Wombs for rent

FOR RENT: Perfect home for a growing family. small, but very warm and cozy. Nine-month lease only, cash in advance. Call Dr. Anoop Gupta at Delhi IVF.

A variety of news reports like this one have highlighted the way surrogate motherhood has become a growth industry in India, proving that tech support and accounting are not the only candidates for outsourcing to that burgeoning nation.

Women who seek a surrogate mother but face delays and mountains of red tape in America or other countries -- not to mention fees upwards of $70,000 -- can find healthy women in India who would much rather bear children than harvest rice, and at a lower price. The practice is supported by an established medical community and clinics such as Delhi IVF, mentioned above, whose web page includes the assurance that"We have arrangements for egg donor/rent womb."

While I can imagine a host of ethical questions that might be raised about the practice, it seems to be a win/win for all concerned. Though some would argue that the practice is inherently exploitive, there seems to be no lack of willing surrogates who see the process as a positive thing.

On the one hand, women who can't conceive or bear a baby, but who want a child that shares their genes, have a ready option available. The cost is considerably lower than in the U.S., there are fewer restrictions, and there's a much smaller likelihood that the surrogate mother will start hanging around or wanting joint custody.

From the surrogate's position, she gets the equivalent of 10-15 years' income for a peasant woman for less than a year's labor, and almost certainly gets better medical care than when bearing her own progeny. The practice is not without risk, but long days in sweatshops an rice fields are not without risk, either.

Though we often think of surrogate motherhood as something new, the deep desire for children and the practice of using surrogate wombs is an ancient one, though pregnancy had to be accomplished the old-fashioned way rather then via test tubes and petri dishes. The concept of surrogacy is attested in the Bible as far back as Abraham, who fathered a child by the servant woman Hagar. Genesis 16 asserts that it was Sarah's idea, and quotes her as telling Abraham “You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her” (Gen 16:2, NRSV).

We know from reading the rest of the story that it didn't turn out as Sarah expected, but it didn't stop the practice. Both of Jacob's official wives (Rachel and Leah) reportedly asked him to foster multiple children by their handmaids (Bilhah and Zilpah) who would count as their own (Genesis 30). Rachel described the practice of having the child delivered "on her knees" in the cultural language of adoption: “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I too may have children through her” (Gen. 30:3, NRSV).

The Hebrew Bible even attests to surrogate fatherhood through the practice of levirate marriage. If a married man died childless, his brother was supposed to marry the widow and father at least one child to inherit the brother's estate and carry on his name. As the unfortunate Onan would learn (Gen 38:1-11), that didn't always work out well, either.

The most memorable example of biblical surrogacy, and one that did turn out well, is Jesus Christ. The gospels claim that Jesus was born of a virgin, fathered by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-35). That scenario clearly puts Mary in the role of being a surrogate mother for Jesus.

I'm sure the current practice of outsourcing motherhood to countries like India will have its share of problems, but it does offer hope for many women who otherwise could not have children. And, if those children discover later in life that they have an inordinate taste for curry, perhaps it will help India's farmers, too.

The Wii-gle Has Landed

Three weeks before Christmas, our son Samuel decided he didn’t want a drum set after all, and asked for a Nintendo Wii video game.

We went through the standard rigmarole of trying to find one of the toys during the pre-Christmas rush when they were in very limited supply. Jan tried multiple stores and online vendors, and I even broke down and did the get-in-line-at-Toys-R-Us-at-6:00 a.m. routine, with no luck.

Wii’s could be obtained from individuals out to make some fast money on websites like ebay and craigslist.com, but rarely for less than $100 more than retail, a premium we declined to pay.

Samuel had been prepared in advance, and on Christmas morning, he found a picture of a Wii in his stocking, and a pledge that we’d get him one as soon as they were commercially available.

We thought it might take a couple of months, but on the day after Christmas, my older son called and said he’d found a stack of Wii’s at Target in Augusta – and knew they’d been available at Best Buy the same day.

