from partner site Gotquestions.org

Business cards are a bit of an obsession to me.  I love to see people think out of the box and use the classic tradition of the business card exchange as a chance to impress and inspire.  New printing techniques allow unique ideas to come to life and has pushed the plain 3.5 x2 rectangle card into near extinction.  There are great services online that allow you to take your creation, customize it and have it shipped to your door in days.

Design

I always go back to simple.  There is something about the black and white contrast that always catches my eyes. I used the “Georgia” typeface for the contact info to contrast the bold logo.

Printing

We used splatprint.com and had a positive experience.  These cards are printed on 14pt.premium linen (uncoated) with 4/4 full color on front and back and rounded corners.  Use the satin stock for an even heavier feel.

15 cards more unique than ours

You better have your twitter lingo down as you will be attending tweetups, asked about your twaffic and surrounded by other tweeples.

2.  Moleskin – the notebook for hipsters

‘Losing my passport was the least of my worries, losing a notebook was a catastrophe.’ — Bruce Chatwin

3.  Flip Mini HD – you know….for your vlog.

Also use to video guys walking into walls, signage or other barriers as they are checking their twitter account.

4.  SCL – The Book

Jon Acuff breaks down Christian antics in a humorous way on his blog Stuff Christians Like and in his new book.  ps.  Follow him on twitter as well @prodigaljon.

5.   Geek T-shirt

It’s true right.  If you have an iphone, the time you spend dropping the kids off at the pool, has increased 45%.  Actually having an Iphone goes without saying…right?

6.  Macbook

I promise you.  If you go to a Christian tech conference and don’t have a mac notebook you’re going to feel like you are carrying around a typewriter by some of the looks you get.  I know…I’m a PC.

7.  Unique Business Card

Make a business card that people will remember.  Your business card is their first impression of you and your business or organization.  It doesn’t have to be fancy,  just put some thought into it.

http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

8.  The New Business Card – Bump App

You may have seen it on the commercials but this iphone app is pretty slick.  Just bump phones with a friend or someone you just met and the app will automatically sync your contact information.

The end of the video is when he takes a moment to give God the glory! check it out

Hey Jason,

About 4 years ago you sent this message to me and some other folks helping you launch the Prodigal Son magazine:

“Writers-

Today we officially launched the beta mode of Prodigal Son Magazine. Please check it out and let me know of any links that are not working correctly. Stay tuned because we will be adding things consistently such as rss news feeds, streaming video and podcasts. There will also be some more format changes but for the most part this will be the overall design. Any feedback will be appreciated.

Note: We will publish every 2 weeks, so please continue to let me know of article ideas you have. We have most of the material for the next issue, but we would like to keep one issue ahead, so if you want to write another article soon, just let me know.

Thank you to all the writers that have contributed so far, we will get all of your work published in the next couple issues, so stay tuned. I will email you the final draft and when it will publish before it goes live.

Finally, just to let you all know. My father passed away this morning at 2am, he went peacefully as my family sang “be glorified”. He in now in a better place, gazing upon Jesus. It is so interesting that the man that inspired this magazine returns to his father, the same day the magazine is launched. Just another way God’s hand has encouraged and been a part of this ministry. Thank you all for your prayers and kind notes you have sent me. You have no idea the love I felt, and how encouraging it was for me. Bless you, brothers and sisters in Christ.”

I haven’t ceased praying for you since. Stay strong bro and you are probably in more people’s prayers than you know!

don

All to Crazy

As someone at my local church, described the crazy details behind the religion of Scientology, about the levels of knowledge you master and the history of the sci-fi book from which much of the theology came from,  I pondered on my own beliefs.  Almost as quickly as I said, “how can people believe that” I quietly thought to myself, “you know, this is some crazy stuff we believe in too”, is this whole Bible thing really logical.  To an outsider that has not grown up in the church his whole life, the story must sound a little outlandish.  A baby comes to this Earth from a virgin mother, is born in a stable along side 3 wise-men, and is not only the perfect being but also the Son of God. He performed miracles, healed the sick, made water into wine, died on a cross along with all of my sins, and then rose from the dead to be seated at the right hand of God.  Wow, I mean if I step back from it, it sounds a lot like the epic Star Wars story I just went too.  It seems like a large tale, a beautifully mastered Hollywood script, with the underdog heroes coming through in the end.  Is this really just a legend?  Did stories of Jesus get exaggerated over the years and the breaking of bread for a few people turned into food for hundreds?  Did his praying for the sick, turn into healing the sick?

