Friday, May 15, 2009
Ethiopia Trip Update
In January Christopher went to Ethiopia and Engalnd on a ministry trip. He took a lot of pictures and had an amazing time. Want to hear how the trip went and how God moved?
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Great Article on Carrie Prejean and 17 year old Mistakes vs. 21 year old Mistakes
You know by now the controversy regarding the Miss USA pagent, when the blogger called “Perez Hilton” who has made a name for himself by outing people in Hollywood and tafficing in gossip asked Miss California “do you agree with gay marriage” which should never have been asked in a pagent at all. Now Carrie Prejean has become a spokesperson for the traditional marriage movement, a movement i might add that is still in agreement with about 60% of Americans. Now they have dug up a picture of her from when she was age 17 that is semi-toppless (I will not post to it, as i think it qualifies as lite pornography).
:
What to make of all this? Well Kathreen Jean Lopez of National Review and Seth Leibsohn of the Claremont Institute have a great piece entiteld “Naked in the Naked Public Square.” You can read it here:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjhmZDc3YTU1NGVmYmFjNzg1OTlkMzNiNDA5Y2RjMmU=
I agree with most of what they had to say (I think they were harder on Miley Cyrus and her dad then I would be, since I think they got snookered and simply trusted the wrong person), but it got me to thinking about Ms Perjean and what good will come of this for her. After the jump you will find the email I sent to Madam Lopez, the queen of Nationalreview.com
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Why the Chrysler Bankruptcy Deal is Dangerous
I have never owned a Chrysler vehicle. Actually, I am not sure I have ever been in one. Maybe a Jeep Wagoneer, but it was not owned by Chrysler when my friend had one. I am also not particularly pro-union, though from a historical view, I think they played an important role. But whatever your view of unions, the Chrysler name, or President Obama, you should be very worried about the deal worked out between the Obama administration and Chrylser last week that has now gone to the bankruptcy judge.
Friday, May 01, 2009
On Trying to Find Meaning through Swine Flu
Why did our country go crazy over this recent out break of the dreaded swine/H1N1/Mexican/resort flu? Yes, the 24 hour news cycle contributed, but why would ordinary people run out and spend good money on fac masks they neither needed nor will likely ever use?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
A Christian Perspective on “Torture” and the U.S. Interogation Methods
What does it mean to both create a safe society and yet love your enemies? Can we love our enemy if by our acts of love we allow them to kill thousands of people? And how to really define torture?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
My Take on Global Warming - Going back to 2007
I have promised repeatedly to put up my large response on Global Warming that was necessitated by my support for the admittedly flawed documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle. That documentary has gotten a lot of crticism, and it is not without cause. It does have an incorrect graph, it does make some overstatements, and it famously used quotes by Dr. Wunch that, while correctly, and in line with his pervious statements, we made not knowing this was an anti-global warming documentary and he felt lied to. However, what Wunch is not a proponent of the alarmist Global Warming viewpoint and, as I just said, what he says does here and in his other writings (yes, I have read some of them) is true about higher temperatures come first and then the oceans release their CO2, which in general (there are periods with this was not true) shows that CO2 comes after and does not cause warming.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Is the Global Warming Crowd (sorry, Global Climate Change) finally headed for defeat
Since the day in 1989 when Al Gore called Dr. James Hansen to the Senate hearings to tell us of the coming threat of Global Warming we have seen a twenty year battle for the minds, souls, and economies of the world. No, I am not being melodramatic. In the name of global warming we have had heads of countries pushing “global governance,” heads of enviro group and journalists calling for the death of airline executives when there are floods in Bangladesh, and many saying democracy has to be put to the side (and with it free speech) in the name of stopping global warming.
Despite all their best efforts they have not been able to convince the majority of average Americans this is a priority. Now around the globe many others have begun to notice one big problem - the world stopped warming in 1998 (which was not the warmest year ever, or even on record), and we have now had 10 years of slight cooling. All this despite tons more CO2 going into the atmosphere (of course as one of the great British enviromentalist and now global warming skeptic said, CO2 is natures fertilizer, not a pollutant). Look, as a theologian I am a great believer in stewarding the globe so that it honours God and supports best the diversity of life on it. But we live in a finite world. We could easily reduce the problem of man’s impact on the globe by committing species-wide suicide of ourselves. And don’t laugh, there are some in the enviro movement who see that mass human depopulation is a good thing.
But we live in a world where there are tradeoffs. To get to the levels specified by the 2008 Liberman/Warner Senate bill we would have to reduce our economy to the levels of Haiti or Somolia. Is it worth it to do this? Especially for no appreciable change in overall temperature (in the computer models, which have not predicted the last decades temperature fall, so you know what they are worth).
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A Changing Society - Socialization of GenerationMe
In my work with The National Training Team of The Navigators I have gotten to be an advisor to the very fine work they have done in creating a new Bible Study and related tools (really, a whole new way of doing ministry) called Connect. The series tries to take into account the major shifts in a whole series of important sociological trends, from post-literacy to postmodernism to post-guilt. If you read this website, you already know that I think one of the most important books of the past few years is GenerationMe by Dr. Jean M. Twenge. Well, much of what she writes about I have tried to encapsulate as an explanation of the changes that underlie our new Connect Series (available at NavPress.com here:
http://www.navpress.com/uploadedFiles/CulturalBiblicalRelevanceWeb.pdf
If you are interested, please read this paper and itneract with me on these socialization trends and others you think I should have addressed. I appreciate all any feedback you want to give me.
