The Ramblings of Hughbo » On the Web

Sam Urban Hymns

Hugh — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:55:37 +0000

It’s rare that I see a new blog that compels me to mention it, but this is one.

A blog fundamentally about nothing, yet seemingly covering everything from music, film, politics, comedy, art, advertising, romance, facial hair and much more.

Check out SamUrbanHymns… here’s a teaser…

2010 Christian Web and New Media Awards

Hugh — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:55:20 +0000

Check out the New Website for the Christian Web Awards! Entries are now open so why not nominate your site, or another’s to enter the awards. Last year was bigger and better than before… this year’s ceremony on the 15th October promises to raise the bar again as it showcases the best Christian websites in the UK! Hope to be there again!

The Christian New Media Awards were the first ever exclusively Christian award ceremony for bloggers and web designers in the UK. They were established in 2007 by Premier Christian Media to recognise and reward Christian achievements on the internet.

Now in its fourth year, The Christian New Media Awards continue to grow. The awards now feature a new media section, to recognise a wider range of Christian achievements in technology, from iPhone applications to VJ to flash games.

As usual, we’ll be awarding winners with a range of prizes, including £1000 for Best Small Church Website.

One Minute Sermon

Hugh — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:11:16 +0000

This is pretty special. Cultural engagement at its best!

Westminster 2010

Hugh — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:04:57 +0000

that protecting human life, protecting marriage, and protecting freedom of conscience are foundational for creating and maintaining strong families, caring communities and a just society.

Christians of all denominations who subscribe to the historic Christian faith to sign the Westminster 2010 Declaration of Christian Conscience.

upon all parliamentary candidates to pledge that they will ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’.

If you agree… sign up here!

In related news… in the spirit of Christian unity, prominent UK leader Steve Chalke under the banner of Faithworks has refused to sign up stating that social action is more important than Christian conscience (I paraphrase). So Faithworks have their own declaration which Steve Chalke will deliver personally, because he’s a greaser. Personally I think Chalke in this situation has been unhelpful, and generally a bit of an idiot. For a more helpful and measured response, please see Westminster 2010 Response.

7 Miles

Hugh — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:19:06 +0000

Cheers Dan

Why I don’t want to be a History Maker!

Hugh — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:04:43 +0000

Most people, particularly those in Christian circles will no doubt have heard of the ‘Invade the Airwaves’ campaign, which aims to put a Christian band at number one this Easter Sunday, namely Delirious? with the song History Maker.

Anyway, let me tell you my 3 reasons why I don’t want this campaign to work…

I’m thoroughly annoyed by all the spam, some has come through email, but mainly it comes through incessant Facebook fan requests, it’s almost as bad as that phase when I kept getting sheep chucked at me!
I don’t believe that it is ‘right’ to manipulate the music charts in this way… in some ways it pleased me to see RATM beat the X-Factor entry to Christmas number one… but at the same time, it’s sad to see that the charts have been mocked in this way… I actually think there’s something slightly dishonest about this…
Ok… so it’s looking likely that Delirious? will be in the top 10 this week (and out of the top 4o the next), and are therefore virtually guaranteed some airtime… so of all the songs you could pick and of all the bands… the band has just retired and the song is quite frankly awful… musically aside, it doesn’t even mention the name of Jesus and is very ‘I’ focused… what a waste of an airwaves invasion!

2 New Blogs

Hugh — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:45:36 +0000

You should definitely check out two new bloggers who would be fun to read. They may be medical students, but contrary to the stereotype they’re actually quite interesting.

Also, both Northerners, which causes amusement for me when they read the Bible. They love Jesus and as you can see love swimming…

Check out Liz and Laura…

A word on the awards

Hugh — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:15:45 +0000

It’s been 10 days since the prestigious Christian Web & New Media Awards (see the winners here) – the ceremony was held at the beautiful church in the city of London, St. Stephen’s Walbrook, put on by Premier Christian Radio, the awards were introduced by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, and hosted by the ever lovely Maria Toth.

The good, and for me surprising news was that I won the award for best young blog, also my good friend Xander Coomber came runner up in the newcomer award. In other news I met the Church Mouse, less hairy than expected, also saw Adrian Warnock, surely next year due a ‘life-time achievement’ award.

Now… a little bit of contraversy… why not eh…? I was presented my award this year by a Bishop from Coptic Orthodox Church – what do you do with that? I just shook his hand, seemed appropriate… seemed like a nice guy.

Well… I understand that Premier needs to cover a wide range of Christian traditions, but looking at the beliefs of the Coptic Orthodox church I fear this may be a step too far as some of their beliefs seem profoundly un-christian… see what you think about these:

We believe in the intercession of the Virgin St. Mary, the Angels, and the Saints.
That Tradition is a source of our teaching.
We believe that in the Eucharist we receive the Holy Body and the Holy Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Baptismal Regeneration

Well… there you go… good awards, I enjoyed the food… the mix of Christians there was particularly eclectic… and as ever a little bit of controversy from me… why not… it’s not about winning awards, it’s about being honest… and a little bit inappropriate sometimes

Christian Blog Award Finalists

Hugh — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Hoorah! On Friday I shall be going to London to @ChristianAwards – the Christian Blog Awards to defend my dubious title of “Young Christian Blogger of the Year”. I’m also a finalist in the Best Small Church website category, representing St. Mary’s Hailsham (my dad’s church).

There’s a full list of finalists on The Church Mouse Blog… my good friend Xander Coomber will be there, as will the likes of Adrian Warnock, Marcus Honeysett and representatives from some large churches and Christian organisations.

On the subject of Christian blogs, there’s an interesting list of the top 100 church blogs that’s been compiled at ChurchRelevance.com – unsurprisingly my blog doesn’t appear on the list… DesiringGod is top!

Christopher Hitchens – How Relativism poisons everything

Hugh — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:38:22 +0000

Myself and my good friend ‘Pove’ have been engaging a little bit with Christopher Hitchens recently, looking at his debates on Youtube and checking out his book – “God is not great – how religion poisons everything”.

When Hitchens debates/writes he’s really annoying…

Every sentence includes a word that no one else understands – he lords his intellect over people
On intellect, he is an intellectual snob, assuming that anyone who lived more than 100 years ago is stupid (oh except Darwin)
Every argument is actually at least 3 different arguments all splurged together
He doesn’t honestly engage with Christian beliefs and evidence – rather he just picks on fundamentalists, and makes straw men
Oh… and he never answers questions… just transfers a different question back

One of my favourite debates is with Doug Wilson, he gets Hitchens on the back foot and exposes some bad arguments and holes in his worldview. The best bit is when they talk about the Amalekites

DW: ”Neither one of us has a problem with killing Amalekites. I don’t have a problem killing the Amalekites because God told them to do it. You don’t have a problem because ‘the universe’ just doesn’t care what happens to Amalekites.”

CH: “No that’s not true, what if I was an Amalekite?

DW: “You’re not ‘the unviverse’”

Check out this bit from about 6:30 mins into the video. Doug gets him!