“I view making this [porn] movie as an important first step in my career… I’ve watched how successful Kim Kardashian became and I think a lot of it was due to the release of her sex tape by Vivid. I’m hoping the same magic will work for me. I’m impatient about getting well-known.“

The above quote is a statement from Laurence Fishburne’s daughter Montana, made on July 30, 2010, when it was announced she is starring in a Vivid Entertainment porn production.

Wow. Just, wow.

Source: New York Daily News

It’s that time of the week again – time to run through my favorite news and noteworthy posts from the past seven days. Hope you enjoy!

Is “negotiated infidelity” good for your relationship? Author and former mistress Holly Hill thinks so. But only as long as there’s boundaries. Christian author & blogger Jason Boyett gives the best response to Holly Hill that I’ve read.

“The Jesus kind of love, the love that speaks the truth and yet does not try to control, is supernatural. It is a very confident position and it comes from God. Will it always win? No, but the point is not to win, the point is to love, even to our deaths.”

Instead of asking God to clean out the cobwebs in your life, try asking him to kill the spider.

Lucy is back, this time writing about what sickness taught her about love and the one thing many fear the most – death.

Have we exported a dangerous gospel to our brothers and sisters in Africa?

James 3:17 says: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Tony Morgan analyzes this verse in The Wisdom Test.

“Perhaps the people who should praise God the most are the people who can praise Him for what He has kept them from.” – Steven Furtick on Grace Redefined

Sharing our stories, or testimonies, is important, but Anne Jackson makes a great suggestion – let’s also begin sharing the story of now.

“As Christians sent into our respective cities, we are called to be the very best citizens of that city.” – Tim Gaydos on Missional Activism

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives, and 42% of college graduates follow suit. I blogged about this earlier this week but here is Donald Miller’s original post which inspired mine.

In light of the judicial overturning of Proposition 8, Carl Trueman makes some insightful observations concerning the generational divide amongst Christians. Mike Foster also has a very insightful observation on the Prop 8 situation and the lack of grace being shown from both sides.

How are Christians supposed to relate to the ten commandments? John Piper gives his answer in the latest Ask Pastor John.

So, Tuesday I turned 28.

Doesn’t feel much different than 27.

Anna took me out to dinner at Longhorn’s Steakhouse to celebrate and also got me three books: The Seven Storey Mountain and No Man Is An Island by Thomas Merton, and The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx. Then yesterday she threw a whisk(e)y tasting for my birthday party, complete with a cake that was made to resemble a sushi roll! For any concerned parties, no one overindulged – there was no drunkenness or gluttony, and pix of the cake and the whisk(e)ies can be seen over on my Flickr page.

Anyways, seeing as how it’s Sunday – time for my favorite posts of the last seven days!

News:

• A church in Gainesville, Florida is planning to host a Quran-burning event on September 11. On top of that, tomorrow (August 2) they plan to protest their own city government due to their mayor being homosexual.
• Anne Rice “quits” Christianity. Okay, she didn’t actually quit being a follower of Christ, she’s just distancing herself from many of the unChristian attitudes that have become associated with mainstream Christianity. And after reading about that Gainesville, FL church, I can definitely sympathize with her.

Blogs:

• Donald Miller’s dog Lucy is back with another blog post, this time on building and defending a love fort.
• Jared Wilson shows just how easy it is to create a rational justification for legalism.
• Joe Thorn on legalism, license, the gospel and Godliness.
• Carlos Whittaker with some great advice to parents: your six year old will not remember your problems.
• Let your yes be yes and your no be no (Matthew 5:37); I wish more politicians were like this.
• A Gay Response to Christian Pride.

I’ve tried to avoid talking about the oil spill because too many people want to make it a political issue (especially with the cap and trade bill still making waves), and I hate talking politics because they’re so divisive and I’ve realized most aren’t willing to actually listen to those with differing opinions.

But I’ve had a few conversations with some friends and the oil spill inevitably comes up.

So we started brainstorming, and this may sound overly simple, but here goes.

1. The obvious first choice is for each of us to do our part. I’m not talking about turning into tree huggers or any other extremes, but simple things that we’ve all heard about. Energy-efficient appliances, fuel-efficient vehicles, stuff like that.
2. I don’t know if this is an EPA thing, or what, but quit allowing corporations to sell or trade emission limits. I’m sick of hearing company X talk about how green they are when everyone knows they sold off emissions to company Y. You’re not making things better, you’re just passing the buck.
3. The government should make it more difficult for American companies and retailers to buy products and supplies from foreign companies that don’t meet our environmental guidelines. We’re the largest consumer in the world, why aren’t we using that to our advantage? Tariffs, fines, whatever – if they want American business, they’ll meet American standards.
4. Eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. Even the most liberal of pundits estimate that we’ve got nearly fifty years worth of oil in Alaska – that’s enough time to get my next point working.
5. Make renewable alternative energy sources THE energy sources. I’ve heard it a dozen times in the last week; “Alternative energy is just that – alternative.” Well, as long as we keep treating it that way, nothing will change. Progress takes time. When the Wright brothers flew for the first time, I doubt they envisioned the airline industry carrying hundreds of passengers around the world. Yet, merely twenty years after their first flight there were nearly thirty airlines around the world. If energy companies and automobile manufacturers and farm equipment manufacturers and etc. really start pushing forward in designing and implementing renewable and/or sustainable alternatives to the current energy models, who knows where we’d be in twenty years?

Those are just a few ideas my friends and I came up with, and like I said, they are pretty simple. Maybe they’re too simple to actually work…… but then again, maybe not.