RSS
 

Gentry/Walker discussion on the Lord’s Supper

10 Nov

I just wanted to share a link to a video interview that Clay Gentry has posted on his blog concerning the Lord’s Supper. He is speaking with Ralph Walker, who works with the Henderson Blvd Church of Christ in Tampa.

Clay is my second cousin, and while we didn’t exactly grow up together (he’s several years older than me), I still remember exploring the woods and creeks around our family’s property in McEwen, TN with him. He works with the Lanton church of Christ in Spring Hill, TN.

Ralph Walker is a good family friend, and I’ve heard his name for as long as I can remember. I got to know him better during my freshman year at Florida College when I was a member of the Henderson Blvd congregation where he (and Ron Drumm) were/are preaching. He does great work there and with the young people at the college.

Watch their discussion on the Lord’s Supper here (it is 38 minutes long, so get comfortable).

 
1 Comment

Posted in General Rambling, Religion

 

A Link and An Observation

09 Aug

I wanted to link you to this article entitled “An Interracial Fix for Black Marriage” by Ralph Richards Banks (via First Things). Here’s an excerpt:

Audrey belongs to the most unmarried group of people in the U.S.: black women. Nearly 70% of black women are unmarried, and the racial gap in marriage spans the socioeconomic spectrum, from the urban poor to well-off suburban professionals. Three in 10 college-educated black women haven’t married by age 40; their white peers are less than half as likely to have remained unwed. Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in General Rambling, Religion

 

Letting your light shine on Facebook

25 Jun

(The following is a bulletin article I’m printing for tomorrow morning. I thought I’d share it.)

There have been several articles written lately regarding the dangers to Christians on social networking websites like Facebook. As disciples of Jesus, we must always be on guard against Satan’s attacks, and Facebook can certainly be a medium for those attacks. However, I fear that some may have gotten the wrong idea about Facebook – particularly those who do not use the internet or are not familiar with what this particular website is. Moreover, even those of us who are on Facebook don’t always realize the potential that it has. With that in mind, I would like to say a word about why Facebook is so potent – both for good and bad – and then list a few of the positive ways in which a Christian can use this website. (I’m focused on Facebook because it is the most popular and “current,” but much of this applies to other sites as well). Read the rest of this entry »

 
5 Comments

Posted in Bulletin Articles, Religion

 

My New Toy

24 Jun

I have never been more excited about and satisfied with a major purchase than with the Logos Bible Software that I bought on Monday.

(They have a ton of banners on their site. I thought this one was humorous.)

A few weeks back, I was blessed with an unexpectedly high tax return. Turns out, I qualified for that big tax credit after all (at least according to the IRS…who reserves its right to change its mind at any point in the next 10 years or so). Combined with some that I’d set aside already, I found myself with enough cash-in-hand to maybe purchase something that I’d had my eyes on ever since I was in college – a powerful bible study program. I remember sitting in Dr. Petty’s office and seeing the brochures sitting around for these kinds of programs and thinking “Boy, those look great!” Then I saw how expensive they were. “How could anyone possibly justify spending that much money on a bible program? Don’t they have free ones?” Yes, they do, and I’ve been using those free bible programs for as long as I can remember. However, now that I’ve taken the plunge and plopped down a ridiculous amount of money (though with a 15-20% discount) , I have reached the ‘other side’ and the grass is indeed greener. Lest I excitedly ramble on with no structure whatsoever, allow me to enumerate a few of the awesome features that, in my opinion, make Logos worth every cent. Read the rest of this entry »

 
2 Comments

Posted in General Rambling, Religion, Translations and Versions

 

Book Review: “Surprised by Hope” (N.T. Wright)

24 May

“Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church”
Author: N.T. Wright
Publisher: HarperOne

I have no intention of giving a thorough review of this book. That has been done countless times elsewhere and by people far more qualified to do so. However, Wright’s books usually leave me itching to same something to someone about it – even if it is merely broadcasting those reflections to my (more or less non-existent) blog audience.

