philosophers go at each other

and there is a play by play. very interesting stuff. Plantinga is the christian and Dennett is the militant atheist. Much more at the link. 3:52 pm – I have just realized that Dennett is taking far too long. The session is supposed to end in 8 minutes. Dennett argues that naturalism is an alternative [...]

two clips from John Piper

and

words matter

Vision Navigator posted a video with this introduction: Ran across this short movie called Validation…funny, intriguing, touching, and a great story that illustrates the power of words, and the fundamental human need for recognition and affirmation. here it is, what do you think?

foto friday

spring is springing. here is a bee on a redbud on the Capitol grounds. My new spring header came from this. Love the determination on 2′s face: and I just can’t seem to get enough of flags:

James MacDonald’s blog

James MacDonald is the senior pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago. He is currently in California undergoing radiation treatments for prostate cancer, but he is still updating his blog. he recently did a video post on songs that Harvest Bible Chapel won’t sing. Good stuff. like Jonathan Dodson, James is also of the opinion [...]

gospel centered preaching

here is Matt Chandler talking about gospel centered preaching as opposed to silly irreverent myths p.s. I am trying to remember where I saw this and will update with a link when I remember

What “reformed” means to Kevin DeYoung

Kevin DeYoung has written about what it means to him to be called “reformed”. The whole post is very good and you should read it, but I especially liked these two paragraphs. I delight in the glory of God and in God’s delight for his own glory which brings me, on my best days, unspeakable [...]

generations

baptist 21 is publishing a series of articles by a guest poster, Steven A. McKinion, who is a theology professor at Southeastern Seminary. Professor McKinion is describing the heirs of the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. He talks about the “third generation” of conservatives, their distinctives and their influences. Very interesting stuff indeed. [...]

yesterday

we went to church at Austin City Life yesterday. About 80-100 of us crowded into the Hideout Theater. Turns out it was the last Sunday in that venue and next week the church will meet at the Parish on 6th Street. Jonathan Dodson is the founder/pastor of the church. He blogs here and here and [...]

God’s glory

Al Mohler also touches on the question that I quoted from John Piper the other day. First he starts with an important reminder: Human beings are trapped in a human frame of reference. When we think of motivation, we inevitably start with our own self-conscious knowledge of our own motivations. For a human to seek [...]

Interview with Dinesh D’Souza

I first became acquainted with the work of Dinesh D’Souza back in law school when I read Illiberal Education. It was both interesting and eye opening in its willingness to take on directly the sacred cows of the left wing thought police. His more recent book is What’s so Great about Christianity. In this book, [...]

Is God for us or Himself?

Is God for us or Himself? That is the question answered by this sermon from John Piper delivered at Wheaton College back in 1984. My brother-in-law, Todd, sent me the link by email last weekend. Such an excellent reminder of the whole point of this exercise we are going through. how do you react to [...]

two from Big Hollywood

From Andrew Breitbart’s new project (an answer to the Huffington Post), Big Hollywood come two interesting pieces to read this weekend. The first from Gary Graham (warning some language at the link) says in part: No. I’m going to say it. I’m going to say what millions know in the front of their brains, and [...]

Rick Santelli goes off

Everybody has probably seen this already, but let me tell you, this was some good T.V. right here. Hat tip to KLo and Reformissionary.

foto friday

february is a bit too early for baseball and the weather was not very cooperative for pictures the other night. I decided to use the fog and try for artsy instead. the scene in B&W coming up to the plate (I really like this one for some reason) and firing it in (love the face)

John 10

I have been spending some time in the Gospel of John lately. It is amazing how reading familiar words can have a new impact on you when you are reading them again. Just look for a minute at some phrases from John 10. here are verses 3-5: 3. To him [the shepherd] the gatekeeper opens. [...]

high praise for Finally Alive

John Piper’s new book, Finally Alive is earning high praise by reviewers. Tim Challies says at the beginning of his review: As I read the final page of Finally Alive I realized that I had found a new favorite book by John Piper. Those who have read my reviews of some of his previous titles [...]

listening

listening is a skill that must be consciously cultivated. Like Vitamin Z says, listening well displays humility and is essential for leadership. luckily, Gavin Ortlund has posted 20 qualities of good listeners to provide some guidance to us as we seek to develop this skill. here are some of them to give you the flavor: [...]

Training

I have signed up for Governor Perry’s fit Texas challenge and I am preparing to participate in the Texas Round Up (5K or 10K that is the burning question). My signing up for this after 20 or so years of basically no activity is proof that peer pressure works. Anyway, yesterday was our first training [...]

Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong

Here are two blurbs from the new book Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong the first one deals with the emptiness of chasing the “American dream”: Until sinners submit to the truth about God, they will never acquire what it is they truly seek. They become like the Samaritan woman at the well, confusing [...]

legislating morality

Kevin DeYoung has a post up on his blog about why he believes it is not only permissible but necessary to legislate morality in the case of abortion. First he makes the point that I was making to Jesurgislac in comments to this post. This point is that if the unborn fetus is human, you [...]

missing the moment

The third of the reactions posted by Timmy Brister that I found particularly interesting is a longer read that gets to the heart of why I think this fight matters and why it is even occurring. An article at Baptist Twenty One is titled “The Generation Gap in the SBC: Interactions with Nathan Finn and [...]

friends ride in

Timmy Brister has posted a round up of reactions to the Baptist Press article on Mark Driscoll. I found three of them to be particularly interesting. First, Ed Stetzer writes that Friday is for Friends and he says, in part: So, some don’t like Mark, and they point to his past as justification. But we [...]

more fighting

I think that the leadership of the SBC is really misunderstanding the moment we are in historically, culturally, theologically. Here is the Baptist Press article about Mark Driscoll. Here is a response from Southeastern Seminary that just had a conference with Mark Driscoll as one of the speakers. Here are some thoughts from Todd Burus, [...]

phriday photos

I am just fascinated by the most intense light of the sun right now. here is sunset reflected off the arm of a power line here is the bottom of the sun peeking out of the cloud and for something different, here is a group shot of Texas political leadership from earlier this week