eMarketer posted the top websites of teens & college students.  I don’t know what any of this means, but it is interesting.  Glad to see MySpace doesn’t make the guys top 5 at all.  One interesting thing for me speaking of gender is that for the guys in college, CNN replaces YouTube.  For the ladies, Youtube is replaced by PerezHilton.com.  Where the heck is Drudge or Fox News.  I guess they’ll all grow up some day.

Teen Guys

1. YouTube
2. Facebook
3. Google
4. Yahoo!
5. ESPN

Teen Girls

1. Facebook
2. Google
3. YouTube
4. MySpace
5. Yahoo!

College Guys

1. Facebook
2. ESPN
3. Google
4. CNN
5. YouTube

College Girls

1. Facebook
2. Google
3. Yahoo!
4. PerezHilton.com
5. MySpace

Here are the top 10 lists.

YOU MAY BE TOO FASHIONABLE IF . . .

1. You can look around at church and notice that everybody is basically the same age and they look and dress pretty much like you do.
2. You can’t stand singing a worship song that was “in” five years ago—much less singing a hymn from another century.
3. You believe social justice is more important than evangelism OR evangelism is more important than social justice.
4. The church you go to is so dimly lit during worship that you can’t see the person singing next to you, much less the person singing across the room.
5. You’ve attended a “leadership” conference where you learned more about organization and props than proclamation and prayer.
6. Your goal in spending time with non-Christians is to demonstrate that you’re really no different than they are and to prove this you curse like a sailor, drink like a fish, and smoke like a chimney.
7. You’ve concluded that everything new is better than anything old OR that everything old is better than anything new.
8. You think that the way Jesus lived is more important than what Jesus said–that his deeds were more important than his doctrine.
9. You believe that the best way to change our culture is to elect a certain kind of politician.
10. The church you’ve chosen is defined more by its reaction to “boring” churches than by its response to a needy world.
11. You’ve decided that everything done by the church you grew up in was way wrong and you’re now, thankfully, part of a missional “community” that does everything right.
12. The one verse you wish wasn’t in the Bible is John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” That’s way too narrow!

The Unfashionable Quiz  - By Tullian Tchividjian.

Save money on books.  Check out Paperback Swap.

What is PaperBackSwap? PaperBackSwap is a free online book exchange service. You sign up there and list nine books that you’re willing to send out in the mail to anyone (just list nine books you have that you probably won’t read again and you’d probably end up taking to a used book store or something eventually). Once you’ve listed nine books, the site gives you three credits. - The Simple Dollar

During these economic times, I think all of us are interested in saving some cash. The Simple Dollar is one of my most recent additions to my rss feed. I like what I’ve seen so far, including this review of the Readers Digest Penny Pincher’s Almanac.

The Rabbit Room & Mere Orthodoxy are a couple blogs that will be posting posts specific to advent.  I’m subscribing to both of their feeds. 

The Rabbit Room has a virtural Advent Wreath.  Here’s a taste from Mere Orthodoxy.

“Come, Lord Jesus.”  This is the prayer that we pray on the First Sunday of Advent.  It reminds us of the dual orientation of the Christian life:  we look forward to His coming as preparation to celebrate his Incarnation.

But why orient our minds and hearts around the second coming of Christ, especially now, at the start of the Christmas season?

In the book of Revelation, John describes the return of our Lord with triumphal imagery:  he shall ride on a white horse, with a sword in his hand.  The stirring image reminds us that the Jesus who died for our sins is the same Jesus who wishes to rid them from His world.  On that day, righteousness and peace shall finally kiss.   As we anticipate his coming, we are shaped to love his justice and to seek his righteousness for ourselves, and for the world around us.

At the root of our reflection on Advent is a question:  When he comes again, will we be on his side?  In reflecting on his judgment, we are invited to repent and return to the God who yet rules the world.  

There’s more…

So it can be done! 

This is a refreshing story from the Chicago Tribune - Practicing abstinence, bride and groom have never kissed.

