Blogaround

1. Not “Just” Friends - Thoughts on cross-sex friendship by Alise Wright (posted August 12) "We lament that the world has separated intimacy from sex, but many Christians have done something equally damaging, in that we often imply that intimacy must be paired with sex."

2. Flipping the script on Russia’s anti-gay persecution (posted August 13) "American Christians fail the test. We’re breaking the Golden Rule — disregarding the whole of 'the law and the prophets.' We are failing to love our neighbors as we love ourselves."

3. NH Notes: Dino Doo-Doo (Coprolites) and the Genesis Flood (posted August 10) "Any dinosaur that has been running around for 20-100 days escaping the global flood waters will have had no time to eat (there wouldn’t be anything to eat in the barren landscape anyway) and would have voided their intestines in the first days of the flood."

4. The Onanism of ‘teavangelical’ Republicans (posted August 19) "The story says, rather, that sex with your dead brother’s childless widow must always be for the purpose of procreation."

5. What is the burden of proof in the #Methodist #homosexuality debate? (posted August 20) "Here is Paul’s explanation for his teachings about celibacy and marriage: I want you to be free from anxieties. ... Does that sound anything at all like contemporary evangelical teachings about sex? Does that sound like teenage girls being told to wear knee length XXL t-shirts over their already modest one-piece swimsuits at youth pool parties? Does that sound like counseling boys and girls not to kiss until their wedding day if they’re even allowed to date at all? Does that sound like the obsession with masturbation among Christian men that actually causes it to be an irresistible temptation?"

6. Going to Weddings Alone (posted August 21) "Am I really missing the most important way humans model God’s love because I’m not married? Am I really only barely okay unless I’ve got a matching ring set with an opposite gender human? Is the bond I have with steady friends of twenty years just a half-love?"

7. Don’t Be a Friend of Sinners (posted August 22) "Maybe He knew that we’d have a tendency to create hierarchies of righteousness and pat ourselves on the back for stooping to hang out with those lower than us."

8. Math Experts Split the Check (posted August 23) "We can also assume that the restaurant has no friction!"