Image from Wikimedia. Used under the GNU Free Documentation License. And also from Vladimir Dzhuvinov, www.ImagesFromBulgaria.com



For me, one of the most special things about JibeNow is the willingness to discuss and scrutinize without offense.  The Narnian debate was a great example of how the JibeNow community is basically willing to talk about anything that people are interested in, and do it in a polite manor.

The Question

Mostly due to the crusade of the @DunveganHighlander, a long discussion began on the merits of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. That lead to the question:

Is Narnia acceptable entertainment for Christians?

Lots of questions came out of this: Is Aslan the initiator of pagan deities or a representation of Jesus Christ? Are Lewis’ struggles with the occult dangerous to readers? “Salvation through Paganism”? Is Lewis saying God isn’t omnipresent? Whoa! Should Christians even be trying to tell allegories? These and more all were discussed.

The Action

This debate lasted much longer than anticipated (yes, we’re all busy).  But you can still catch the action and get into the discussion. Some of you might have noticed that if you go back to the original narnia debate post, all the posts in the debate are at the bottom under “trackbacks.” Still; here’s is a list of all the official posts from our debaters:

• The Highlander’s intro is available at The Outer Hebrides: “Is Narnia Acceptable Entertainment for Christians?” Here he outlines the various episodes that make Narnia an inappropriate source of entertainment from a Christian worldview.
• In just three points, Richard’s summary on The Gentlemanly Adventurer outlines why he took the negative position.
• The affirmative position was more fleshed out in the much longer post: The Chronicles of Narnia: First Negative Rebuttal
• Richard’s final post was a much longer look at Narnia in his affirmative rebuttal.
• And just this Saturday, the debate concluded with Nathan’s Negative Summary.

Thank you both for your contributions. But don’t feel it’s over. If you’ve thought of something new, you can engage in the discussion.

Let’s do it again!

Did you know that JibeNow has a Debate group? Go to the JibeNow Debates group, join, and tell me what topics you’re interested in, if you’d be interested in officially representing a side, etc. So far, we’ve debated Entertainment, Texas Secession, Global Warming, and Narnia. There’s still lots of room for more!

We need you to get the next debate on the road.  Ready to get started?

A new month has arrived, another school year has begun (depending what kind of homeschooling family you’re from), and JibeNow is waking up from it’s summer vacation.

A New Dawn

So what’s new around the site? Well, over the last few weeks we’ve been rolling out some cool things and announcing them in the Feedback Group, but in case you missed some of the announcements below are a few of the more major enhancements.

Group Email Subscriptions

Ever want to stay in touch with a certain group’s activities yet don’t want to bother checking the group every few hours… but you’re worried you might miss something if you don’t? Well worry no more, because Group Email Subscriptionsare here to save you. Simply visit a group that you belong to and click the subscription button and choose your subscription frequency.

Group Email Subscriptions

Color Coding

Well, this change was probably not as easy to miss as the others. In fact if you haven’t noticed the color changes then… well… yeah. Believe me, you’ve noticed the color changes.

Activity Colors

Video Tutorials

Joining a new community can be a little overwhelming sometimes so we sat down and asked ourselves, “What would be an awesome way that we could answer questions for new users?” Now of course a lot of websites have “FAQ” pages and JibeNow is no exception (see our FAQ page), but an idea that @dunveganhighlander inspired us with is a Video Tutorial page.

Video Tutorials

JibeNow Debate: Narnia

An amazing discussion is occurring between the respective blogs of Nathan (The Outer Hebrides) and Richard (The Gentleman Adventurer). These 2 guys are tackling an enormously tough subject with great fervor. Don’t miss out as they wrap up the discussion over the next 2 days.

Is Narnia Acceptable Entertainment for Christians?

More Stuff Coming…

Like was mentioned at the beginning, JibeNow as a community is waking up from summer vacation. Be on the lookout for some more nifty features on the way. You’ll be hearing from @brianfactor in a couple of days. Jibe on!

The community has been abuzz about this issue for quite some time, so we in the JibeNow moderator team decided it was worthwhile to move the discussion to a more formal avenue. Thus begins the Great Narnia Debate!

“There! By the Lamppost!” *

Narnian Topic

Honestly, this is one of the biggest reasons to have an official Jibe Debate. Limiting the discussion to a specific topic helps focus everyone and identify the fundamental disagreements. The debaters have chosen this topic:

Is Narnia acceptable entertainment for Christians?

The Debaters

Our debaters today come from the rolling hills of Scotland… I mean, Texas.  First, arguing a firm NO to this question is The Dunvegan Highlander @DunveganHighlander and taking the opposite position is Richard @ScottishClaymore, so drop by their profile and get to know them.

