I am off to Cleveland in just a few moments. I’ll be attending The Basics Conference which is held at Parkside Church (which is, of course, pastored by Alistair Begg). Cleveland is somewhere around five hours away by car so I decided to drive rather than fly. I will be there until the conference wraps…
Monday April 12, 2008 Discipleship ExploredThe makers of Christianity Explored will soon be releasing Discipleship Explored. You can find an interesting micro-site that shows how it is being made. Living Weak“‘Live strong’ is a common slogan among cancer patients. I think I understand the slogan’s appeal, and I admire the spirit that lies behind it.…
I went looking this morning for a prayer for Mother’s Day. I guess the Puritans didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day (wasn’t Hallmark around back then?) but I did find this prayer for the family in The Valley of Vision. It is called simply “Family.” O SOVEREIGN LORD,Thou art the Creator-Father of all men, for thou hast…
A week ago I announced a giveaway of some great books. Today I want to wrap that up and announce the winners. This month’s sponsor was Reformation Heritage Books. RHB publishes and distributes Puritan and Reformed books. Soli Deo Gloria Publications, which you know as a publisher that has done more than just about any…
Love him or hate him, it is tough to accuse Shane Claiborne of being an armchair quarterback. He is not a man who seeks to convince people to do something that he is unwilling to do himself. Instead he calls Christians to live as radicals while he himself lives in a radically counterculture way. Claiborne…
Friday May 9, 2008 Denny Burk on “An Evangelical Manifesto”Denny Burk has some good reflections on the Evangelical Manifesto in this post and in several others at his blog. SportsmanshipStephen Altrogge shares a great little video dealing with sportsmanship. The Uneven Playing FieldOwen comments on a fascinating article from the New York Times. “In “The…
Today those of us who are reading some Christian classics together are going to be looking at the second chapter of A.W. Pink’s The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross. You can read more about this effort here: Reading the Classics Together. Two weeks ago we began our eight-week study of this book…
Thursday May 8, 2008 His Image, Our ValueWriting about people with disabilities, Paul refutes the lie that worth is determined by contribution. “The Truth, according to God, is that people are valuable for the simple fact that they are made in His image. Value is all in relation to Him, not my supposed contribution.” GTY’s…
Yesterday I wrote about sin, asking if sin is primarily something we do or something we are. Some questions arose in light of that article and I wanted to carry on a bit of discussion by looking further at the doctrine of human depravity. I have shared most of this in the past but felt…
You have probably heard about the Evangelical Manifesto—a document that has received some attention in the press over the past few days. This manifesto was made public for the first time just a few minutes ago and is now publicly available at anevangelicalmanifesto.com. According to those who drafted the document, “The two-fold purpose of this…
Wednesday May 7, 2008 Kirk Wellum on Young, Restless, ReformedKirk Wellum, a professor at Toronto Baptist Seminary, has some good things to say about the Calvinist resurgence. “Personally, I am thrilled that today so many are “young, restless and reformed.” But at the same time, I have lived long enough to know that unless we…
As anyone knows who has studied the life of Jonathan Edwards, he dedicated a large portion of his ministry to thinking, writing and teaching about the freedom of the will. And, of course, he eventually published a classic work dealing with the subject. In writing the book he thought back to the days when revival…
Tuesday May 6, 2008 Switchfoot’s “This is Home”Switchfoot wrote and recorded a song that will be played over the closing credits for Prince Caspian. The song and video debuted yesterday on their web site. Thanks Mom Marrow Donor DriveA friend send me this video he made to commemorate his wife’s one year post-transplant anniversary and…
Here is a quote from Mortimer Adler, author of the classic How to Read a Book. In this piece he explains the importance of making a book your own. There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you…
It is no secret that Christians have a subculture all of their own. It is an expansive subculture that for some people can encompass almost every area of life. From music to television, movies to sports, Christians can enjoy all manner of entertainment, all of it “blessed” by one Christian organization or another. While the…
Monday May 5, 2008 Wow. Wow. Wow.Phil Johnson writes in glowing terms about a couple of new books that are well worth reading. Gospel Unity Among Educational CampsJosh Harris provides a video where he shares a good and important word about not dividing over educational choices. Write Down a PrayerRay Pritchard encourages you to not…
On a couple of occasions I’ve posted short stories by Stephen Leacock. Well, one of my favorite Leacock tales is this one that he tells about Mother’s Day. It seemed appropriate today since we’re just a week away from the occasion. I plan to make sure that my family treats Aileen at least this well…
It is a rainy Saturday afternoon here in the Toronto area. I’m supposed to be heading out to coach a baseball practice at 2 PM but it’s looking rather doubtful at the moment. It seems like the kids are going to head into their first game with only one practice under their proverbial belts. It…
There are many voices critiquing the North American church today. The voices come from both within and without; from those who love the church and those who hate it. We all know that there is something wrong. But what? In many cases the prescription is the same while the cure varies widely. In his new…
Friday May 2, 2008 Who or What Defines “Reformed?”R. Scott Clark writes about who or what can define the term “Reformed.” “Our Baptist friends are entitled to think what they will but they are not entitled to fundamentally re-define the adjective ‘Reformed.’ Implied in the attempt by some Baptists to re-define “Reformed” so that it…