Destinations
November 5, 2012
First, here is an article by R. Scott Clark on the myth of Christian America. He deals with the question from the angles of sociology, history, and theology/scripture. I think the history and theology sections are particularly interesting.
There is considerable debate over the question how to interpret the founding of the American Republic. There is little doubt about the Christian orthodoxy of the 17th-century pilgrims but the picture is cloudier when it comes to the founding fathers of the republic in the late 18th century.
Tim Challies has an article entitled Smilingly Leading You to Hell. His point is that there are are nice people who almost totally miss the message of salvation. You’ll never guess who is one of the poster boys in this piece.
Barnabas Piper writes about the authority celebrities have in our culture. Should we listen to marital advice from a movie star who has been married three times? For that matter, should we read a book by a pastor giving advice on how to invest in the stock market? If you ever hear me giving advice on investing, run away as fast as you can. How do we sort through the messages we encounter?
Here is a fun article entitled The science behind how your productivity is chosen by what you eat. Pretty interesting stuff.
This will be my last pre-election comment. Did you know that since 1984 every Presidential election has been “decided” by the winner of the Alabama LSU game? Look here:
| Year | Winner of Election | Winner of Game |
| 2008 | Obama | Bama |
| 2004 | Bush | LSU |
| 2000 | Bush | LSU |
| 1996 | Clinton | Bama |
| 1992 | Clinton | Bama |
| 1988 | Bush | LSU |
| 1984 | Reagan | LSU |
(HT: Denny Burk)
Did you hear who won the other night? Alabama. It looked as if LSU would win but in the final moments of the game, Alabama scored the winning touchdown. Obama in a squeaker.
Luggaged 
November 5, 2012 at 2:03 PM
Smilingly Leading You to Hell – interesting article and interesting comments made to that article.
November 5, 2012 at 4:57 PM
Yep, interesting stuff. When Paul preached at Corinth for a year and a half he said he only preached Christ and him crucified (1Co 2:2). This doesn’t mean that he preached the same sermon Sunday after Sunday; it does mean that what he preached whether it was about church life, family life or sex, ultimately was tied to the Gospel. Most TV preachers seem to barely mention Jesus. He might be mentioned in relation to salvation but he’s absent most of the rest of the time. Yet it is the gospel that both forms and empower our ethic. And, of course, Joel is essentially a motivational speaker.