Welcome to the November 2nd edition of the Christian Carnival ii, where Christian blog writers — of various denominational backgrounds — share their best posts from the previous week. This week’s offerings are good, albeit a bit sparse. I was  somewhat disappointed that there were no posts on the topic of Halloween, Satan, or his minions. But never fear: if you are interested in some spooky reading, check out this month’s Biblical Studies Carnival: The Undead Edition (scroll to the bottom for Halloween-themed posts).

But I digress… on to this week’s Christian Carnival…

“All you need is love…” Annette gives us a short reflection on the “love chapter” in 1Corinthians 13 in her post “Love insists not on its own way” over at Fish and Cans.

David Wells, over at his blog Revelation 3:10 – Blog, reminds us in a post unpacking 1Corinthians 7:19 (“Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything” NRSV), that what is most important is  obedience in his post “Only Living It Counts” (of course, we need God’s grace to be obedient!). David also posted a reflection on the stoning of Stephen from chapter seven of the book of Acts, entitled “Guilty Without Action.”

Maryann Spikes over at Ichthus77 draws our attention to free on-line apologetics curriculum for women provided by the The International Society for Women in Apologetics (ISWA).  Take a look at this free resource, but always remember that the best apologetic is a transformed life (as David Wells reminds us above).

Thinking of becoming a Christian as a “get rich quick scheme”? Before you buy that new iPad on faith,  you should read Tim’s article on “Why the Prosperity Gospel is Wrong” over at Faith and Finance (as an aside, Scotteriology frequently has some posts highlighting what he calls “mamonianity“).

Speaking of riches and material possessions…  the Christian Prayer highlighted this week by Cindy is from the 16th century: “Prayer to be Blessed with God’s Grace and to Cast Off Things of this World.”

Are Christians still obligated to get busy and “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”? (Genesis 1:28a) — or is that actually one command that we humans have fulfilled to the tune of some seven billion? Jeremy Pierce addresses this question — as it applies to the “secondary moral obligation” to adopt, in his post “Adoption, Having Children, and Secondary Moral Obligations” over at Parableman.

The one post submitted this week that deals with the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament comes from Isabel Anders over at BlogHer.  She presented a meditation on the personification of “wisdom” as a woman in the Hebrew Bible in her post, “Part One: Wisdom Has a Woman’s Name.”

Henry Neufeld calls for some healthy and humble introspection when we read and reread the Scriptures in his blog post, “Point It at Yourself First” at the Participatory Bible Study Blog. That’s good advice… didn’t someone somewhere say something about taking a log out of your own eye?

Next week’s Christian Carnival ii will be hosted over at Ichthus77. To submit a blog post to the Carnival, click the widget above or go here.

Biblical Studies

First up are some posts relating to biblical studies. Jeremy over at Parableman has a post reconciling of two verses concerning those pesky Canaanites mentioned at the beginning of Judges 3.  While the verses at first blush appear to be contradictory, he resolves it in his post, “Apparent Contradiction in Judges 3.”

Over at ReturningKing.Com, Jeff posts the ninth installment of a series entitled, “A Pastoral Soteriology” with his post on “Atonement in the Old Testament Law” where he demonstrates how its view of penal substitution foreshadows Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

While not expressly on the Bible per se, William Green also reflects on the atonement in his post, “Why God can’t just forgive sin.” You can find this and more at his Weblog of a Christian Philosophy Student.

Now back to the Old Testament.  e-Mom presents a Christian viewpoint on one of annual feasts prescribed by Jewish law in her post, The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), over at Chrysalis.

Moving into the New Testament, NCSue has written a reflection on Jesus bearing our burdens (Matthew 11:28-30) in her post, “Thoughts from the ‘in box’,” over at her blog, IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING.

Annette presents some reflections on Hebrews 11 in her post, “Faith is….” You can read this and more over at her blog, Fish and Cans.

Henry Neufeld takes on Paul Helm’s views on translation theory in his post, Dynamic and Cognitive Equivalence, over at Participatory Bible Study Blog (Methinks I agree with Neufeld on this one).

While not technically a post on a passage from the Bible, Ketan Rindani posts “10 Bible Facts You Must Know” over at JESUS IS LORD!. (Hmmm… I’m not sure that you “must” know that the Bible contains 31,071 verses — an interesting fact perhaps, but not essential)

Christian Life and Thought

Diane, over at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet, continues to report on articles and books that help us help the poor. Her latest installment is entitled, “More on How to REALLY Help the Poor,” which highlights a story about some women in the Philippines who meet for prayer and working out sound business plans. Her post made me think of the great website http://www.kiva.org, where you can make microloans to people in the two-thirds world.

Ridge Burns, over at at his Blog, asks readers how attached they are to God’s call on their lives in his post dealing with major life Transitions. As someone who just went through a major work transition, I appreciated his candor.

Over at Thoughts and Confessions of a Girl Who Loves Jesus…, michelle shares how God is restoring her life in an emotional post simply titled, “09.09.09.”

Shannon Christman, a.k.a. the Minority Thinker , reflects on the importance of intergenerational fellowship in the body of Christ in her brief post, “Generational Segregation.”

Barry Wallace challenges us to walk the fine line between sloth and proper rest and asks us if we know ourselves in this regard in his musing, “2 little sleep + 2 much caffeine = headed 4 disaster,” posted at his blog who am i?

Since we are on the topic of rest, it seems appropriate to mention Andrea‘s post, “Listening for the Voice of God” where she underscores the importance of quieting our hearts and attending to the voice of God. Her blog is Unfailingly Loved.

Rick Schiano has a reflection on how our lives can impact others based on his reading of 1 Thessalonians 1:2-9 in his post, “Our Lives Make a Difference,” over at Ricks Victory Blog.

Finally, Tom Gilson, the Thinking Christian, wants to get the word out about the National Conference on Christian Apologetics. So if you are going to be in Charlotte, NC, in mid-November you may want to check it out.

Next Up…

The 295th Christian Carnival will be going green as it will be hosted next Wednesday, September 23, 2009, over at The Evangelical Ecologist.  To submit a post for the next Christian Carnival, go to the Blog Carnival submission form, or send your submission to christiancarnivalsubmissions shift-2 gmail dotte com. For more instructions on submitting posts you can go here, and for  examples of past carnivals, see the Christian Carnival archive.