Morning Coffee - June 20, 2011

Some stimulating links to start the day:

Andy Naselli: Theistic Evolution is Incompatible with the Bible
Evolution is secular culture’s grand explanation, the overriding ‘meta-narrative’ that sinners accept with joy because it allows them to explain life without reference to God, with no accountability to any Creator, no moral standards to restrain their sin, ‘no fear of God before their eyes’ (Rom. 3:18)—and now theistic evolutionists tell us that Christians can just surrender to this massive attack on the Christian faith and safely, inoffensively, tack on God, not as the omnipotent God who in his infinite wisdom directly created all living things, but as the invisible deity who makes absolutely no detectable difference in the nature of living beings as they exist today. It will not take long for unbelievers to dismiss the idea of such a God who makes no difference at all.


Brian Croft: What can pastors easily forget when preparing for Sunday services?
There is, however, a role the local church plays in the lives of our people that full-time pastors can easily forget.  It is a role that those of us who spend much of our days immersed in God’s Word and caring for God’s people do not experience like most all our folks.  Here is a role of the weekly public gathering we as full time pastors can forget:

The public, weekly gathering of the church provides a place of refuge, strength, and encouragement to our people who spend 5 days a week immersed in the world, surrounded by those who hate God, and constantly challenge the truths of the gospel they believe. 


Forbes: Facebook vs. Apple
In the future, any Facebook user will have to go through Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android system to get to a Facebook app.  Facebook fears this could lead to disintermediation — where both of their competitors chip away dollars and market share away from the social networking leader over time.

According to the TechCrunch article, Facebook is attempting to shore up its competitive positioning with a big push to developing its own apps on HTML5 and moving quickly to an online currency to hook users (Facebook Credits).

Is Facebook right to fear Apple and Google?  They’d be crazy not to be afraid.  Google’s leadership position in the tech world seemed unassailable 3 years ago. Now they seem to be a laggard coming back from weakness.
  

NYT: My Ex-Gay Friend
Though Michael had agreed to let me visit and write about him, he was skeptical about my motivations. “Why are you here?” he asked minutes after we sat down in the cafe, which was decorated with Christmas lights and staffed by a young waiter attending the Bible school.

It was a good question. Had part of me come to “save” my old friend from the clutches of the Christian right? Though I don’t doubt that sexual attraction can evolve, I was skeptical of Michael’s claim of heterosexuality — and I rejected his argument that “homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within.” Besides, I had a hard time believing that Michael’s “true self” was a fundamentalist Christian who writes derogatorily about being gay. But whatever aspirations I had about persuading Michael to join the ranks of ex-ex-gays, they were no match for his eagerness to save me.
(HT: Denny Burk)


PCMag: Google to Partner with the British Library to Bring 250,000 Books Online
With a catalog of about 14 million books, the British Library's collection is one of the biggest in the world, second only to the U.S. Library of Congress. Many of these titles will soon be available to anyone, anywhere; a new partnership between Google and the British Library will put about 250,000 of those texts online.

Google is footing the bill to digitize content that is no longer under copyright. People can view, copy, and search this content dating from 1700-1870 for free via either the British Library site or the Google Books site. Content will be available in a variety of languages, and a focus will be placed on items that have never been available online before.

 
WSJ: Daughters and Dad's Approval
We know that fathers play a key role in the development and choices of their daughters. But even for women whose fathers had been neglectful or abusive, I found a hunger for approval. They wanted a warm relationship with men who did not deserve any relationship at all.

Part of this need takes form early in life—when a father is a girl's portal to the world of men. I call fathers a girl's GPS—gender positioning system. It's how women begin to orient themselves in a confusing and (especially of late) fluid landscape of gender expectations.