The information in this article is summarized from a sermon by Dr. Greg Boyd, Head Pastor of Woodland Hills Church in Maplewood, MN.  Click here for the entire sermon.

If you do not take the Bible story to be true, you have to either think it is a lie and a conspiracy, that the Disciples made it all up in a plot to deceive the world, or it has to be a legend, in which the true story has been changed and exaggerated as it  was passed down from generation to generation.

Our faith has to go beyond the evidence, but for the critical mind, the Christian faith is also based on historical truth.  There are 6 fundamental problems with the Legend theory.

Reason #1  Non-Conducive Environment

The first century Jewish culture was a non-conducive environment for a legend to begin.  Much like America, the Jewish Culture was also very skeptical about believing a notion without verifying the truth.  This was a culture that looked at the Legendary religions of Roman and Greek mythology and thought it was all hogwash!  With such animosity towards legends of the past, the Jewish faith was resistant to stories and tales being exaggerated.  If there was any culture that would stomp out a story if it were getting out of hand it was first century Jews.

Reason #2 Christian Story does not read like a Legend

Against the Culture-In legends of the past they are almost always started to reaffirm cultural beliefs, especially when it seems the culture is forgetting it’s core values.  The Christian story goes directly against the Jewish culture that it came from.  For example the Jewish people believed that those that die on a cross are cursed (Leviticus).  They also did not believe in a self proclaimed savior, one who called himself the messiah.  They were expecting a savior but one who would not be worshiped as God like Jesus was.

Gospels are dull and the Disciples are very human- In Legends you find supermen, all wise and all powerful.  The disciples were not only did not possess powers, they also just didn’t get was Jesus was teaching them at times (the Last shall be first and the first will be last).

Legends don’t raise questions they don’t answer-  His family did not believe him, Mary called him crazy and James didn’t buy it either which is a very human trait.  This was 30 years after Gabriel visited Mary, isn’t it natural to start having doubt especially when what your son is doing will get him killed.  If the Bible were a Legend why would they include this part of the story?  Why would his own family doubt his heritage to the throne?

Woman are treated well by Jesus This does not seem that significant to our culture but the way Jesus treated women in the First Century was unthinkable at the time.  This was a culture that looked down at women and saw them as second class citizens.  However in the Christian story they play a huge role and it is amazing that even though the story is true that Jewish male writers would include them in their writings.

Jesus breaks all the Rules- Again going against the cultural beliefs Jesus hangs out with the wretches, drunks and prostitutes.  He also touches the Lepers, which was forbidden and looked at as unclean.  By the time he is crucified he had broken almost every Jewish rule in the book!

Reason #3- There was not enough time

Some scholars who believe that the story of Jesus is just a good old legend compare him to Buddha.  Their argument is that if Buddha, who was an atheist himself, can be worshipped in modern times by his followers as a God, why is it so hard to believe that the same did not happen with Jesus.  Although this reasoning sounds good at first, as we look at the Legend of Buddha there are some major differences between the two.  First, Buddha was from a pagan culture, a culture that was used to immortalizing beings into Gods, as opposed to the Jewish culture that was against multiple Gods.  Secondly, it took over 5 centuries, for one sect of Buddhism, the Mahayana Buddhists, to see him as one of their many Gods.  With Jesus, we don’t have 5 centuries or even 5 decades before it was a widespread belief amongst all of his followers that he was not just a god but the God of the universe.  Paul wrote in about 49AD, which is 16 years after the resurrection, and immediately speaks of Jesus as Divine, so it was not a new belief to him.  Luke is estimated to date around 62AD and Mark is estimated in the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s.  Mark speaks to his church about Simon of Sarine, by calling him the father of Alexander and Rufus.  So we are talking about the immediate generation after the death of Christ.  Bottom line is, there is just not enough time for a Legend to form.

