New Display Option at ModerateChristian.com

Posted on by

I’ve been looking for a way to make the blogroll more valuable for some time.  Considering how far behind I get on the little bit of administrative work I have to do now, whatever idea I found couldn’t take much time.

I found it!  I have added a new topics page, which uses the tagging from my Google Reader, most of which I’m doing anyhow, to show only the Moderate Christian Blogroll members’ posts by topic.

I am putting a bit of advertising on the page, as there is some added value here, but I’m only posting links using the Google widget that comes with the reader.  If you don’t want to be included, let me know, and I’ll exclude your blog.

New Blogroll Members and Blogrolling Problem

Posted on by

First, apparently Blogrolling has been having troubles for some time so that rolls cannot be updated.  They expect to have this fixed soon.  I didn’t notice because I was so far behind in updating the roll.

Second, I have just updated the roll with submissions going all the way back to October last year, so if you have been waiting forever and ever, you may find yourself on the roll now.

The blogrolling blogrolls (sounds good, no?) still work, but I can’t add the new members yet.  The other means of including the blogroll on your site still work, including:

Display all sites in random order:  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php (The default is to display site names and do so in random order.)

Display sites with most recently updated first:  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php?order=recent (order can also = alpha, but that is not particularly useful as there are more than 50 sites on the blogroll.)

Limit the number of posts (maximum and default are both 50):  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php?order=recent&max=10

List posts rather than sites:  http://www.moderatechristian.com/xml.php?type=posts.

In addition, you can subscribe to the RSS feed from my Google Reader Moderate Christian Blogroll folder.  I’m not at all sure why you would prefer to do it that way, but you can.

4 Posts on the U. S. Election

Posted on by

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

I’m having to look a ways back to get a balance.  I wanted two that would be more or less pro-Republican and two that would be more or less pro-Democratic, but I had some difficulty finding them all.

Levellers – Obama’s Chances of Victory Increase

Dr. Michael Westmoreland-White discusses why he believes Obama should win and will.

if i were a bell i’d ring – To Go Negative or Not to Go Negative…

Tim Ricchuiti wants McCain to pay for going so negative to teach all politicians a lesson.

Joel Gillespie – It’s Time to Fish or Cut Bait

Joel thinks we need to get real.  He also liked John McCain’s idea of suspending the campaign.  (OK, so I gave him an extra link, but it helps balance this post!)

Moral Science Club – Two important articles on Feminism, Hanson and Paglia

On the other hand, is this the actual Democratic position on abortion?

4 Posts on Tithing

Posted on by

Finally!  After nearly two months, another “four posts” post.  I hope to be more regular as I’m using my Google Reader more effectively.

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

Christian Personal Finance – Tithing in the New Testament

. . . in which he presents answers to a number of major questions about Christians and tithing.

Wayne’s Bible Study – Many U. S. Christians pay tithe before mortgage even in crisis

. . . points us to a news story about Christians continuing to tithe even when defaulting on their mortgages.

One Thing I Know – The Church as Prostitute

Could preaching tithing be one element in a wrong focus for your church?

Everyday Liturgy – 10 Everyday Spiritual Resolutions

Tturner presents tithing as one of 10 spiritual resolutions.

Note that not all of these posts are entirely about tithing, but I think they each present something to consider.

Blogs Added

Posted on by

I have added a number of new blogs to the roll.  If you have e-mailed me or filled out the form and have not been added, there are two possible reasons:

  1. I didn’t get the e-mail or somehow missed/deleted it
  2. Your blog did not appear to meet the standards.

It’s easy for me to miss something on a blog that doesn’t relate to religion, so if your blog is not on the roll, e-mail me again.  I’m looking for an explicity statement that the blog is Christian and also some sort of evidence that it supports moderation in one form or another.

The point is not to be exclusive, but rather to keep all the blogs on this roll on one theme.  There are many blogs that I read regularly and enjoy that would not qualify.