I first heard about this book back when I owned a TV. I ran across an interview Wright had with Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report. In the interview, Wright was emphatic that after the resurrection we would exist in a physical sense on a physically renewed and recreated world. I was fascinated by his confidence in his position. I mean, isn’t “what will heaven be like?” one of those questions to which we must always start our answer by saying “Wellll….we’re really not told much, but….”. How could this guy – a respected scholar of biblical studies – be so sure of himself? Then, some time later, while reading another of Wright’s books (I can’t recall which one), he mentioned this belief in a bodily existence after resurrection off handedly and directed his readers to this book if they were interested in more. Finally, I determined to buy the book and see what on earth he was talking about (teehee). Read the rest of this entry »

 
1 Comment

Posted in Book Reviews, Religion

 

Random Thought

19 May

Is it just me or has Disney been on a hardcore advertising push now for about a year? It seems like every other commercial on Hulu is inviting the viewer to come discover the “magic” of Disney. I’ve never been a huge fan, myself. I know we went when I was little, and I went over there once or twice when I was in Tampa, but I can’t imagine planning a vacation to Orlando (?!). I’m the type who would much rather go to Europe or Australia or something. But, of course, I’ve got tons of friends who are wild about all things Disney.

So I got to thinking: What would does Jesus think of Disney World? Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in General Rambling

 

Book Review: “Mind Your Faith: Essays in Apologetics” (Doy Moyer)

10 May
dmoyer.com

Image from dmoyer.com

 

“Mind Your Faith: Essays in Apologetics”
Author: Dr. Doy Moyer
Publisher: Florida College Press (2010)

I should note up front that a) I’m in no way qualified to give a scholarly review of an apologetics (or any) book, b) I know Dr. Moyer and have a great personal respect for him and am therefore biased, and c) I am really only writing this because I’ve had serious writers’ block where this blog and my journal are concerned, so when the muse says “Go,” I don’t ask questions.

The book sets out to present introductory studies in apologetics which Moyer defines as “the defense of God, Jesus, and the Scripture” (7). He notes in the preface that “These readings were designed for an introductory course in evidences” and that “each reading was purposefully kept brief in order to help reinforce the material covered in class” (6). Thus, the book is mostly academic in tone – though the last few chapters shift somewhat toward the devotional. It seems to me that with a topic like apologetics, that is entirely appropriate. The book is not so challenging that a person must have a degree to make sense of it, but it is not so dumbed down that it does an injustice to the topics discussed either. He easily could have fallen into either trap, but he didn’t. Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in Book Reviews, Reading, Religion

 

New Look…n’stuff

26 Apr

Obviously, I’m changing a few things about this website. Most conspicuous are the aesthetic changes in name and theme. “Under the Oak” was always meant as a kind of temporary name. “Rants and Reflections” seems a bit more descriptive of what this blog has been and (hopefully) will be (plus, its R-ish…and I’ve got a thing for R’s). I also changed the theme to what I feel is an easier layout to read and manage. Read the rest of this entry »

 
2 Comments

Posted in General Rambling

 

Blah

10 Sep

I haven’t forgotten about this blog. Honest.

It’s just that I’ve got plans for raogden.com that I don’t have time to implement right now. Basically, my hope is to have raogden.com direct you to a split page where you can choose to either continue to a blog (this page) or to a moodle site designed for bible study. Whether I’ll actually ever have time to do this…who knows?

 
Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

 

2010 World Cup (Part Two): How it all works

14 Dec
(This is the second of a series of posts to help give some background for the FIFA World Cup taking place in June 2010. I’m hoping that by giving some of the background for the World Cup and maybe some basics of the game itself, I can drum up some interest among friends and family)

2010 World Cup Series:

 

  1. A History Lesson
  2. How it works

As promised, we will take a look in this post at how international soccer competition is organized and specifically how the 2010 World Cup will be organized.

I thought that guy played for. . .

Before we look at how the competition between teams is organized, lets take a look at the teams themselves. In chatting with folks about soccer, Read the rest of this entry »

 
1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

 
« Older Entries