The Oregon Faith Report - Faith News from Oregon

Common English Bible Is a Bestselling Translation in Record Time
Common English Bible

The new Common English Bible  is #10 on the CBA Bible Translation Best Seller list for the month of December. Since the list is based on actual unit sales in Christian retail stores in the United States through Oct. 29, 2011, the Common English Bible  achieved this status after being in stores less than three months.

“We’re delighted the Common English Bible is receiving such early overwhelming support and acceptance,” says Paul Franklin, PhD, associate publisher. “We see this as confirming our decision to create an academically rigorous yet naturally understandable translation for 21st century English readers; a translation from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that’s built on common ground.”

You have to see it to believe it, and when you do see it you may wish you haven’t. A fight among clerics broke out between two Greek Orthodox sects at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. In the sign of the times you can see one cleric rushing into he melee with his Smartphone recorder while others hurl brooms.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

by Randy Alcorn
Eternal Perspectives Ministries
Sandy, Oregon

Congratulations to two Christ followers in the NFL. Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s all-time single season passing record. If you haven’t read Drew’s book, I recommend it.

Earlier this weekend our buddy Jason Hanson, whose Detroit Lions clinched the playoffs, kicked his 50th field goal of 50 yards or more, extending the all-time NFL record he broke three years ago. (Jason also holds the all-time NCAA record for field goals of 50 yards or more.) That same field goal this weekend put him past both George Blanda and Matt Stover on the all-time scoring list. In his twentieth season, with 2009 points, Jason is now the fourth leading scorer in NFL history. Way to go, bro!

I’m a big Tim Tebow fan too, but remember there are other faithful believers in the NFL. They would appreciate your prayers.

Different views on church car camping rule in Portland
Oregon Faith News Note:

Portland City Council has been working towards approval of a one-year pilot program allowing limited camping in cars located in certain church parking lots. The City of Eugene allows for some car camping for churches and business parking lots. The Portland rule allows up to four cars.

‘Heartbreaking’ Survey: Group Sex Occurring Among Teens
Author Teresa Tomeo notes porn’s role in consensual and coerced behavior
By Maximus,

A study led by a Boston University School of Public Health faculty member revealed that one in 13 teenage girls (ages 14 to 20) have had at least one group-sex experience. The survey included 328 females who had used Boston-area community or school-based health clinics.

“The study is heartbreaking,” said bestselling author Teresa Tomeo, “but given the state of our culture, it’s not exactly surprising. We can’t keep flooding the airwaves and the Internet with heavy sexual content — selling the over-sexualization of women and girls through provocative advertising and TV shows — and not expect to see negative fallout.”

Georgene Rice of KPDQ-FM interviews Yvonne Ortega, author of “Finding Hope for your Journey Through Breast Cancer”, a survivor herself, she offers helpful and practical advice.

Georgene: First, let’s discuss how you learned you had breast cancer, how did you find out and what that was like?

Yvonne: I was changing in front a mirror and I felt a lump, hard as a rock and let me tell you, I trembled from head to foot. I called the doctor immediately and I was in the next day. The doctor ordered a mammogram, an ultrasound, and an appointment with the surgeon….It was the ultrasound that showed it.

Georgene: Did you discover the lump visibly or by feeling it?

Yvonne: I saw it…I cannot explain it, all I can say is that I thank God that I saw it. I felt it and I immediately called the doctor.

Georgene: Many women may detect that there is something wrong, but they are reluctant to contact the doctor. What do you say to the woman who knows there is a problem but is too fearful to call the doctor and address it.

Christmas Is Forever
Poem By Norman W. Brooks,
“Let Every Day Be Christmas”

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
For loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away

Like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

Pictures taken this year from Salisbury Cathedral (United Kingdom) and from Tel Aviv Israel.

Christmas hate crime caught on video,

Vandals hit a California home and their street with spray paint this week. The family has video surveillance and were able to get a small picture of the vandals. The Cannon family home had Christmas decorations and a sign in their yard that read “Happy Birthday Jesus”. The vandals left messages attacking their religion. See the video below.

On Advent and Christmas: Counter-Culturalism and the Gospel of Bill
By Kelly Clark
Portland writer
The Gospel of Bill W. Blog

Why is it that, when it comes to the most sacred season of the year for Christians, we in the churches can point to almost nothing that separates us from the secular society in how we celebrate Christmas? Oh, I’m sure that we take more meaning out of it than our secular or agnostic friends, but we don’t really do anything differently than anybody else in how we celebrate the season. Given the profound and unutterable holiness of celebration of Christ’s birth, how can this be? I am reminded of the old question an evangelical friend of mine used to ask me: if you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? If not, why not? Well, I suggest for many of us the answer lies in the extent to which we have forgotten what it means to stand apart from the world, as St Paul urged us to do (Romans 12.1). In the next few paragraphs, then, I want to consider with you the call of the churches to stand separate from society as a “counter-cultural fellowship,” and, once again, to use the recovery programs as an example of what it might look like.