Here are the blogs I have just added:

I will try to get back to a few “four posts” entries in the near future!

Posts RSS Feed Down on the Blogroll

Posted on by

The RSS feed for posts was down overnight due to a stupid error I made in coding an upgrade.  It’s fixed now.

The upgrade will allow me to exclude feeds individually from either the blogroll or the aggregator at your request.  Right now nobody is excluded, and I don’t plan to exclude anyone unless they would prefer not to be included in one or the other.

Since the Aggregator (moderatechristian.com) includes post summaries, some people might prefer not to have their content included.  Also, in the near future the same upgrade will allow me to tag posts by category (politics, religion, etc.) and topic (Bible, doctrine, U.S., whatever), with tabs on the aggregator allowing users to review incoming posts in that way.  I would probably include at least one amazon.com or google ad block to help me pay for all this, and I want to offer people the option of being in the blogroll but not in that topical listing.

I think such a list should help make the aggregator more useful, however, so while I’m making the option available, I’m hoping most people will choose to stick with it.  Note that I never include the whole post, unless the whole post and summary are identical, as shown in your RSS feed.

4 Posts on Evangelism v. 0.8.0

Posted on by

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

Before anybody asks, yes, I’m posting this on Sunday morning.  I get up substantially before time for church and often read blogs.  This morning as I was reading I noticed quite a number of posts on evangelism, and I’m going to post some of them here.

parables of a prodigal world – The Greatest Evangelism Tool Ever

I’ll leave you to go to the post to view this interesting YouTube video.

Adventures in Revland -Matthew 9:35-10:8 – Sermon – God Has Faith in Us

Rev J. offers us an interesting challenge to an evangelism committee.  It’s worth considering!

Kouya Chronicle – Mission in the 21st Century: 1. Introduction

Eddie gets off to a good start on discussing mission and evangelism.  He has posted the second part as well.

Levellers – My Peace I Leave Unto You

Michael Westmoreland-White is not precisely writing about evangelism, but in writing about being a peacemaker, he does precisely that.

Remember again to e-mail me with posts and topics you would like to see included in one of these short roundups.  Otherwise you’re stuck with the stuff I particularly noticed, which may not be representative.

4 Posts on Faith (v. 0.7.0)

Posted on by

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

Today’s topic is rather broad and I have tried to select some posts that go to the edges of it, so they may not all feel all that closely related.

Whispers from God’s Spirit

A Promise for Safety from God is a poem based on Psalm 91.

Pen of the Wayfarer

On God’s faithfulness and our response, A Man’s Calling.

Christian Personal Finance

The title says it:  How to Get What You Want.

Kouya Chronicle

And again, the title says it: Urgently Required:  A Theology of Suffering

Important Note

I notice that I have cited the same blogs multiple times while I still haven’t featured a post from every blog on the list.  This will be inevitable as I read my bloglines account and clip the things that I think might work or that interest me for various projects.

To remedy this situation, e-mail me with your post (or one that interested you) and the suggested topic, and I will work on linking to it.  Even better, list three other posts that go with yours, and I can just grab them as a group.

4 Posts on Photography

Posted on by

What are these 4 Posts entries? As many days of the week as I have time I look through the RSS feed for the Moderate Christian Blogroll/Aggregator and select four posts on a single topic. Usually the topic is suggested because a post has caught my eye. To call my attention to a post you have written e-mail pubs@energion.com and suggest your post and a general topic heading. Your blog must be a member of the Moderate Christian blogroll, and in general I prefer to include posts within the last week only.

These posts all display some good (in my opinion, of course!) photography.  These require little comment, and that’s what they’ll get!

Heaven’s Highway, God’s Fireworks Display

God’s Fireworks Display

Joel Gillespie

I Was Enjoying My Nap

Pen of the Wayfarer

For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served . . .

Quiet Paths

Wild Iris on Second Beach