The following day, a good friend who knew we’d been looking called from the Walmart in Dunn, N.C., offering to pick one up for us there.

I suspect they were available in plenty other places, too, which leads me to believe that Nintendo must have manufactured an intentional "shortage" to drum up added buzz for the game. To the company's credit, at least it left the price-gouging to individual online sellers.

Perhaps Nintendo has seen how well it works for the big oil companies, which have had great success at the game, knowing that one has only to conspire to create limited availability for a desired product, and people will inevitably line up and pay more.

Based on that, you’d think the doctrine of limited atonement would be a great evangelistic tool, but I guess it wasn’t predestined to be.

The in-between time

The week after Christmas has always struck me as a rather odd period. Although some folks (especially retailers) go immediately back to work, it's common for other folks to save enough vacation days to remain off through the New Year's holiday.

After all the commercial (and occasionally religious) lead-up to Christmas, we have a bit of a "down" period prior to the next big holiday. For some people, it can be really depressing. For others, it's a chance to take any cash they received as gifts to the after-Christmas sales. For many (like us), it's mainly an opportunity to spend time with family and friends before the routine begins anew.

It reminds me of the way some New Testament theologians speak of the time between Jesus' ascension and his promised return as an "in-between time," a time that includes elements of both "already" and "not yet."

If the in-betweeness of the days make us feel a little out of kilter, may that serve as a reminder that there are things God has already called us to do that we have not yet done. This week might be a good time to start.

Christmas card troubles

Today's paper reports that credit card trouble is on the rise as folks who took out bigger mortgages than they were able to pay are discovering that they can't pay for all the stuff they charged on credit cards, either. Both delinquencies and defaults are increasing at a rapid rate.

On the one hand, it's hard to feel sorry for credit card companies that have to write off bad debts, because they actively pursue more debtors. Companies constantly send out "pre-approved" credit offers without regard to whether the recipient has the means (or the mentality) to handle a card responsibly.

As with the the troubled "sub-prime" mortgage market, the card companies offer low teaser rates on interest that encourage cardholders to borrow more money, but those who aren't savvy enough to limit their spending to what they can pay off before the teaser rates expire get stuck with higher and higher rates -- some as high as 30 percent.

The problem is not just with greedy loan companies, however, but with greedy borrowers who are so devoted to our consumerist culture that they feel it imperative to have more house and more stuff than they can possibly need for any purpose other than keeping up with their neighbors. Many of the people who are deepest in debt have above average incomes -- but also above average greed.

Sadly, what our culture has done to Christmas is a part of the problem. We think it's not Christmas if we don't give (or receive) enormously expensive Christmas gifts, many of which wind up on credit cards that we know can't be repaid at the end of the month.

At our house, we haven't stopped giving gifts entirely (we're not quite that bah-humbuggy), but we have reduced them. We have tacit agreements with friends who used to exchange gifts that we'll forgo gifts and contribute to charity instead. Jan and I put a dollar limit on how much we can spend on each other, and we refuse to give in to the notion that children's egos will suffer irreparably if they don't get everything they want.

Whether Christmas or not, we limit ourselves to one active credit card each, and use them only for convenience, not as our personal loan officer. If we can't pay something off by the end of the month, we don't buy it.

It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to outdo one another or to measure love by the value of the gifts we give or receive, but it is not an unavoidable trap.

The Christmas gift that really matters was born in a stable. In his life and death, Jesus gave far more than any of us will ever deserve: that's the only debt we should be unable to repay.

Carpenter thoughts

They stood like soldiers, ten ladderback chairs that needed my attention. We bought them in stages more than 20 years ago, as Jan and I were first setting up housekeeping in Oxford, N.C., then adding more furniture to fill a larger parsonage when we moved to Boone.

We wanted solid wood furniture but had few funds to spare, so we chose matching pedestal tables made of unfinished oak, along with equally unfinished ladderback chairs with wicker bottoms: solid furnishings that matched our countrified tastes.