When the officiant tells Claudaniel Fabien he can kiss his bride at the altar Saturday, no one will fault the couple for a little “should I tilt my head this way, or that way?” awkwardness.

It will be the couple’s very first kiss.

In his Song of Solomon series, Tommy Nelson answers the question, “How far can we go?” by using an analogy of a cliff.  We don’t want our kids to ask how close they can get to the edge.  Let’s just stay away from the edge.

Of course there are the folks who think this is crazy, those who ask how you know he/she’s right for you unless you try her out, the live together before you get married just so you know crowd. 

To them, Melody responds, “You can’t take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it.”

Read the whole story.

USA Today article Students cheat, steal, but say they’re good.

Some highlights…

In the past year, 30% of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64% have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.

Michael Josephson, the institute’s founder and president, said he was most dismayed by the findings about theft. The survey found that 35% of boys and 26% of girls — 30% overall — acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth said they stole something from a friend; 23% said they stole something from a parent or other relative.

• Cheating in school is rampant and getting worse. Sixty-four percent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38% did so two or more times, up from 60% and 35% in a 2006 survey.

• Thirty-six percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33% in 2004.

• Forty-two percent said they sometimes lie to save money — 49% of the boys and 36% of the girls.

Despite such responses, 93% of the students said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character, and 77% affirmed that “when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.”

Tony Jones, prominent Youth Ministry writer and former national coordinator of the Emergent Village, has come out of the closet so to speak.  He recently “decided” what he believes about gay marriage.

As I gained a little prominence as an author in the youth ministry world, people began asking me my opinion on homosexuality.  I often quoted one of my seminary professors, Bill Pannell, who was involved in the civil rights movement.  I had lunch with him during my last semester at seminary and as we drove back to campus he said to me, “Civil rights and abortion will be nothing compared to how the church has to deal with homosexuality.  I’m glad it’s your generation and not mine who’ll have to figure that out.”

With that in mind, I always responded, “I’m holding that issue in abeyance.  I haven’t made up my mind yet, and I’m in no hurry to.  Homosexuality,” I would say, “I one issue that I don’t want to get wrong.”

And yet, all the time I could feel myself drifting toward acceptance that gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am.

I’m not sure why this issue is so darn difficult for so many Christians.  From my perspective, I see that we have 3 responsibilities when it comes to this issue.

1. We need to recognize sin as sin.  Good grief, the Bible says it’s wrong and not just in the Old Testament for the folks who like to throw that in our faces.

2. We need to love everyone the same.  Look, we are all sinners.  That’s the bottom line.  So, there is no distinction between someone who is giving into gay temptations and someone who is giving into heterosexual temptations.  We are all in the same boat.  I reject Jones’ implication that if we do not agree with gay marriage that we somehow don’t think homosexuals are “fully human persons”.  That’s just ridiculous.

3. We need not be conformed to this culture.  Loving someone and endorsing a lifestyle that is clearly wrong are two completely different things.  “But, shouldn’t we support people being happy?”  No!  There’s nothing biblical about God promising us happiness.  In fact, to the contrary we are told to be content and thankful in all circumstances.  Argue all you want about science and equality, the fact of the matter is scripture is clear, and there are plenty of recovering homosexuals who have chosen to live within God’s will.

I’m all for letting people live however they want to live, but when you ask me what I think about it I’m gonna tell you what I think the Bible says about it.  Furthermore, when those people try to politically force me & the church to embrace something or worse yet, somehow try to connect sexual preference with civil rights (as Jones does in his “fully human persons” statement) making those who disagree out to be bigots, I likewise feel compelled to speak the truth.

We live in a wishy washy, hugs & muffins world, and many in the church feel compelled to not talk about sin, in a naive effort to reach out to the unchurched.  But, Jesus calls us to repent & believe.  I believe (because I’ve seen it) that people are still convicted when we talk about the truth of sin.  It’s not just God’s love & forgiveness that matters.  If there weren’t sin, then why would we need that love & forgiveness?