Buy this. Ligonier Ministries is commemorating Reformation Day this Wednesday by offering their (hardcover) Reformation Study Bible for ONLY $15.17. If you don't have one, you'll be hard pressed to ever find a better deal, but they must be purchased on 10/31.
"Not for retail ... while supplies last"
Read as Adrian Warnock shares 12 Literary Features of the Bible, a portion of the ESV Literary Study Bible.
"1. A unifying story line. Although the overall genre of the Bible is the anthology of individual books and passages, the Bible possesses a unity far beyond that of other literary anthologies. The technical term for a unifying superstructure such as we find in the Bible is metanarrative (big or overarching story). In the Bible, the metanarrative is the story of salvation history—the events by which God worked out his plan to redeem humanity and the creation after they fell from original innocence. This story of salvation history is Christocentric in the sense that it focuses ultimately on the substitutionary sacrifice and atonement of Christ on the cross and his resurrection from death. The unifying story line of the Bible is a U-shaped story that moves from the creation of a perfect world, through the fall of that world into sin, then through fallen human history as it slowly and painfully makes its way toward consummation and arrives at the final destruction of evil and the eternal triumph of good."
Could your fellow Christians be lying to you? Read about the findings that "more than half of Christians admitting telling a lie within the last month."
Others only admitted to telling small white fibs and felt that these did not constitute lies, "I have only lied about meaningless and insignificant things, I don't think that God cares about those."
Read about my kind of town, a town that banned "saggy pants."
"With a councilman saying underwear "is called underwear for a reason," another Cajun-country town has banned saggy pants from its streets."
Read Dr. Hansen's article, The Politics Of Rape: Debunking The Feminist Myth.
"“Rape isn’t about sex!” That’s what feminists proclaim. And they’ve declared it so continuously and persuasively over the last few decades, most of our society have come to believe it. The fact is, it’s not true—it’s a myth."
Read John Piper's 11 Benefits of Biblical Manhood (or you can listen).
"5. Men are awakened to their responsibilities at home to lead the family and protect the family and provide for the family. A clear definition of manhood helps a man take responsibility."
Read about the letter the police chief in Brussels had to write because his officers were distracted on the job. Rumor has it that being a police officer is now going to be about more than just visiting the brothels and bars while on duty.""These officers think their duty hours are to be used to drink alcohol in bars, practice sports..., visit brothels or massage parlors, and entertain (intimate) relationships with residents of the neighborhood during their patrol," said the letter from a local police chief."
Read as Joe Thorn shares 6 Rules of Cultural Engagement.
"I am a fan of that three-fold approach to engaging culture: reject what is evil, receive what is good, and redeem what is broken/lost. I think this is a healthy way of thinking about how we should respond to our culture, because our culture(s) is not one thing."
Read as William F. Buckley Jr. considers why Roman Catholic Rudy Guiliani will not automatically get endorsement by other Roman Catholics or the Roman Catholic Church in the National Review article, What about the Faithful?
"Which is to say that a candidate holding out his affiliation with a religious body as a reason to presume harmonious values with other voters of the same faith has to prepare for a likelihood of resentment among coreligionists if he appears lax in the practice of his faith. Members of a club can be relaxed about the member who does not pay his dues. But there is the risk there of continued neglect gradually understood as disloyalty. The way things work in modern times, under modern pressures, more people’s attention is attracted by defiance of a protocol than by inconsistent attention given to it. The guest who neglectfully fails to bow when the queen enters the room is not especially conspicuous, but becomes so if it crosses the mind of others that he is challenging the legitimacy of the sovereign, rather than merely to being absent-minded about protocols."
Read as Generous Giving offers responses to a myriad of excuses people give in order to not give.1. I am up to my ears in debt. I cannot give now.