I set to work with sandpaper and steel wool, Minwax "Golden Oak" stain and polyurethane, and after some considerable effort, both tables and chairs turned out nicely.

More than two decades and the extra wear and tear that children bring do have an impact on furniture, however. Though solid as ever (except for a couple of chairs that are starting to creak), the finish was fading and the application of permanent magic marker had left some red streaks that couldn't be removed without serious sanding.

So, once the fall semester at Campbell University Divinity School was over, refinishing the tables and chairs was near the top of my "honeydo" list, just behind painting water spots on the ceiling, edging the flower beds, and the ongoing chore of keeping the leaves from our neighbors' oak trees under control.

I'm more of a wordsmith than a craftsman, but still find occasional satisfaction in working with my hands and seeing the fruits of manual labor. In this Christmas season, spending some hands-on time with tables and chairs gave me cause to remember the forgotten hero of the Christmas story.

Joseph may have been a simple man, a common carpenter, but there was nothing common about the extraordinary trust in God that led him to play a crucial role in a divine drama he couldn't begin to understand. Three years ago, I posted a Christmas monologue called "Joseph's Soliloquy" on the Biblical Recorder website. I was a little surprised to note that it's been on the site's "most read" list since last November. For Mary's husband's sake, I am grateful.

Thank you, Joseph. You're the man.

Thy word have I hid ...

... on my pin?

According to the Jerusalem Post, scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have successfully inscribed the entire text of the Hebrew Bible – vowels included – on a gold-covered silicon chip smaller than the head of a pin.

I remember seeing tiny texts on exhibit in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, minuscule parchments piously inscribed by hand in letters too small to be seen with the naked eye.

Technion’s infinitesimal text is too small to be seen with anything other than a scanning electron microscope.

The creators don’t expect anyone to read their nano-Bible in anything other than an exhibit, of course. They plan to display a photograph expanded 10,000 times (into a seven-meter-square poster), and even then the letters will remain diminutive, just three millimeters high.

Instead, Tehnion’s purpose is to raise awareness of nanotechnology, the incredible ability to shape materials on the atomic level. To etch the text, scientists used a special computer program to shoot a beam of gallium atoms at the thin gold plating, gouging away gold ions to inscribe letters made of lines only 20 nanometers wide.

A nanometer is equal to one billionth of meter, or one millionth of a millimeter; it takes about 250 millimeters to make an inch.

Making a Bible that small is an amazing accomplishment, but we know that the really difficult trick is to inscribe the Scriptures on our hearts, so that others can read them in our lives – without the aid of a microscope.


[Photo, courtesy of Technion, displays part of a column containing the first verses of Genesis.]

Dragonfly evangelism

Our son Samuel has taken a real liking to his latest toy, a remote controlled dragonfly made by Flytech. He became enamored with it when a neighbor friend got one as a Hanukkah present, and used his own money to buy one for himself.

I didn't know such things existed. The styrofoam bug flies via four filmy wings that flap quickly enough to keep the toy airborne, while a tiny propeller on the back helps it turn.

Samuel invited me out this morning to watch him fly the electronic critter. I offered to take pictures, and he suggested I might get a blog out of it, so here we are.

We discovered that the fragile toy is no match for even a gentle breeze, at least when it comes to making it go in the direction you like. As Samuel tried to get the dragonfly airborne and in front of the camera, it turned around and dive-bombed him.

Since the toy has to be light, the built-in battery is tiny, and lasts for only six or seven minutes before it needs recharging for 20 minutes. That ensures, if nothing else, that children won't get bored from playing with it for long stretches of time.

The dragonfly battery is recharged from the six AA batteries that also operate the controller and burn out fairly quickly, which should be good news for Eveready and Duracell. Samuel's toy may be up and down, but battery stocks should be flying high.

I couldn't help but ponder the evangelistic fervor with which Dragonfly madness swept out neighborhood. The toys have been available for some time, but no one around here had one. Then Jake got one as a Hanukkah gift, and had so much fun that Samuel came under the conviction that he must have one, too. Only one day passed before Jordan, whose grandmother lives across the street, sought to be saved from his lack of a dragonfly, and his wish was soon granted.

