Blogaround

The Blue Angels. Image source.

Interesting stuff from around teh intarwebz:

1. Recalculating: How Study Bibles Can Limit Bible Study (posted July 11). This post compares a study bible to a GPS device- it tells you the "answers" but in the end you have no real knowledge of the bible/city.

I had never thought about this before. I've always had a study bible, until earlier this year when I got a Chinese/English bible (so it's technically 2 bibles- no room for little notes). I think it's really important to know about the culture/ historical background/ writing style of the bible- but we definitely shouldn't think that the commentary in a study bible is going to tell us all the "answers."

There have been many times I read a bible story and I was like "what was with that?" (for example, when God was about to kill Moses but then Moses's wife saved the day by quickly circumcising their child- WHAT?) and looked for answers in commentaries or the notes in my study bible, and none of them addressed the obvious question: "WTF?" They either ignored the passage completely or said vague things.

2. So a Girl Walks into a Comedy Club... (posted July 10). This is so horrible. Comedian Daniel Tosh, in response to being "heckled" by a woman in the audience, says, "Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now?" and other horrible things.

And the reaction on the internet: you have some people saying "I can't believe this- this is so horrible" and some people saying "but he has free speech, and you have to expect rape jokes at his show, duh. Oh and rape is funny."

There's nothing I can even say because this story is so obviously disgusting and appalling and terrible. I cannot comprehend the existence of a line of "reasoning" that says it was "funny" and totally okay for him to threaten her like that.

3. Here's something a bit nicer. This chicken stole some kittens from their mother and pretended they were her own. The pictures are pretty cute. Found it on reddit. And don't worry, the mom cat got her kittens back.

4. Pornography, Respect, and Responsibility: A Letter to the Hotel Industry (posted July 9). The authors request hotels to stop offering pornographic movies, because porn is degrading and is about treating people like objects. I don't know enough about this issue to say much, but it is worth reading.

5. Mandarin Chinese cover of "Oh Happy Day," a worship song. This is one of my favorite Chinese songs.

(Here is the link to youtube.)

"Oh, happy day, happy day!
你洗净我的罪 [you washed away my sins]
Oh, happy day, happy day!
生命完全改变 [my life is completely changed]
永远不再一样 [never again the same]"

6. This blogger is currently in Ethiopia, and she wrote about meeting the leaders of a village that is being assisted by Food for the Hungry. I found this very interesting because it shows some of how things actually happen in a practical sense when you give money to organizations like that. Also this is a cute story about meeting her sponsored child.

Any other cool links you want to share? What's going on on your own blog lately?