I like coffee, but not that much!

I found this article in a Malay prayer letter:

Kopi Luwak is an Indonesian coffee that can fetch as much as $600US per pound! These coffee beans are not harvested by human hands. They are plucked by wild civets (cat-like beasts that live in places such as South Sumatra). The civet plucks only the sweetest red coffee berries from robusta coffee plants, eats fruity exterior, and then swallows the hard center. Inside the civet's stomach enzymes in its gastric juices smooth off the edges that make coffee bitter. The beans are then excreted. After the beans are excreted they are separated from the civet's dung, a further thin outer layer is removed, and the beans are ready for roasting!

Appetizing!

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and Our Worldview

Want to know more about what the bible says about biblical manhood and biblical womanhood? Check out this website: http://www.cbmw.org/

These resources are there for people who would like to find out God's perspective on this topic. I would advise anyone to be gracious when reading articles on these topics. We all have a particular worldview, and must be very careful about how our preconceived notions distort our Christian perspective.

If you are a predisposed chauvinist or feminist, then deconstructing your personal belief systems should be your first step. In other words, evaluate yourself and see where you stand on certain issues. You may have to admit and reconcile your chauvinistic or feministic tendencies before you can read with objectivity.

One easy indicator of deconstructing your personal (not necessarily biblical) belief systems is by asking yourself: Do I get emotional when I read this? Always be suspect of your feelings, not to dismiss them but to evaluate them. Your feelings are valid when it is ultimately aligned with your passion for God and to see His name proclaimed in all the earth. If there is a break in your reasoning that does not lead up to this alignment. Then you may have identified a false belief.

Sermon Jams

Check out this website: link.

It's basically a bunch of sermons mixed in with background music. The sermons are biblical and gospel-centred.

Racism Properly Defined, A Quote from Carson

The following is an excerpt from D.A. Carson's article on racism. Simply put, he plainly explains that racism takes shape in the form of discriminating against cultural differences. I don't think anyone would object to that. But he keenly observes that racism can happen within a supposed race. The following example of racism concerns the kind of discrimination that happens between the generations of a particular race, specifically Korean. I suggest you read the whole article: link.

Once again if we are interested in integrated local Christian churches, it is high time that we recognize that the challenge extends beyond the black/white divide and that the attitudinal problems are on both sides of most divides. Many a Korean-American church (to take but one example) is run by first-generation Korean Christians who are most comfortable with the way things are done back home. That means that "otherness" is hard for them, especially if part of the issue is language, part of the issue is preserving Korean culture (and even Korean forms of "spirituality"), part of the issue is a Confucian preservation of hierarchy and order, and part of the issue is their desire that their children marry other Koreans. Sometimes these churches keep calling senior pastors fresh from Korea, thus renewing the strong linguistic and cultural links with "home." This practice may have the effect sooner or later of repelling second- and third-generation Korean-American Christians, whose command of Korean may not be all that good anymore and, more importantly, whose cultural adaptation means they no longer live in the world of their parents. Those same parents can easily see these developments as cultural or even personal betrayal, or the fruit of degenerative and corrupt moral influence. Some of this judgment, of course, may be right! But some of it, quite frankly, is racist. To add to the complexity, some in the third generation, by now profoundly Americanized, choose to revert to their Korean roots, and in consequence tend to shun other American "friends." At what point is this an expression of racism?