The best kind of evangelism doesn't come from a pamphlet, a program, or a guilt trip. When faith is genuine, vibrant, and attractive, however, our witness takes wing.

Nebo-Sarsekim's gift

Thinking back through the news of the past year, a small and largely overlooked event offered to believers a gift that's worth celebrating.

It all has to do with a gift from a certain Babylonian named Nebo-Sarsekim, who was not one of the wise men. He offered gold to his god, but it wasn't to Jesus, as he lived six centuries earlier.

It's unlikely that you've heard of Nebo-Sarsekim, even if you've read Jeremiah 39:3, where he is mentioned as one of Nebuchadnezzar II's high officials who accompanied him during the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

His name appears in a list of Babylonian officials that has been misread by most translations, which mistakenly tag "nebo" to the end of the preceding word (Samgar), rather than rightly regarding it as a prefix to the following word (Sarsekim). A better reading, adopted by the New International Version and the New English Translation (also known as the NETBible), gives the officials' names as "Nergal-sharezer of Samgar" and "Nebo-sarsekim," who is described as a "rab-saris," meaning "chief officer," along with another high official named "Nergal-sharezer."

And why should we care? It was announced last summer that a researcher in the British Museum, poring through the thousands of cuneiform tablets from Babylon in the museum's archives, found a small tablet that served as a receipt from that very official (you can find another story here).

I first mentioned it back in July, in a blog for the Biblical Recorder, but I thought it worth mentioning again for online Baptists Today readers who may have missed it earlier.

The tablet was first uncovered in 1870, in the ruins of ancient Sippar (on the outskirts of modern Baghdad), where there was a huge temple to the sun. Nebo-Sarsekim had contributed more than a pound and a half of gold to the temple of Esangila, and a priestly accountant provided an official receipt that also attested to the delivery-person's faithfulness.

The tablet is dated to the tenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, which would have been two years after the Babylonians' first sacking of Jerusalem, when they deported King Jehoiachin and took all the gold from the temple (2 Kings 24:13). Some have speculated that the Nebo-Sarsekim's gift to the temple of Esangila may have come from his share of spoil from the temple in Jerusalem. There's no evidence for that other than the convenient date, but an interesting thought nevertheless.

The tablet, which was brought to light by visiting researcher Michael Jursa of Vienna, who recognized that the Babylonian name "Nabu-sharrussu-ukin" -- could have been transliterated into Hebrew as "Nebo-sarsekim" (for comparison, the king known in English-via-Hebrew as Nebuchadnezzar [or Nebuchadrezzar] is called "Nabu-kudurri-utser" in Babylonian).

As Jer. 39:3 describes Nebo-sarsekim as a "chief officer" of Nebuchadnezzar, the clay tablet describes Nabu-sharrussu-ukin as the "chief eunuch." In the ancient world, high officials with intimate access to the court were typically made eunuchs.

And why is this such a gift? The little tablet does not prove for us the accuracy of the entire Old Testament, but it does provide independent support for the historical validity of an ancient character who was otherwise unknown outside of the Bible.

For those of us who get excited about the Old Testament, the extra-biblical confirmation of a very minor biblical character is a big deal, and a welcome gift.

For those who might find it interesting, the full translation of the text is: "(Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon."

Almost 2,700 years after the gold was first given, it becomes a new gift to believers, and all because Nebo-Sarsekim saved his receipts.

Inerrancy for politicians

I tend to avoid politics, but couldn't help but take note of Republican Mike Huckabee's recent rise in the polls, which has brought the same sort of media spotlight to his background as a Southern Baptist pastor that Mitt Romney has had to endure with regard to his Mormon faith.

Huckabee has said he will not talk about what he called "intricate, nit-picky things of church doctrine" such as the role of women in the ministry, because he thinks issues like that aren't relevant to the presidency, according to newspaper articles like this one.