Christopher Morton at
Socializing_a_New_Generation__From_Post_Literacy_to_Shame_What_Has_Changed_for_Todays_Under_40s.doc
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Is the Book Dying? An Interesting Piece on Reading in America
Come to our house and you will know instantly that we love books. They are everywhere, especially of course in my office. When I married my wife 13 years ago (and before I went to seminary, but while I was finishing my MBA), I had one small book shelf, and books were one shelf of it. Today...books have taken over! We love books. I am a word person. But...the book we hear is dying, and so is reading (not literacy, the ability, but actually reading something more than just a web post). And in special trouble is the printed book. Is this our future?
Well there is a very intersting artile on the website The New Atlantis on the printed page vs electronic. Read it here:http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/people-of-the-screen
And for an interesting read on the subject of the end of literacy, you really should check the well written if insultingly titled The Dumbest Generation:
http://www.amazon.com/Dumbest-Generation-Stupefies-Americans-Jeopardizes/dp/1585426393/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229577651&sr=1-1
Hugh Hewitt, the great political commentator and radio host has been asking whether the Republican Party can close the technology gap, but a bigger issue for both parties is not how they use technology, but whether a technophile culture is going to be able to understand ideas, ideology, history and economics enough to be the kind of populace that can keep itself free and prosperous.
As for me...I have my doubts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Want to Suppprt The Morton Family Ministry
Did you know that I serve with The Navigators? The Navigators, like a lot of ministries, require its staff to fund raise for their own salary. That means asking people like you who have either been blessed by my ministry or who feel led to parnter with me help me do my job by giving to The Navigators in my name. Great news is that your contributions are 100% tax deductible. You can contribute at:
Want to know what Tanya and I have been doing? Here is our latest newsletter: Morton_Saltshaker_Nov_2008.doc
In January and February I will be going overseas for two weeks for a taeching ministry trip to England and to Africa (cannot say more...). Would you consider giving a one-time gift to help me go and serve the church around the world? The total cost of the trip is about $4000, so we are really needing some additional support in order to do this trip 
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Global Warming’s End and Kyoto’s? Bringing Truth and Common Sense Back to Conservation and Ecology
I am firm believer that all conservatives as well as all Christians should be interested in stewardship of the Earth. My family is vegetarian, composting, granolas...but we are decidedly believers that Global Warming and Al Gore are the biggest load of tosh since...Y2K. Do I think we should be careful with our use of non-renewable fuels? You bet. Less pollution? A must. But Global Warming is bad science, bad research (couldn’t they ever afford with all those millions in grants to hire a statiscian), bad politics, and bad economics. Now the data is becoming impossible to ignore - temps have been stable to falling since 1998. We are basically at the stage of climate science as we were in understanding the human body when people thought bumps on your head could tell your future. What is worse is that we have failed to address real ecological issues why rich Westerners were busy trying to destroy world economies.
The good news is that it looks like the Son of Kyoto is essentially dead, or at least so sickly that we do not have to worry about global treaties impacting our economy and foreign policy. Now if we can just get Obama to pass on “Cap and Trade”!
Well, here are a few important articles for your persual. We have to fight lies. Lets tackle real ecology issues - clean water, clean air (in India and China since ours outside of LA is pretty good) and the like, and send Al Gore and his Big Lie to the scrape heap of history.
http://www.pjstar.com/oped/x420257915/Op-Ed-Look-to-patterns-to-grasp-glacier-growth
http://jaycurrie.info-syn.com/an-icy-chill/
Friday, December 05, 2008
Postmodernism, Pluralism and Bears (Markets) Oh My - Challenges to Ministry in the 21st Century
In Septemeber I had the great opportunity to speak to pastors and Navigators Church Disceipleship Ministry staff about some of the different challenges to doing ministry in our culture. This paper adn presentation were pretty well received, and now I have been receiving request for my paper. Well, here it is, feel free to enjoy (please cite me if you use it). Any questions? Email me at
Postmodernism_Pluralism_and_Bear_Markets.doc
Monday, December 01, 2008
New Class Notes - A Class on Calling
This past Fall I taught a new class at First Presbyterian of Colorado Springs. For the first time in my life I taught on “Calling.” As I studied I found that callings in the Bible can fall into five different types:
1) General Calling to all of God’s People of Transformation
2) General Calling to all of God’s People of Being a Blessing
3) Specific Callings of religious vocation, or serving to and for the people of God
4) Specific Callings of a short-term nature
5) Specific Callings to the world and life beyond “church”
These notes are different than my previous ones. They are more interactive and less didactic. Hope they are blessing to you.
Calling_Week_1_Class_Notes.doc
Calling_Week_2_Class_Notes.doc
Calling_Week_3_Class_Notes.doc
Calling_Week_4_Class_Notes.doc
Calling_Week_5_Class_Notes.doc
New Testament Studies - From Christopher's Teachings • Permalink
Friday, September 19, 2008
Quick Thoughts on the Financial Crisis
Litttle known fact...the Roving Theologian has a MBA and experience in the financial markets before he ever became a theologian. Needless to say as the events of the past week unraveled I could not but help but put back on my finance hat again. And my verdict?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
9.11 - Seven Years Later and Explaining it to Your 2nd Grader - Personal Reflections on today
I wish I had more time to write this, but I have to get back to the real work that is before me. But…today is the seventh anniversary of 9.11. It snuck up on me this year. Two years ago, the 5th anniversary, I had intended to be immersed in 9.11 reflections, but instead had major surgery that day and simply missed out on my and others reflections. Last year I was traveling and awoke in a hotel, grabbed my USA Today from outside my door and realized that it was 9.11. This year, now with two children in elementary school and one in nursery school I knew it was coming, but awoke today with a full schedule, a clogged head, and then was struck. Today is 9.11, the 7th anniversary of one of the most traumatic days of my life.