Reason #4- Eyewitnesses are still around (Both friendly and hostile)

Legends don’t start with Eyewitnesses still around at the time of writing, they start with a “long long time ago, in a place far far away”.  The Bible names real names, names of power and influence, such as Pilot, Herod, and Joseph of Sanhedrine. With these people were around, wouldn’t the bluff be called and the Legend cancelled as soon as representatives of these powerful people would hear that the story was getting out of hand?  But this never happens, although there were plenty of people against Christianity, one thing they never say, is that it was a legend or an exaggerated tale.  Wouldn’t someone, anyone, such as maybe the brother of Jesus, James, say that this is just a legend? That these stories were untrue and exaggerated?  But it does not happen, we find no historical evidence of anyone ever saying that Jesus’ works are that of a legend.

Reason #5- The Gospels Claim to be History

There is a standard rule when dealing with an ancient document that if the document reads like history and claims to be history, then you must treat it like history.  The “burden of proof” falls on the historian to prove that it is not history, not on the document to prove that it is history.  Some reason however, the Gospels are usually not treated like this by most secular historians. The Gospels read like sober history and they claim to be history.  Luke himself claims to write his message that was passed down by an eyewitness

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning… Luke 1:1-3

And in John it reads:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ²The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us- John 1:1

Either John is telling the truth or he is lying, it can not be a legend because he could not claim to see and testify to it if it were a legend, because legends take place in a distant time, and in a far away place.

CS Lewis, who was an expert on legends and mythology tells us this,

“I have spent my entire life studying legends and if there is one thing the Gospels aren’t, it is legend, they just don’t read like legend.

However, once the facts are examined, these claims are proven false. To discover the truth about these particular claims and others like them, it is important to: (1) unearth the history behind their assertions, (2) examine the actual historical portrayals of the false gods being compared to Christ, (3) expose the logical fallacies that the authors are making, and (4) look at why the New Testament Gospels can be trusted as accurately depicting the true and historical Jesus Christ.

First, the claims of Jesus as a myth or an exaggeration originated in the writings of 19th century liberal German theologians. Their claim was essentially that Jesus was nothing more than a copy of the widespread worship of dying and rising fertility gods in various places-Tammuz in Mesopotamia, Adonis in Syria, Attis in Asia Minor, and Osiris in Egypt. None of these works ever advanced in the realm of academia and religious thought because their assertions were investigated by theologians and scholars and determined to be completely false and baseless. It has only been in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century that these assertions have been resurrected, primarily due to the rise of the internet and mass distribution of information that has no historical foundation or accountability.

This leads us to the next area of investigation-do the mythological gods of antiquity really mirror the person of Jesus Christ? As an example, the Zeitgeist movie makes these claims about the Egyptian god Horus:

• He was born on December 25th of a virgin – Isis Mary
• A star in the East proclaimed his arrival
• Three kings came to adore the new-born “savior”
• He became a child prodigy teacher at age 12
• At age 30 he was “baptized” and began a “ministry”
• Horus had twelve “disciples”
• Horus was betrayed
• He was crucified
• He was buried for three days
• He was resurrected after three days

However, when the actual writings about Horus are competently examined, this is what we find:

• Horus was born to Isis; there is no mention in history of her being called “Mary.” Moreover, Mary is our anglicized form of her real name ‘Miryam’ or Miriam. “Mary” was not even used in the original texts of Scripture.
• Isis was not a virgin; she was the widow of Osiris and conceived Horus with Osiris.
• Horus was born during month of Khoiak (Oct/Nov), not December 25. Further, there is no mention in the Bible as to Christ’s actual birth date.
• There is no record of three kings visiting Horus at his birth. The Bible never states the actual number of magi that came to see Christ.
• Horus is not a “savior” in any shape or form; he did not die for anyone.
• There are no accounts of Horus being a teacher at the age of 12.
• Horus was not “baptized.” The only account of Horus that involves water is one story where Horus is torn to pieces, with Iris requesting the crocodile god to fish him out of the water he was placed into.
• Horus did not have a “ministry.”
• Horus did not have 12 disciples. According to the Horus accounts, Horus had four semi-gods that were followers and some indications of 16 human followers and an unknown number of blacksmiths that went into battle with him.
• There is no account of Horus being betrayed by a friend.
• Horus did not die by crucifixion. There are various accounts of Horus’ death, but none of them involve crucifixion.
• There is no account of Horus being buried for three days.
• Horus was not resurrected. There is no account of Horus coming out of the grave with the body he went in with. Some accounts have Horus/Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and going to be the lord of the underworld.