One could argue that a person's beliefs about whether God has ordained limited roles for women is not a nit-picky matter for someone who would represent all Americans, more than half of them female.

What really caught my eye, however, was Huckebee's response to Newsweek magazine on whether he believes the Bible is inerrant. Huckabee said "I believe it is," though he acknowledged that much of it is expressed in figurative language. He then went on to define his understanding of inerrancy.

"Inerrant" means if you follow the direction of the Bible, it will not lead you into error.

Huckabee is obviously trying to gain the support of voters from the religious right by using their language, but he apparently is not averse to giving it his own definition. Defining inerrancy on the basis of the Bible's influence rather than its content would probably fall far short of acceptable among those who believe in the verbal, plenary, infallible inspiration of every word in the Bible, at least in the no-longer-existing "autographs," or original versions.

I'd love to hear what others think about Huckabee's definition of inerrancy. Comments are welcome.

[Photo from MikeHuckabee.com]

BSCNC exploring new "women's ministry"

Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina (WMU-NC) has yet to leave the building, but the Baptist State Convention's (BSCNC) executive committee has already voted to establish a task force to explore the development of a new women's ministry.

Executive director Milton Hollifield has said more than once that, if WMU-NC leaves the building, there would be a need for some sort of women's ministry to replace it.

Executive committee member Lisa Horton, whose husband David is a former BSCNC president, made the motion at the Dec. 11 meeting, calling for something broader than what she described as WMU-NC's primary focus on missions education and fund-raising. It should be modeled on the N.C. Baptist Men organization, she said, "'active, vibrant, well rounded, very broad,' and more hands on," according to Norman Jameson's report on the Biblical Recorder website.

It's no surprise that the BSCNC is pursuing other options for women's ministry, because the administration has consistently indicated little interest in partnering with a WMU-NC that is not located within the Baptist Building and the BSCNC organizational structure.

It should be noted, however, that WMU-NC's work has been vibrant and varied all along, and is not limited to missions education and fund-raising for missions, as valuable as those functions are. WMU-NC folks actively promote the doing of missions in a variety of ways. Christian Women's Job Corps, for example, has helped many struggling women in very difficult situations to get back on their feet with job training, discipleship, and mentoring provided through WMU-NC. A similar program for men (also coordinated by WMU-NC) is growing.

For many years, WMU-NC has been actively involved in prison ministries. Women across the state have sent in contributions for the "red box" Christmas program that provides a little something special for incarcerated women at Christmas. The women who contribute to, assemble, and deliver the boxes -- along with those who receive them -- all testify to the blessing received through the project. WMU also reaches out to the children of women who are in prison.

There is more, but that's enough to point out that the ideas of discipleship and pro-active ministries for women is nothing new for WMU.

Unanswered questions

The war of words regarding the past, present, and future relationship between Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina (WMU-NC) and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) continues.

On the evening of Dec. 4, friends of WMU-NC sponsored nine rallies in churches scattered across the state, hoping to explain why the organization believed it was necessary for its staff to leave the building and set up its own payroll system in order to reclaim its autonomy as an independent organization.

Three days later, BSCNC officials posted and mailed a lengthy letter over executive director Milton Hollifield's signature, reiterating the state convention's position that WMU-NC started the unfortunate tiff by changing its governing documents in April 2006, and insisting that bylaw and insurance requirements require the executive director to assert final authority over WMU-NC staff as long as they are considered to be BSC employees.

The document purports to answer important questions about the debacle, and rehashes the Convention's perspective on a number of issues, even as WMU-NC representatives spoke from their perspective at the recent rallies.

Two very important questions remain unanswered, however. First: will BSCNC officials continue to work cooperatively with WMU-NC as an autonomous partner when they no longer have final say over WMU-NC's staff and budget? Although WMU-NC has consistently declared its desire to continue promoting missions and supporting missions education through BSCNC churches, Convention officials (supported by BSCNC messengers) have indicated little desire to maintain a working relationship.

