Evangelism = predation

post from Pharyngula on 21 March 2009 11:50:50 AM. © Pharyngula

Our spring break is almost over. I hope none of our students wasted their time fishing for souls for Jesus. Follow that link; it's a story on Salon.com of a young man who goes undercover at Liberty University and goes on a Spring Break proselytizing trip to Florida. It's depressing — mindless zealots on fire for the Lord wander the streets, asking people if they've found Jesus, and almost always getting turned down. Even the few who say "Hallelujah!" are unlikely to join the church. This is truly desperate angling.

The issue of post-salvation behavior is an interesting one. I thought, when Scott was teaching us to evangelize, that we'd be told to do some sort of follow-up with successful converts, if we had any -- guide them to a local church, maybe, or at least take their contact information. But there's no such procedure. If Jason had decided to get saved (he didn't), Martina would have led him through the Sinner's Prayer ("Jesus, I am a sinner, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior" or some variant thereof), she would have let him know he was saved, perhaps given him some Bible verses to read, and they never would have seen each other again. Cold-turkey evangelism provides the shortest, most non-committal conversion offer of any Western religion -- which, I suspect, is part of the appeal.
If the new believer backslides, though, like Jason was suggesting he might, Christians are likely to believe that he wasn't really saved. False conversions are a glaring wart on the face of Christian evangelism. In the book that accompanies our Way of the Master program, I found several sobering statistics about the percentage of apparent converts who stay involved with the church in the long term, including one from Peter Wagner, a seminary professor in California who estimated that only 3 to 16 percent of the converts at Christian crusades stay involved.

Coincidentally, I received an account of a similar attempt at hooking a Pharyngula reader, EH. It didn't work.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/ozQypRV6YyU/evangelism_
predation.php

Digg this

Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 21 March 2009 10:59:59 AM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz

[Mystery bird] photographed in Allen Williams Yard, Pharr, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 April 2008 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/grrlscientist/~3/jXqcpzZ7tpA/todays_m
ystery_bird_for_you_to_127.php

Digg this

Mystery Bird: Golden-fronted Woodpecker,
Melanerpes aurifrons

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 21 March 2009 10:59:59 AM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes aurifrons, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz

~~[Mystery bird]~~ Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes aurifrons, photographed in Allen Williams Yard, Pharr, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 April 2008 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Digg this

Yes! I knew you were thinking,
“meow”!

post from Bad Astronomy on 21 March 2009 10:19:00 AM. © Bad Astronomy

It’s Caturday, so I simply don’t have anything to add to this. But it does raise a lot of questions. And it’s the adverb that kills me.Tip o’ the catapult to BABloggee Vernon Balbert.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/03/21/yes-i-knew-you-were-thi
nking-meow/

Digg this

Young Hodgkins Patients Benefit From Breast, Lung
Drug Combo

post from ZAMP Bionews on 21 March 2009 10:13:08 AM. © ZAMP Bionews

New research published in today’s print edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (Vol. 27, No. 9) shows a treatment combination used in breast and lung cancers to be effective against Hodgkin’s disease in pre-teens and young adults.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zampbioworld/iblI/~3/Q3YULNKACdU/19858

Digg this

Better Prostate Screening Test More Vital Than
Ever As Studies Cast Doubt On Existing Screening Exam

post from ZAMP Bionews on 21 March 2009 10:11:59 AM. © ZAMP Bionews

Two new studies offer conflicting views on the value of screening men for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. The two studies found that the popular PSA blood test, used to screen for prostate cancer, save few lives and lead[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zampbioworld/iblI/~3/i1A7cfmYmYw/19857

Digg this

Cardiac Arrythmias Are Often Accompanied By
Sleep-Disordered Breathing

post from ZAMP Bionews on 21 March 2009 10:11:12 AM. © ZAMP Bionews

Breathing during sleep is often impaired in patients with atrial fibrillation. In the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106(10): 164 - 70), Thomas Bitter and his coauthors from the Ruhr University in Bochum[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zampbioworld/iblI/~3/6VycWVz2HXU/19856

Digg this

Telephone Service For The Deaf

According to data from the Ministerio de Educación, Política Social y Deporte, nearly a million people in Spain suffer from some sort of hearing impairment. This collective has communication difficulties that become even more challenging when said[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zampbioworld/iblI/~3/LBP-RvIdsdQ/19854

Digg this

Right Warfarin Dose Determined By Three Genes

Researchers at Uppsala University, together with colleagues at the Karolinska Institute and the Sanger Institute, have now found all the genes the determine the dosage of the blood-thinning drug warfarin. The findings are published in the scientific[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zampbioworld/iblI/~3/B8umBRlYm9I/19853

Digg this

Stent 4 Life: A Campaign Is Launched To Increase
The Use Of Primary PCI In Acute Coronary Patients

The aim is to improve the quality of care and reduce mortality ratesA campaign which will reduce mortality in patients with acute coronary syndromes has been launched by a coalition which includes the ESC Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care and the[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zampbioworld/iblI/~3/SYSaZbQD3Yc/19852

Digg this