Why do people think that they have to kiss someone at midnight on New Year’s Eve? For the past several days I repeatedly run into comments about the importance of “the kiss,” and honestly I just don’t get it. Of course I don’t usually make a big deal about New Year’s Eve anyway. But the whole custom seems rather strange to me.
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I have made a number of small cosmetic changes to the site, and have also implemented a cool new plugin, Share This by Alex King. Now under each post you see a Share This icon, which will bring up a box containing links to a wide variety of social networking sites. It also allows you to share a post that you like via email. Give it a try!

I have also changed the look of the Category pages, and moved the category feed link to the bottom of the corresponding category page.

Peter Payne, my former Inter-Varsity staff worker from my college days, has since received a Ph.D. in Philosophy and become involved in campus ministry to grad students and faculty. He regularly gives talks in the free speech area at the University of Michigan and invites the audience to interact with him. He has also participated in public debates with a number of outspoken atheists.

Now he has posted some of his apologetics articles on his web site, called Intelligent Christianity 101. Check out the link to “Apologetics notes.” This is a great resource for those looking for a carefully reasoned study of key issues regarding the Christian faith.

It’s time for something on the lighter side. I first saw this in an email in 1994. I will copy it below for your enjoyment.

As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help from that renown scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990) – I am pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.
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Millions of people have read Anne Rice’s vampire books.  Last year she came out with her latest book, entitled Christ the Lord Out of Egypt.  CBS news has a new video of an interview with Anne Rice.  The story of her life is literally the difference between night and day.  She describes how the characters in her earlier books were metaphors for her life,

“An outsider locked out of the light.  And I didn’t believe that it was possible to get back into the light. I didn’t think it was possible to find faith in a God who would give meaning to everything.  And to my amazement I did!”

She says that her earlier stories were all about seeking redemption, and explains how she has returned to faith in God.  She manages to slip in the fact that she now believes in the Virgin Birth, the Deity of Christ, and the Bible as the unique word of God.  Now she wants to live her life for God, and to do anything that He asks her to do, even if it destroys her career.  She’s even thinking of learning a little Greek and Hebrew so that she can read some of the original texts.  Quite a change from the Queen of Goth!

Christianity Today has an article about the weird theology of some who think that they are Dating Jesus. While Scripture does teach that the Church is the Bride of Christ, there is no basis for turning this into an individualized romantic relationship with Jesus.
(HT: Justin Taylor)

Dan Edelen in Cerulean Sanctum has a good article on Regulation, Ritual, and Remembrance. He emphasizes the importance of ritual, especially in teaching our children about God.