secularism and paganism

useful post from Challies on the six faces of paganism present today in our society. Go read his post for the details. 1. materialism 2. empiricism 3. determinism 4. secularism 5. secular humanism 6. post-modernism see if you can tell which one of these six is not like the rest and tell me why it [...]

six flags over Jesus

compare and contrast this to this. here is an excerpt from the first one: Q: What can the church expect to gain from all the changes? A: The transformation of our campus will dramatically increase First Baptist’s ability to minister to our city. It will make room for hundreds or even thousands more worshipers and [...]

reality of marriage

Challies put up an article on Monday just after his eleventh wedding anniversary that was a very real look at marriage through the device of wanting to give his younger newly married self some counseling. the whole thing is good, but I thought this part was especially helpful because so many people have unrealistic ideas [...]

the Death Penalty

Challies has reviewed The Death Penalty on Trial by Ron Gleason. It sounds like a interesting and useful book for Christians who have trouble with the Death Penalty as a possible punishment by the State. Go read the whole review and see what you think. I thought this part was a particularly interesting bit of [...]

are you or am I emergent?

Challies quotesKevin DeYoung’s test of whether we are emergent or not. Kevin says that “if all or most” of these apply to you then you are emergent. So let’s use 75% as a threshhold.  Look at my answers below and you tell me.  Am I emergent?  I think not, but they have some good points. [...]

why are we so fat?

via challies, I discovered and read a very interesting article from Elizabeth Kolbert at the New Yorker about obesity in the U.S. and the rest of the world. During the next decade, Americans kept right on gaining. Men are now on average seventeen pounds heavier than they were in the late seventies, and for women [...]

suffering as a tool to edify the church

Challies has another great post today. This one discussing Ligon Duncan’s exposition of how God uses suffering in our lives to build up the church. Go read the whole thing. So I guess this is something we ought to keep in mind in those times that God calls us to suffer. Our suffering is not [...]

pray believing

Challies has a great essay up about Acts 12 and you should go read it. I particularly liked this part because it so accurately reflects the common human experience. Despite the miraculous (Peter being rescued, Herod being struck down) there is such a human element to it. We see the church in prayer, undoubtedly begging [...]

three days

Today is Good Friday which brings up the perennial question of how Jesus could be three days and nights in the grave when he was crucified on Friday and rose again on Sunday. Here is a decent explanation by Walter Kaiser, Jr., PhD of the conundrum. Go check it out. hat tip to Challies

using spiritual gifts

James McDonald has posted about the great damage that can be caused by people using the spiritual gift of discernment in their flesh and not in the Spirit. I have been a pastor for more than 25 years and I have heard some pretty harsh things; but the deepest wounding by far has been at [...]

theistic evolution

as I mentioned yesterday, I read the book Who Was Adam last month. It was interesting, but I kept having a recurring question pop into my head. The question is “why?” Why would God limit himself (in part) to naturalistic processes and a multi-billion year timeline? Why would he create several different kinds of hominids [...]

willing to be hated?

Randy Alcorn asks if you are willing to be hated for what you believe. Here are some excerpts, but you have to go read the rest. especially the quote from D.L. Moody. I have heard it before, but it is still a good one. Of course, this does NOT mean being hateful. Nor does it [...]

Roe v. Wade @36 part 4 “making it unthinkable”

Challies has a guest post from John Ensor today. Well worth reading the whole thing. ….I acknowledge the resistance, even offense, taken by many by asserting that abortion is the moral issue of our day. I am familiar with the claim that asserts equal concern for poverty, global warming, aids prevention, war, and more. All [...]

the good news of the Gospel

Challies has an excellent summary of the gospel message as it is really compared to how it is usually preached. (my previous post on this topic is here) First the real bad news according to the Bible: But the gospel reaches its ultimate offense when it tells us that we are utterly unable to do [...]

avoiding the “quick fix” mentality

there is a tendency to want to believe that if the right words are spoken in the right order, then complex problems will magically disappear. Well usually they won’t. via Challies, here is how Michael Hyatt puts the temptation: Many touted the Financial Stability Bill (a.k.a. the $700 billion bailout package) as a silver bullet [...]

Objective Bible Study

Challies has a post about the necessity of leaning on the Holy Spirit when studying the Bible to avoid the possibility of reading the Bible to support preexisting arguments rather than what is there. he first gives an interesting illustration involving the Loch Ness monster that wraps up like this. In the case of the [...]