This leads to the second question: what does the BSCNC plan to do with the $384,695 added to the 2008 North Carolina Missions Offering for "Missions Education and Promotion"? Missions education and promotion have been WMU's major tasks through the years, and no one is better equipped for the job of promoting missions offerings than WMU, the organization that created and holds trademark rights to the "Lottie Moon Christmas Offering" for international missions and the "Annie Armstrong Easter Offering" for North American missions.

A messenger raised the question of how the convention plans to use its newly designated funds for "missions education and promotion" during budget discussions at the annual meeting in November, but no one answered it.

I suspect we might find indications of what to expect from another article recently posted on the BSCNC website: "BSCNC announces support of 2007 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering." Now, it shouldn't be news that the BSCNC supports the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. The notable thing is that the BSCNC is now promoting the offering rather than leaving it to WMU-NC.

The next to last paragraph appropriately includes this explanatory sentence about how promotion of the mission offerings are supposed to work:

The official process - as determined by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (in similarity to all state conventions across the SBC) - stipulates that the Woman’s Missionary Union of each state will promote and work to raise awareness of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in concert with the churches in each state convention.

Did you get that? The "official process" is that "the Woman’s Missionary Union of each state will promote and work to raise awareness of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in concert with the churches in each state convention." That is absolutely correct.

But, the very next paragraph directs persons wanting more information about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to contact the BSCNC's Cooperative Program consultant -- not WMU-NC.

And therein may lie the answer to both of our questions.

Blogging for credits

Every course I taught during the fall semester at Campbell University Divinity School has been both enjoyable and challenging, none more so than one we call "The Ministry of Writing." Believing that better writing skills can enhance ministry in a variety of ways, we cover everything from writing effective announcements in the church bulletin to press releases, from newsletter columns to letters to the editor, from obituaries to creative stories for use in preaching.

I want our students to be better prepared for the increasingly digital world in which we live, so one of their assignments was to start a blog and post at least four entries. Some were resistant, while others took to it like dolphins riding electronic waves.

Back in the 1960's, Mike Clements was playing guitar for the likes of Atlanta-based artists like Joe South ("Walk a Mile in My Shoes"), Billy Joe Royal ("Down in the Boondocks"), and the Atlanta Rhythm Section. These days, he's more likely to practice crosspicking bluegrass riffs with his daughter and joining the praise band at Moncure Baptist Church, where he is pastor. Mike's opening entry spoke of being forced to blog, not at gunpoint, but at "gradepoint," a wry observation that effectively introduced some intriguing writing.

April Duff got into the Christmas spirit with a blog about peppermint flavored hot chocolate, which she calls "Christmas in a cup." I loved the imagery. I'd never considered putting peppermint and hot chocolate together, but I will now.

Andy Foley is an astute observer of life, and a good storyteller. I got a nice chuckle from his story about a busted garbage disposal and two plumbers named Catfish and Blue.

Joel Baucom, who's working as a campus ministry intern in the Baptist Student Union at N.C. State, writes a particularly thoughtful blog at a trail of crumbs, often reflecting on social issues and human responsibilities.

Brad Smith was a police officer for three years before entering divinity school. Instead of chasing crooks and being called out for domestic squabbles, he's now guiding the youth at First Baptist Church of Fayetteville, and drawing on both experiences in his "Front Porch Theologian" blog.

Brad often cracked jokes with Terri Stratton, who leads the music program at Brunswick Islands Baptist Church and effectively mixes both warmth and humor at "Country Girl Musings." Reading her blog has me hankering for a taste of "cheesy corn casserole." I'd never heard of such a thing before reading her Thanksgiving blog, but it sounds good to me.

Another back-row partner in crime is Scott Fitzgerald, pastor of Bayboro Baptist Church, north of New Bern. Like Terri, Scott lives at least three hours away, but is committed to both learning and ministry. As a volunteer chaplain with local police and fire departments, he's been called out for more than his share of highway tragedies this year, and reflected on finding reasons for thanksgiving at BloggingForGod.

