My articles on suicide and death have reached numbers 5 and 9 respectively on my statistics counter. At the same time, 17 apparent suicides have been reported in the county of Bridgend, south Wales, in just over a year. Some experts claim that the lavish memorial sites created by friends promise suicidal teens their "15 megabytes of fame."

Suicide is always a permanent solution for a temporary problem.
• Help for the suicidal and their friends
• Help for the depressed and their friends

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
pagan christianity argues church 'unbiblical'

Frank Viola begins his book, Pagan Christianity, by arguing, "the church in its contemporary, institutional form has neither a biblical nor a historical right to function as it does." He has left "the institutional church to begin gathering with Christians in New Testament fashion." That pretty much sums up the message in this manifesto against the contemporary church. Everything from having a "professional pastor" to meeting in a church building are "extra-biblical practices" adopted from "pagan culture."

Hmmm? What would a "biblical" "New Testament" church look like?

No New Testament Mark (or the mysterious Mr. Q) didn't write the first gospel until around AD 55, so the "biblical" church would have only the Old Testament.

No formal training for clergy Jesus is no longer around in bodily form to train disciples, so "biblical" training would be to head to the desert for three years ala Paul. (I'd prefer Hawaii.) And ministers would be chosen by lots ala Matthias: the replacement for Judas.

Strict "truth in tithing" policy The "biblical" response to Ananias and Sapphira fudging on their giving records was death!

Communal property Instead of giving an offering, you would give your entire paycheck to the "biblical" church, then needs of members would be met and any left over given to the poor. (I think Karl Marx tried something like this.) I could go on, but you get the idea.

The life and energy of the church of Christ derives from, well, Christ. And that life and energy creatively adapts to the pagan culture it find itself in. Like Paul, it has "become all things to all people so that by all possible means [it] might save some. [It does] all this for the sake of the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9).

The Church is the living, active "Body of Christ," and not a form or structure locked in a time or place.

• What do you think?

February 18, 2008
'cure for the wintertime blues'

1950's rocker Eddie Cochran may have had the "summertime blues," but after two weeks of the flu, severe weather warnings for blizzards and tornadoes, weeks of below-freezing temperature, and my Why Files series going out of print, I'm about ready to sing the wintertime blues.

So, here are some articles that may be helpful if you're having the wintertime blues
• Keeping your dreams alive [when you're shoveling a foot of snow]
• Some thoughts on life's tough questions [when your vehicle won't start]
• Dealing with depression [when you haven't seen the sun for a week]
• The healing power of laughter [when your pipes freeze]
• Encouraging quips and quotations [when you're suffering from cabin fever]
• 281 heavy topics with a light touch [when you're snowbound]

I feel better. I hope you do, too!

Later Monday, February 18, 2008
christian ire over iranian Christ? nope!

What if Christians released a film about Mohammed that argued against the basic beliefs of Islam? You know what would happen! Yet, an Iranian film company is releasing The Messiah directed by Nader Talebzadeh. How does it differ from orthadox Christianity? Talebzadeh explains that in his film, Jesus is "not the son of God, and . . . that he was not crucified. The rest is [the same] Jesus."

Those two "differences" are essentials in Christianity: Jesus is God's Son and that He was indeed "crucified, died, and was buried" and "on the third day he rose again." It's a good thing that God is more gracious than Allah and God's followers more forgiving than radical Muslims!
• Genuine Jesus or Counterfeit Christ?
• The story from ABC News

Monday, February 18, 2008
last issue's topics

Top topic: Expelled challenges academic censorship

• Another mass killing in midwest takes six lives

• Bobby Knight's great big but

• Last issue's heavy topics with a light touch

• Just five shopping days until Valentine's Day!

• Looking for a few good writers in Colorado Springs

• Meet my soul brother, James Robert Watkins

• Million to one chance for million-seller

• Play USA Today's candidate "match game"

• Space limited at Jesus' feet?!

• Top ten most popular sites at jameswatkins.com

• Top ten things I'm giving up for Lent

• Would Jesus stay at the luxurious Broadmoor Hotel?

Saturday, March 1, 2008
february's top ten sites

February ranking (January)

1. Home page / blog (1)

2. Top ten reasons I'm not divorcing my wife (3)

3. "I just want to die" (6)

4. Women in ministry issues (4)

5. The hidden habit: masturbation (9)

6. One nation under the Supreme Being of your choice (7)

7. Is it a life or a choice? (8)

8. "Jim Shorts" on sex (5)

9. Quips and quotations of encouragement (—)

10. Dealing with death and grief (10)

And finally . . .
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