I have benefited from numerous lists of WordPress plugins. Now it’s time for me to give back to the blogging community by posting my favorite plugins.

1. AdMan: Places ads in the middle of posts. You can probably see an example on this page.
2. AdSense Deluxe: Allows you to have more customization over where you want your AdSense ads displayed. If you are not a member of AdSense, you can
   
3. Angsuman’s Feed Copyrighter: Automatically adds a copyright message to the bottom of your posts in your RSS feed.
4. AutoMeta: Automatic Meta and Technorati tags.
5. Blog Copyright: Displays a copyright message at the bottom of your blog.
6. Brian’s Latest Comments: Displays the latest comments to your blog on the sidebar (or anywhere).
7. Bumpzee: Displays the Bumpzee widget that you see in the sidebar.
8. Buy Me a Beer: Displays the “Buy Me Coffee” PayPal donation link at the bottom of each post (this has not been that effective). Do you think this is Internet panhandling, or an alternative to subscription content?
9. DoFollow: Removes the “nofollow” attribute from links in your comments, allowing people who make comments on your blog more links to their Web sites in the eyes of search engines.
10. Dunstan’s Time Since: Displays the time since you posted the current post (example above).
11. ESV: Allows quick insertion of Bible verses into your posts. Example: [esvbible reference=”John 3:16” header=”on” format=”block”]John 3:16[/esvbible]
12. Extended Live Archives: Better archives for your blog.
13. Feedburner Feedsmith: Converts all you RSS links to your Feedburner account.
14. Google Sitemaps Generator: Generates an XML file to help Google index your site.
15. Gravatar: Display pictures of people who comment on your blog, provided they have registered at Gravatar.
16. Gregarious: Excellent social bookmarking plugin.
17. In Series: Create links to posts within a series. Example here.
18. Noteworthy: Allows you to mark your posts as “Noteworthy.”
19. Optimal Title: Optimizes the title of your blog pages for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
20. Polite-ifier: This removes bad language from your blog comments. I realized the need for this when I began allowing Spam Karma (below) to automatically approve non-spam post comments.
21. Post Teaser: Customizable short previews of your posts on your main page. Example here.
22. Quoter: Allows blog users to easily quote in their comments.
23. Random Posts: Displays a list of random posts.
24. Related Posts: Displays posts related to the current one.
25. SH-Autolink: Automatically places links on specific words in your posts or comments.
26. Spam Karma 2: Automatically approve blog comments, spam-free! Encourages real-time discussions.
27. Ultimate Category Cloud: Displays a cloud of your blog categories. Example at right.
28. Ultimate Tag Warrior: Allows you to add Technorati tags to your posts easily.
29. WP-Cache: Creates a cache of your WordPress pages to not overload your Web server when you suddenly reach thousands of unique visitors in a day. How can this happen to you? See my series on increasing blog traffic.
30. WP-Contactform: Adds a spam-free contact me form to your blog.
31. WP-Footnotes: add footnotes to your blog. Example here.
32. WP-Postratings: Allows users to rate your posts. To try it out, why don’t you rate this one?
33. WP-Postviews: Displays how many times a post has been viewed.

So that’s my list. I use most of these, plus some more. Is your favorite plugin on this list? If so, please comment below. Did I miss anything? If so, please leave a comment!

Here, you’ll find prudent musings, but if you’d like some random musings, head on over to Mulled Vine.

For a nice collection of free Christian resources, head on over to Free Christian Resources.

Pelagius (considered heretical):

• Everyone is born neither a sinner nor a saint. We become sinners through our own choices, but we could have chosen otherwise. Adam was just a single man and his sin did not affect anyone but himself. Just as Adam decided to be a sinner, so can we. When we are born we are just like Adam was before the sin of the fall.
• Everyone has the ability to either do good or to do bad. The reason why most people choose to be bad is because of the abundance of bad examples. This free will is God’s gift of grace to us. 
• Therefore, we can be perfect and without sin if we simply choose to. Further, man is able to find his own salvation.
• B.B. Warfield summarizing the view: “Man was thus a machine, which, just because it was well made, needed no Divine interference for its right working.”¹
• In short: denied original sin.

Augustine:

• We are not only unwilling to do good, but also unable. Only Adam was born perfect, but as the result of his sin the fullness of his free will was lost. He still had the ability to choose, but due to the corruption that had entered his moral nature he will most always choose to do evil. This moral nature has been passed down to us. We are born with a corrupt moral nature and, although we retain the ability to make our own choices, we are overwhelmingly inclined to choose evil. 
• The grace of God is a gift that allows us to break free from this moral corruption and choose to do good. Without this grace we do not even have the ability to select God. He does not give this gift to everybody. 
• In short: confirmed original sin.

My view:

I share the view of Andrew Fuller. This view is very similar to Augustine’s. Man is born with original sin, but the original sin affects only man’s moral nature. It makes the bad things in the world look more desirable than the spiritual things do. Because of this preference, man will always choose to do bad. This in no way limit’s man’s free will or his ability to choose. Take this worldly example: there are some people who, after exposure to certain things, do not have any desire to do them again. Some people touch something hot and get burned. Others have too much of a specific alcoholic beverage and never want it again (remember I said worldy example). Even though these specific experiences have influenced people’s subsequent future reactions, it is still the people that are making the decisions.

Our inherited moral corruption is also like this, but the original experience was that of someone else: Adam. God, though His grace, chooses to free some men and women from this predicament, but the granting of freedom is only fixing the broken moral will. Man still makes his own choices, as always, but that event that caused man to prefer bad has been wiped away and a new one that prefers good is in its place. We always make choices according to our preference and only our preference is affected in this process. Our ability to choose never is. Therefore, man is always free and God is always sovereign.

References:

Calhoun, David. “Augustine & Pelagian Controversy.”

Samples, Kenneth Richard. “Historical Profile: Augustine of Hippo Part 2 of 2: Rightly Dividing the Truth.”

Sproul, R.C. Augustine and Pelagius.

1. Warfield, B.B. “Augustine & The Pelagian Controversy.” A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905, pp. 13-71). On-line. Available from Internet,

   http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/bbwpelagian.htm,

   accessed July 17, 2007. [↩]

Oprah has influence over millions of viewers, but when she gets an important point wrong, some are quick to correct her. Listen to the applause from the audience directed toward the guests attempting to explain the Gospel. Not surprisingly, Oprah chose to disengage from the conversation.

Note that she mentions “generosity” as a virtue. I suppose that’s why she gives her audience members so many gifts.