One student was ahead of me. Rebecca Frederick was blogging before the class began, and had posted 80 entries by early December. I liked this reflection about writing her obituary.

"O'Mazing" Sara Eddleton is a world traveler as well as natural blogger. She works with International Student Services at Campbell, and her blogging sometimes reflects her fascination with other cultures, like this entry about an Indian man who married a dog.

There were other students, and other good blogs. I'd introduce more of them, but enjoying student blogs is only a small part of my job. I also have all these final exams to grade ...

Tube time

Most folks who know how to access the web have heard of YouTube, a video-sharing sensation that made its founders obscenely rich while fascinating people with both time and broadband on their hands. Those of us who are short on time usually get introduced to YouTube when someone e-mails the link to a video that tickled their innards.

I learned from the radio this morning that "inspirational comedian" Justin Laippley's "The Evolution of Dance" is the most popular video ever on the site. Being rather square, I'd never heard of it, but I decided to take a look. It was certainly entertaining, but not so much so that I'd expect more than 67 million people to watch it. Being a fan of ancient Babylonian kings, I enjoyed "The Mesopotamians" by a band called "They Might Be Giants" more.

YouTube is rather unfiltered, so its not the sort of thing you want children poking around unsupervised. A new site called GodTube recently debuted, billing itself as a Christian alternative to YouTube. It claims more than 4 million visitors per month now, and features more than 25,000 videos of widely varying quality and theological sophistication. If you've got the time and the inclination, it's worth a look.

Even YouTube has inspirational options. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, for example, posts video clips highlighting missions needs and opportunities. You can find them here, and send the link to a friend, as well. With the traditional missions giving season upon us, it's time for those who care about holistic missions to people with giant needs to get serious about giving.

In addition to the YouTube channel, you can get more information about Global Missions needs here. It's understandable why many Baptists don't feel as good as they used to about supporting the annual Christmas offering for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. There's no excuse, however, to stop supporting missions.

There's a world of need out there. Check it out.

Going nuts

I don't know how the term "nuts" or "nutty" came to be associated with bizarre behavior or ridiculous ideas, but there are as many nutso characters in the newspapers lately as there are acorns falling from my neighbor's tree and into my yard.

A Florida woman thought she saw Jesus in a flapjack made from WalMart pancake mix, and an Illinois man paid $29 for it on e-bay. They both sound a bit nutty to me, but maybe the woman was just looking for an easy payday and the man was desperate for a really unusual gag gift for the office Christmas party.

Meanwhile, in Sudan, hundreds of drum-beating, sword-wielding protesters marched through the streets and screamed for a British grammar school teacher to be executed after she committed the dastardly crime of allowing her seven-year-old students at a private school to name their class teddy bear "Muhammad."

That kind of fanaticism puts the kernel in "nuts."

That little teddy bear will never curse, will never steal, will never mistreat a woman, will never bring any harm to any person, and will never behave improperly, but wild-eyed zealots have demonized the woman for daring to "insult the prophet" by letting children apply his name to a teddy bear.

Sudanese and other Muslims routinely name their sons "Muhammad," and many of them will certainly be guilty of cursing, stealing, misogyny, hurtfulness and all sorts of improper behavior, but somehow it's not insulting to the prophet to hang his name on boys and men who may behave despicably?

It bothers me to hear someone treat divine names lightly, saying "Oh my God!" over the slightest surprise or using "Jesus Christ!" as an interjection. Even so, I can't imagine inflicting severe punishment for the crime of having a limited vocabulary or a tasteless tongue.

And even Muslims don't claim Muhammad is divine. Why should his name be treated more respectfully than God's? If there's punishment to be leveled for disrespecting God -- or one who claims to be God's prophet -- I figure it's best to leave that sort of thing to the one who's been offended, rather than getting all riled up and acting like a hard-shelled seed about it.

The way the news is going these days, the most popular song on the Christmas charts could be "The Nutcracker Suite."