Destinations

Yesterday in church I encouraged folks to read the Bible through in 2015. Tim Challies discusses various plans to accomplish this.

Speaking of the Bible, perhaps you either read or heard about this Newsweek article. Whether you’ve encountered the article or not, I’d encourage you to work through these two posts (one, two). The value of the Newsweek piece is that it represents the common static believers encounter in relation to the Bible. Thus by studying the aforementioned posts you will be prepared to intelligently respond to the common arguments you might encounter.

Randy Alcorn’s Ten Practical Ways to Control Spending and Wisely Manage God’s Money is both helpful and wise. I think most believers in America need to consider his direction in this area.

Lore Ferguson grapples with not getting what we ask for from God.

Given the motorcycle culture of Bowman, perhaps we ought to bring them into the church?

 

God Is Not Dead

Here is an encouraging video:

The Cosmological Argument

I often say that it doesn’t make any sense that something came from nothing.

Reza Reviewed

In my cultural ignorance, I had never heard of Reza Aslan until a couple of weeks ago when Sande Parks alerted me to some of his comments. I don’t know how I’ve missed him. He is everywhere. Right now he has the #1 New York Times bestseller. His book is entitled Zealot. I haven’t read it and don’t plan to. However, given the books prominence I thought I’d link to several critiques that might prove helpful to those who either have read the book or know someone who has read the book and found its thesis appealing. First, Justin Taylor helpfully cites a few Christian reviews and comments.  Second, Christian scholar, Craig Evans, weighs some of the books claims against current scholarship.

Popular books about Jesus are seldom Biblical or orthodox. The problem is that those who are looking for a way to dismiss the claims of Jesus are all to willing to believe a theory that is not grounded Biblically.

Given Aslan’s claims in the video below, it is helpful to hear from scholars who are familiar with the evidence that Aslan misconstrues. His PhD is in sociology and he is a professor of creative writing.

Destinations

Here are a few odds and ends worth thinking about:

First, Al Mohler interacts with a recent Newsweek article questioning the historicity of Jesus. This issue is always worth grappling with. Our faith is constantly challenged.

You’ve heard me say that I’m a packrat and a plodder. I’m always collecting ideas and nothing comes quickly for me. I’m the tortoise not the hare. Mark Altrogge reminds us that God is looking for plodders.

The inimitable Carl Trueman tells us that freedom of speech is under attack. Here is his closing salvo:

Tell someone Jesus is the only way of salvation and find that they have gone away and killed themselves, and one day you too might be subject to a criminal investigation

In my effort to walk with the Lord I root against all San Francisco teams. Rooting for the Niners is like hoping Ahmadinejad has a pleasant day. Anyway, Barry Zito, pitcher for the leftest Giants, once pitched for the team on the bright side of the Bay. This to say, perhaps there is hope for Zito. Maybe, one day, he’ll return to his pure roots. I digress. Here is an article about how God has drawn Barry to himself.

Destinations

Here is a thought provoking post by Tim Challies on hospitality. Here is the opening paragraph:

It is Labor Day today, and we anticipate spending the day with friends. We will be spending the day with these particular friends because a few weeks ago they emailed and said, “We want to do something on Labor Day. With you. At your house.” They just went ahead and invited themselves over and invited some mutual friends to come with them. I love it.

Douglas Groothius’ “Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith” is only $4.04 in the Kindle format. This book is published by IVP. If you are interested in doing some serious apologetical thinking, this is a deal that is too good to pass up.

Here is a short but challenging meditation by Mark Altrogge on Paul’s words in Philippians 1:8, “For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” This verse isn’t as challenging as Romans 9:3, but it is up there near the top.

Wilson and Hitchens On Ultimate Truth

This is a scene that didn’t make it into the movie Collision. In the clip Wilson defends Biblical authority. Doug Wilson’s comments below the video are also worth reading.

Accused of Intolerance?

Destinations

I find ebooks attractive for two main reasons: price and portability. The Kindle I tote in my pocket theoretically holds 3,500 books. I’ve also escaped the incessant need to build bigger bookshelves. I usually will wait until a book goes on sale so I’ll often pay a fraction of the hardcopy price. I must also say that I’m attracted to the instant gratification component of the mix. I hear of an interesting book and within a minute I’d can be reading it. However, I’d be the first to say that in a perfect world I’d also like to have a hardcopy as well. In spite of my general appreciation of ebooks, there are dissenting voices. Here is a piece called Why the Kindle is a Really Bad Kisser. The author is clearly a hardcopy woman. Also, here Tim Challies grapples with the thorny issue of ebook ownership both literal and metaphorical.

Here’s some more free music. I mentioned the first album listed on this page yesterday. I haven’t listened to the kids album (It should be very good – the words are by Sally Lloyd-Jones and the music is by some adept musicians.) but I liked the others listed (Debbie didn’t like the Hymns album.). Also, here is a Rap album by Ronald Johnson who is known as Through Hymn. It is very good. Even though I’m not in any way a fan of rap (hip-hop?, I can’t even converse intelligently about the genre), this album is worth listening to time and time again. It contains rich theology. You will learn theological truth by listening to this stuff. Yes, it is on my iTunes.

How do we answer those who are skeptical of biblical miracles. Craig Keener offers his insight:

Atheism And Ethics

“On your account I am one set of complex chemical reactions secreting something that I falsely believe to be arguments to another set of complex chemical reactions who falsely believes that he is reading them . . . if you apply reason and self-criticism to an atheistic examination of ethics, you should discover within ten minutes that there aren’t any . . . You are a hodge-podge of neuron-firings looking into an abyss which you only think you understand. You don’t really understand it because you are not thinking at all, but rather doing what chemicals always do under those conditions and at that temperature” (Letter From a Christian Citizen, pp. 98-99).

(HT: Blog and Mablog)