So when compared side by side, Jesus and Horus bear little, if any, resemblance to one another. Another popular comparison done by those claiming that Jesus Christ is a myth is with Jesus and Mithras. All the above claims of Horus are applied to Mithras (e.g. born of a virgin, being crucified, rising in three days, etc.). But what does history say about Mithras?

• He was born out of a solid rock and not from any woman.
• He battled first with the sun and then a primeval bull, thought to be the first act of creation. Mithras killed the bull, which then became the ground of life for the human race.
• Mithras birth was celebrated on December 25, along with Winter solstice.
• There is no mention of him as being a great teacher.
• There is no mention of Mithras having 12 disciples. The idea that Mithras had 12 disciples may have come from a mural in which Mithras is surrounded by twelve signs of the Zodiac.
• Mithras had no bodily resurrection. The myth is told that Mithras completed his earthly mission then was taken to paradise in a chariot, alive and well. The early Christian writer Tertullian did write about Mithras believers re-enacting resurrection scenes, but he wrote about this occurring well after New Testament times, so if any copycatting was done, it was the cult of Mithras copying from Christianity.

More examples can be given of Krishna, Attis, Dionysus and other mythological gods, but the result is the same. In the end, the historical Jesus as portrayed in the Bible is thoroughly unique. The claimed similarities are greatly exaggerated. Further, while belief in Horus, Mithras, and others pre-dated Christianity, there is very little historical record of the pre-Christian beliefs of those religions. The vast majority of the earliest writings about these religions is dated to the third and fourth centuries A.D. It is illogical and unhistorical to claim the pre-Christian beliefs in these religions (of which there is no record) were identical to the post-Christian beliefs in these groups (of which there is record). It is more historically valid to attribute any similarities between these religions and Christianity to the religions copying Christian beliefs about Jesus and placing those attributes on their own gods/saviors/founders in an attempt to stop the rapid growth of Christianity.

This leads us to the next area to examine: the logical fallacies committed by those claiming that Christianity borrowed from pagan mystery religions. Two fallacies in particular are obvious- the fallacy of the false cause and the terminological fallacy. If one thing precedes another, it does not mean that the first caused the second. This is the fallacy of the false cause. Even if pre-Christian accounts of mythological gods closely resembled Christ (and they do not), it does not mean they caused the gospel writers to invent a false Jesus. Claiming such a thing would be like saying the TV series Star Trek caused the NASA Space Shuttle program.

The terminological fallacy occurs when terms are redefined to prove a point, when in fact such terms do not mean the same thing when compared to their source. So for example, the Zeitgeist movie says that Horus “began his ministry,” but Horus had no actual ministry – nothing like that of Christ’s ministry. Those claiming Mithras and Jesus are the same talk about the “baptism” that initiated prospects into the Mithras cult, but what was it actually? The Mithras priests (using a ritual also performed by followers of Attis) would suspend a bull over a pit, place those wanting to join the cult into the pit, slit the bull’s stomach, which then covered the initiates in blood. Such a thing has no resemblance whatsoever to Christian baptism-a person going under water (symbolizing the death of Christ) and then coming back out of the water (symbolizing Christ’s resurrection). But advocates of the mythological Jesus position deceptively use the same term to describe both in hopes of linking the two together.

The last issue to examine on this subject is the truthfulness of the New Testament itself. While much has been written on this topic, no work from antiquity has more evidence with respect to historical veracity than the New Testament. The New Testament has more writers (nine), better writers, and earlier writers than any other document from that era. Further, history testifies to the fact that these writers went to their deaths for claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. While some may die for a lie they think is true, no person dies for a lie they know to be false. Think about it-if someone was about to crucify you upside down, as happened to the Apostle Peter, and all you had to do to save your life was renounce a lie you had knowingly been living, what would you do?

In addition, history has shown that it takes at least two generations to pass before myth can enter into a historical account. Why? Because eyewitnesses can refute error put in print. Those living at the time could refute the errors of the author and expose the work as being false. All the Gospels of the New Testament were written during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses, with some of Paul’s epistles being written as early as 50 A.D. That early dating acts as a key protective mechanism against any falsehoods being accepted and circulated.

