Without a shadow of a doubt 2012 is the year of beards.  Beards have finally risen to the pedestal of prominence they deserve.  Men, take notice.  Your time has come.

I propose that the bearded man be nominated as TIME magazine’s person of the year.

Observe:
Since antiquity, the bearded men have spoken.  Hear their memes…

The Abridged 2013 Church of Christ Directory:

Barbed Gate Church of Christ

Welcome, is this your first time?  Would you like to be added to the church?  Just sign up for our six-month course and then we’ll have you fill out our ten-page doctrinal questionnare before we get you in the water just to make sure you’re being baptized for all the right reasons.

Billy Peebles Church of Christ

Brother Billy Peebles has been preaching for our congregation for thirty years.  Come and enjoy preaching by Billy Peebles.  If you have a question about our beliefs, just go ask Billy Peebles.  Visiting the sick, conducting Bible studies, representing our church—Billy Peebles does it all!  We hang on every word Billy Peebles says.  Billy Peebles is the place to be.

Bitter Springs (House) Church of Christ

We used to go to _________ Church of Christ, but they rubbed us the wrong…

College is starting back.  Some of you will be going for the first time.  You will meet new people.  Some of you are going to a Christian college, one in the south, like I did.  How well do you know your Christian College stereotypes?  Based on the famous “99% of the People You Meet in College” article (from which I shamelessly plaigiarized), I give you a list of possible stereotypes you may encounter at a particularly Christian university in the south:

[This list is meant to make fun of stereotypes, so if you’re offended because you think one of these describes you, this blog may not be suitable for your consumption.]

Today another undercover video was released in which a Planned Parenthood doctor, Mary Gatter, casually discusses the sale of aborted baby parts, including the use of “less crunchy” techniques to extract “whole specimens.” This follows an earlier video of Deborah Nucatola describing how they can “crush” other areas to preserve prized organs for research. I must confess, I am not surprised. I am saddened and disturbed, but I am not shocked. To anyone who is, I have this question: “Well, what were you expecting?”

How would you imagine the people whose daily business is death to treat the “byproducts” of their “procedures?” Did you think that, after crushing their tiny bodies and suctioning them out of the womb, the staff would then stand around in a circle and say a little prayer? That the bodies of these children—babies with heads and hearts and lungs and legs—would be given something approximating a funeral, that they would be treated with any measure…

You’ve heard the counter-argument time and time again:

“If guns kill people…

spoons make people fat

What is a Christian T-Shirt?

It’s a question the answer to which helps us see how notions of how to show Christ to the world has changed and is still changing. How do I represent Christ, and how to I behave like him? Clothing, gear, things purchased—this is as much of the conversation as it was in the first century. Can the answers people give tell us a lot about how they prioritize the morality of Christian behavior?