The Christian in debt has an obligation, not only to his creditors but also to God, to pay off his debts and, what is more, to stay out of debt in the future (Roman 13:8). But the responsibility to pay off debts does not cancel out the responsibility to give to the Lord. Specifically, the Bible tells us to give to the Lord from our “firstfruits,” that is, the first and best of our income (Proverbs 3:9). As Larry Burkett has said, the first check we write belongs to the Lord and no one else, not even a creditor. Perhaps it sounds harsh, but in fact, giving like this turns out to be in our own best interest. We refrain from giving because it feels financially insecure. But in fact, God promises that giving to him is the most secure financial move one can make. If he gave up his own Son for us, surely we can count on him to give us all things (Romans 8:32). For those who give, he will provide all they need at all times, even making them rich so that they can keep on giving (2 Corinthians 9:8-11). We should make it a high and immediate priority to pay off our debts, but we should also give whatever we can in the meanwhile.
Read about the devastating quandary in which college students find themselves due to the jump in the cost of birth control.
The 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh filled the rest of her yearly prescription at the old price, but she finally ran out this month and will have to come up with an additional $360 a year. "That's the cost of my yearly electric bill or half my books for a semester," she says. "I haven't yet figured out what I'm going to do."Now, anyone who's tried to have an intelligent conversation with me would affirm that I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm thinking I have a solution to her problems. Uh ... either go without electricity and/or books or ... stop having premarital sex.
Read about 5 Ballpark Promotions that Went Wrong.
Read as Aaron addresses the phenomenon of A Caveotic Blogosphere. (*CAVEAT: I don't necessarily endorse everything ever written by him or those who know him or those he knows, nor do I endorse everything ever written by those whose stuff he has read or will read in the future, nor does he necessarily endorse everything I've ever written, though he probably should.*)
"But why do we feel the need to add the caveat any statement of support for another's ministry? Because we fear the guilt by association that so often comes with forays into the Christian blogosphere minefield. If we say one good thing about someone else (and we are deemed worthy of a takedown), many of the watchdog "ministries" or individuals spring into action and play six degrees of separation from heresy."
Read Dr. Hanson's argument that Love Isn’t Enough: 5 Reasons Why
Same-Sex Marriage Will Harm Children.
"Proponents of same-sex marriage believe the only thing children really need is love. Based on that supposition, they conclude it’s just as good for children to be raised by loving parents of the same sex, as it is to be raised by loving parents of the opposite sex. Unfortunately, that basic assumption—and all that flows from it—is false. Because love isn’t enough!"
Apparently I'm not alone. Read Pat Buchanan's attempt to tap the brake on the global warming "scare and scam" tactics. Incidentally, am I the only one who remembers the concern over global cooling in the 70s? I bet you a dime to a donut that in your lifetime there will be those who propose that we should be concerned about global cooling.
"Whether it's hunger, poverty or homelessness, in the end, the poor are always with us, but now we have something else always with us: scores of thousands of federal bureaucrats, and armies of academics to study the problem and assess the progress, with all their pay and benefits provided by our tax dollars."
Read as the assistant editor for the Jena Times speaks to Media Myths about the Jena 6. (also here)
Read Dan Edelen's list of 100 Truths in 30 Years with Christ, things he's learned from the Lord in his tenure as a Christian. There's some good stuff here and it has prompted me to work on my list of 93 things I've learned from the Lord as my 20th anniversary is coming up relatively soon. I encourage you to work on such a list as well.
"I’ve kept my eyes, ears, and spirit open over that time, storing away what I’ve learned. Obviously, what I share here isn’t the sum total of all I’ve learned, just some basic truths God taught me that inform my every day."
Read as Paul Lamey asks Did Jesus spiritualize the OT? Check out the dialog in the comments section sparked by his answer and his chart making his argument.
Check out Gunny's recommendation with regard to Christian counseling at Conservative Reformed Mafia.
"I'm a big fan of Nouthetic counseling and I've also been a fan of this therapist, including his television work over the years. As such, I thought it might be helpful to share his words of wisdom, though they be few, in this taping of a counseling session."
Read about how southerners give more to religious organizations, particularly to their churches.
The numbers prove it: Southerners are more generous to their churches, while lagging in other categories of giving.
Carl Trueman was recently speaking on various topics as part of the Luther and the Reformation themed Reformation Heritage Conference. Give a listen.
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."
-Eric Hoffer
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