Arnie (not his real name) has been the sole student of my course on effective prayer. Sunday after church he told me he’d found a couple online resources about effective prayer, that he hoped we could review together. Each of them begins with the necessity of “belief.” When he said this, I became nervous. There are many such sources online, but I’m not comfortable with them. On the one hand, trying to make myself “believe” that the outcome I pray for is inevitable, feels t

John 9:1-3: 1As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” The disciples want to place blame. Their posture can be referred to as fault-finding, judgment and condemnation. Jesus calls attention to the opportunity to heal, to do good, to make a beginning.

———— ♦ ———— Disgusting smells provoke conservatism A logical calculus of vomit stink, gay marriage, and political leaning Research subjects exposed to the smell of vomit displayed a pronounced shift of attitudes toward the right. The Improbable Research article over-emphasizes the Biblical inerrancy question. Researchers surveyed participants on a wide range of liberal-vs.-conservative issues, and the two on which results were most outstanding were Biblical inerrancy and gay

———— ♦ ———— Man’s name change dramatically improves job hunt ———— ♦ ———— Jamarion Lawhorn update Previous post: In playground murder, 12-year-old boy charged as an adult Next post: Jamarion Lawhorn update It has since become clear that (1) at the time of the murder, the suspect was suicidal, and (2) he had been subject to years of severe child abuse. Articles not included in the links below mention that, immediately before the murder, he had swallowed a handful of “pink pills

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