Sunday’s Best
1. Did you know that the world’s countries can be arranged to form a chicken? Neither did I. Good thing Johnny Vanderwell did. 2. The Hole in our Holiness. I’ve heard a few older pastors that I respect point this out now, and I think Kevin DeYoung does a nice job doing it here: perhaps young Christians are exercising a bit too much liberty and neglecting the clear biblical call to personal holiness. 3. Those are good burgers, Walter. Looking for the best burger in... Read More
Sunday’s Best
1. Here’s a 5,000ish year old idea: good theology is important for life. Jeremy Treat has a nice graphic and description of how the Old Testament “Writings” (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, Song of Solomon) point to the relationship between good theology and practical godly living centered on the phrase “fear of the LORD.” Helpful indeed. 2. Theological throw-down in Hotlanta. Interested in the debate over the term “justification”... Read More
If Only Barth Read Tozer
From Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God, 209, Time would fail us to trace the way evangelicals have been driven to a high view of Scripture by their conviction that the Trinity is at work in these texts. Glen Scorgie once described A. W. Tozer’s approach to Scripture as one that ‘eloquently describes the evangelical soul’s desire to hear God speak int he present tense and personally.’ For Tozer, ‘it is this present Voice which makes the written... Read More
What To Do When You Don’t Understand a Book of the Bible
A day or two ago I got an email from a friend who has been in church for long enough to know his Bible pretty well, but was struggling some while reading Hebrews. So he emailed my Dad and my Dad sent it along to me to see if I had any ideas for resources that might help him along with the Warren Wiersbe devotional he was already using (a commendable place to start, by the way). Frankly, this is a topic on which I have some level of expertise, partly because of my educational... Read More
Biola Classes (without the Homework)
Catch Biola favorite, Dr. Erik Thoennes’s Theology 1 class, free in iTunes U. Also, check out plenty of other chapel speakers and great classes on the Biola iTunes U page. Apart from that, if you’re looking for other ways of taking good Theology classes online, one of my favorites is BiblicalTraining.org. Full classes, such as the Intro to Spiritual Theology class I had with Dr. John Coe at Talbot, and others with the likes of Douglas Stuart (of Fee and Stuart fame),... Read More
I’m a Legalist When I Pray
Paul Miller, A Praying Life, 31-32, discussing prayer and Jesus’ call to come to him as a child (emphasis mine): The difficulty of coming just as we are is that we are messy. And prayer makes it worse. When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God. We don’t know how bad we are until we try to be good. Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer… [But]... Read More
Coup de Cemberist.
New album entitled “The King is Dead” and European and North American Tour Dates announced. Excited to see this follow-up, as their last record, “Hazards of Love” was one of my favorites of 2009. File Under: I wish I had Colin Meloy hair. Update: That may be the weirdest “File Under” I’ve ever written. Read More
Sunday’s Best
1. How to Win Donald Miller books by threatening him. Don Miller confronts a confrontational Twitterer and talks about maturity. 2. Heart for the City. Mars Hill on making strides to be in the places of greatest cultural impact. 3. I’m not being quiet, I’m speechless. Some of the world’s most beautiful college libraries. I imagine being quiet isn’t difficult as most are probably speechless anyhow. (HT: @brianbajari) 4. Unreasonable Inforgraph.... Read More
Is It Sinful for Christians to Make Hip Hop Music?
I think not. But apparently there are those who would argue otherwise, such as Dr. David Murray, professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Dr. Murray wrote a piece on his blog arguing, at its heart, this: “Are the origins, associations, and present fruits of a musical genre or sub-culture to be seriously considered when deciding whether to incorporate it into the public worship of God?” You’ll need to read... Read More
Fred Sanders on How to Write Well
Dr. Fred Sanders, a Biola theology professor, blogger, author, and all around swell guy, is one of the best non-fiction writers around. I have been reading his blog for a long time and am working through his book (which we interviewed him about here), and I find myself almost scared by how good his writing is. “Scared” because I get the feeling that he could convince me of almost any point he wanted to no matter how right or wrong he is about it. Since I’d... Read More