This debate will be a correspondence between their blogs: the Highlander on The Outer Hebrides. and Richard on his blog The Gentleman Adventurer. In fact, Richard has already addressed this topic in more general terms there. Feel free to leave your comments and engage in the discussion yourself.

Discussion Rules

Expect the same rules as before, with a different ordering. Here’s the posts you can expect over the next week:

• Affirmative Opening: Today, @DunveganHighlander will open the debate with a quick (250 word) look at why he does not believe that the Chronicles of Narnia is acceptable entertainment for Christians.
• Negative Opening: Tomorrow, @ScottishClaymore‘s position will be summarized on his blog in 500 words or less.
• Affirmative Rebuttal: The next post from Dunvegan Highlander will go into more detail and naturally be much longer.
• Negative Rebuttal: Richard will follow with the same type of post with more evidence and detail than the previous summary, responding to Nathan’s arguments.
• Affirmative Summary: This Saturday, the Dunvegan Highlander will get the final word (or… 250 words actually) to summarize what the fundamental issues have come down to.

I’m looking forward to it, Gentlemen. Debates like these can be opportunities for “iron to sharpen iron” or in the wrong hands, they can turn into bickering. The key here is to recognize that we are all in the body of Christ and the point is not to demolish our brothers and sisters; but to build them up. This has always been the goal of JibeNow and of the debates we’ve held from time to time.

So, would you please join us in this discussion about Narnia? Your voice matters! My desire is that you would leave this debate with something new to think about and a deeper understanding of your own beliefs.

*Image Copyright Rob Farrow. This work is licensed and used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

As Christians we’re called by God to live our lives differently from the rest of the world. But sometimes we can either 1. Forget That, or 2. Take it for Granted. This week we want to challenge you to engage your minds and dive deeper into what it means to be called apart and called into God’s Kingdom.

Life is Good

The Good Life

We’re excited to shine the JN spotlight on Nathan Exley‘s beginning blog series “The Good Life”. Make sure to catch his post from today. Just a few of the topics that God has laid on Nathan’s heart include:

• Love, Work, and Play
• The Problem of Pain
• Practical and Revolutionary Application

Make sure to visit his blog every Monday and Thursday to read the latest.

The Fire

Every once in a while we watch something that makes us say “Wow”. And “The Fire” was no exception. We’re not going to spoil it for you, but rather let us just emphasize how powerful and convicting this 12 minute clip is. Kudos to Hope Esther for sharing this on her blog.

The Fire - by Nate Pfiel

Watch it. Now. Let yourself look even deeper into the greatness and awesomeness of our Savior.

As August begins, we find the summer drawing to a close. Over the next few weeks, most of us will be preparing for back-to-school. Those still enrolled in their home-schools will be hitting the books soon, the recent 2010 graduates will be making the exciting transition into the life of a college student, and the current college students will get back to the old familiar grind.

Perhaps you are not in any of these categories: as a current home schooler, you may have not had a break over the summer so there won’t be too much of a transition as the summer ends. Maybe you graduated from high school but won’t be attending college. You might be working instead or just figuring out God’s plan for your life. Then again, for some of you, a marriage is in the works! (@scottishclaymore, @theknightslady)

Whatever the story may be for you in the coming months, JibeNow has a lot to offer.

Prayer: As a Christian community, we are here as supporting brothers and sisters in Christ. As you may have noticed, JibeNow has a prayer group set up whose members are available to pray for anyone and anything at any time. (**A huge thank you to those who have kept Peter Helms in your prayers. Even though he’s not a member of JibeNow, a lot of you know him and he is a fellow brother in Christ. So thank you, thank you, thank you.)

Daily Jibe (Activity): It can be quite relaxing and/or entertaining to just sit and read the daily tidbits of 225 Jibe-ers. (We’re almost halfway to 500 folks!) Comic relief, serious discussions, songs, poems, pictures, etc. There’s enough material to distract even the most stressed person from their troubles. The daily Jibe represents the voice of our community and keeps JibeNow alive.

*Note: Speaking of activity, we are currently looking for two people who would like to participate in a JibeNow debate. Please contact @brianfactor if you are interested.

Fellowship/Like-mindedness: Going through a tough time? Have questions about life? Feel the need to be random “just because”? The members of JibeNow share a common bond of like-mindedness in many areas. We love Christ and do our best to share his love with others. One of our primary functions is to support, encourage, and help one another in every way possible.

So as we turn the page on a fun and exciting summer, stay tuned for what lies ahead. God works in mysterious ways and we guarantee that the coming months will hold many surprises in that regard.

Stay strong in Christ and keep in touch!

“As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”

- Proverps 27:17