Finally, the New Testament attests to the fact that the portrayal of Jesus was not mistaken for that of any other god. When faced with Paul’s teaching, the elite thinkers of Athens said this: “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”-because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean” (Acts 17:18-20). Clearly, if the accounts of Jesus were simply rehashing stories of other gods, the Athenians would not have referred to them at “new” teaching. If dying and rising gods were plentiful in the first century why, when the apostle Paul preached Jesus rising from the dead in Acts 17, did the Epicureans and Stoics not remark, “Ah, just like Horus and Mithras”?

In conclusion, the claims that Jesus is nothing more than a myth, a copy of mythological gods, originated from authors whose works have been discounted by academia, commit logical fallacies that undermine their veracity, and cannot compare to the New Testament Gospels which have withstood nearly 2,000 years of intense scrutiny. The alleged parallels disappear when they are compared with the original historical texts. Similarities between Jesus and the various mythological gods can only be argued for by employing selective and misleading descriptions.

Jesus Christ stands unique in history, with His voice rising above all false gods and continuing to ask the question that ultimately determines a person’s eternal destiny: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

from our friends at Gotquestions.org

There are only a couple of requirements to win a 4 pack of books.

1. You must have a Twitter account and ‘Follow’ prodigalmag
2. Then you must tweet this exact phrase “I just entered to win some FREE STUFF from @prodigalmag! Details here http://is.gd/sYqz #prodigalcontest”

Once you have done both you have been entered!

Your probably thinking, “I tweeted this … now what are the books that I might win?!?!?”  They are all brand new books and great ones at that! Check them out.

1. Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood by Nate Larkin
2. The Naked Christian: Taking Off Religion To Find True Relationship by Craig Borlase
3. Midlife Manual for Men: Finding Significance in the Second Half by Stephen Arterburn
4. No More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps: Raising Secure, Assertive Kids in a Tough World by Paul Coughlin

We will randomly pick someone who tweeted that phrase on April 22nd at 12:00AM CST April 29th at 12:00 AM CST.  We will announce the winner via our blog and Twitter.  Be sure to keep checking back! You can check out who all is entering the contest here. http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23prodigalcontest

Bind – Like the thread that binds up a tear, so God is able to mend the wounds of our hearts. This tattoo-inspired graphic depicts spools of thread binding up a heart that is on fire for the Lord! When we accept Christ, he comes in, heals us, and makes us new! Psalm 147:3

Buy Here

Heavey and Light – Limited Edition Heavy and Light State shirt. This shirt marks the To Write Love On Her Arms Heavy and Light show January 11, 2009 that featured performances by:

Jon Foreman
Aaron Gillespie
Dustin Kensrue
Anthony Raneri
Josh Moore
and Zach Williams

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King of Kings – Rediswhite.com

Not for sale yet…Vote for it here

Found – The signature logo shirt presents the pig (sinner) aimlessly walking through life without direction. The FOUND wording signifies the poverty of spirit in which a sinner lives prior to being FOUND by God. Jesus was condemned by the Pharisees for eating with sinners and He rebukes them by telling three parables illustrating how God rejoices when one sinner repents (Luke 15:2-32). We can follow His example and share the message of God’s desire to find the lost.

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Praise and Contempt – “Where there should be praise, there is contempt” is a bold assertion. Acknowledging Jesus Christ as the sovereign ruler of the universe won’t win you a popularity contest and on top of that you can bet our culture won’t stop mocking our Lord anytime soon. Moving on, we (and this includes every living thing as well) are commanded to praise God. Luke 19:40 “I tell you, if these become silent, the very stones would cry out.” When people choose not to praise God but choose to praise everything else it shows the contempt they hold in their hearts for the Creator of all things.

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Revelation 5:5 – Between God and man was a gap of sin. Jesus bridged and pulled that gap together. This T shirts depicts a lion arising as though slain, I made it hard to see because great is the mystery of Godliness.

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All too familiar are the small statues of Christ’s lament. The Designer says ”I wanted to do a very textural yet simple hand drawn rendition of this iconic image. A large full front print will bring the details justice.”

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Sons of Thunder – Mark 3:17 – James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder” I have always loved this title over them. Sons of Thunder with a “Voice among Echos”.

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Love is the ultimate weapon – Inspired by 2 Corinthians 10:4 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” Notice that the guns are all broken. Love has power above all weapons of this world.

Not for sale yet – Vote for it here