The World is Still a Mysterious Place

Researchers have produced aerial photos of jungle dwellers who they say are among the few remaining peoples on Earth who have had no contact with the outside world. More than 100 uncontacted tribes remain worldwide, and about half live in the remote reaches of the Amazonian rainforest in Peru or Brazil, near the recently photographed tribe, according to Survival International, a nonprofit group that advocates for the rights of indigenous people.

The National Indian Foundation, a government agency in Brazil, published the photos Thursday on its Web site. It tracks "uncontacted tribes" -- indigenous groups that are thought to have had no contact with outsiders -- and seeks to protect them from encroachment. The photos show men outside thatched communal huts, necks craned upward, pointing bows toward the air in a remote corner of the Amazonian rainforest.

"These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist," the director of Survival International said in a statement. "The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct... All are in grave danger of being forced off their land, killed or decimated by new diseases"

Source

Good News, Bad News

Good News

More than 100 countries attending a conference in Dublin, Ireland formally adopted a treaty Friday to ban cluster bombs -- a large, unreliable and inaccurate weapon that often affects civilians long after the end of armed conflict. The countries agreed never to use cluster munitions or the explosive bomblets they contain, and they also agreed never to develop, acquire, retain or transfer cluster munitions, according to the official treaty document.

Bad News

The United States would not agree to any ban because the country considers cluster munitions an important part of its defense strategy.

Source

The Worship Industry

Where am I?

I've had a few people ask me lately where I stand in relation to the different theologies and Christian traditions, so I thought I'd put it out there:

Theology: I consider myself basically orthodox, reformed, covenantal, evangelical, and generous.

Ecclesiology: I am happily a part of the Episcopal/Anglican communion, though we are not without our troubles.

Also, I am interested in the emergent conversation, though I also have some reservations about where it seems to be headed at times. Generally though, I think many of their critiques of modernism and the modern American church to be valid.

I am very concerned about good theology, unity, abortion, ecology, social justice, peace, and third world debt.

--Jason

The Creed

Prayers...

...for my dear and beloved friends Matt and Lauren Larsen, and little Davi still growing in Lauren's womb. Lauren is in the high-risk pregnancy center as I write this. Her fluid level which should be at 20 is at 5, and if they don't fix it, Lauren is going to go into labor ... 16 weeks early.

For Lauren...
Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beg you to behold, visit, and relieve your sick servant Lauren for whom our prayers are offered. Look upon her with the eyes of your mercy; comfort her with a sense of your goodness; preserve her and give her patience under this affliction. Restore her to health. O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servant Lauren the help of your power, that her sickness may be turned into health and that, her health being renewed, she may bless your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Matt...
O merciful Father, Look with pity upon the sorrows of your servant Matt for whom our prayers are offered. Remember him, O Lord, in mercy, nourish his soul with patience, comfort him with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon him, and give him peace; O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we will be saved, in quietness and confidence will be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift Matt, we pray, to your presence, where he may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Davi...
O eternal God, you have promised to be a father to a thousand generations of those who love and fear you: Bless this child and preserve her life; receive her and enable her to receive you. Heavenly Father, watch with us over your child Davi, and grant that she may be born in perfect health. Into your hands, O God, we place your child Davi. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Almighty God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of those who ask in your Son's Name: We beg you mercifully to incline your ear to us who have now made our prayers and supplications to you; and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to your will, may effectually be obtained, to the relief of our necessity, and to the setting forth of thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thought for the Day

True freedom is not simply doing what we please. True freedom is doing the will of God and delighting in that doing. Sin, in this sense, is what imprisons us and keeps us from being free.

An Evangelical Manifesto

In case you haven't heard, Os Guinness, Dallas Willard, and Rich Mouw to name a few of the dozens of signees, have recently released An Evangelical Manifesto.

The stated purpose of the document is to be "an open declaration of who Evangelicals are and what they stand for. It has been drafted and published by a representative group of Evangelical leaders who do not claim to speak for all Evangelicals, but who invite all other Evangelicals to stand with them and help clarify what Evangelical means in light of “confusions within and the consternation without” the movement...the Manifesto is a serious call to reform—an urgent challenge to reaffirm Evangelical identity, to reform Evangelical behavior, to reposition Evangelicals in public life, and so rededicate ourselves to the high calling of being Evangelical followers of Jesus Christ."

I have not had an opportunity to read the EM closely, but still considering myself an "evangelical" in the best sense of the word, I am very interested in what it might say. Take a look at it, let me know what you think, and perhaps I'll post some thoughts on it in the days to come.

http://www.anevangelicalmanifesto.com/

What is happening?