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A La Carte (7/26)

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The Trellis and the Vine – The paperback edition of The Trellis and the Vine is now out and Westminster Books has it for sale at half price. It is an excellent book and as close to a must-read as they get. Buy one for yourself and one for your pastor!

The Good Christian Girl – I like the beginning and middle of this article more than the end, but either way it still has some good and interesting things to say about loading young women with expectations. “Once there was a good Christian girl who dreamed of growing up, getting married, and having children. She read all the right books and did all the right things. She read about how she was a princess in God’s sight and how he wanted the very best for her. She committed herself to sexual purity, to high standards, and to waiting for the good Christian man that God was going to bring her.”

Humbled(?) Haggard – You knew this was going to happen sooner rather than later. “The Rev. Ted Haggard stood at a pulpit made from stacked buckets one recent Sunday and announced his resurrection.” Notable bits from the story: “He acknowledged grave lapses of judgment in the episode he refers to as ‘my crisis.’ But Mr. Haggard also said that in his sorrow and shame, he accepted too much guilt after the scandal broke. ‘I over-repented,’ he said.” And “Mr. Haggard, who said he draws a weekly salary of $300 from St. James, said he founded the church as an act of humble repentance, because it forces him continually to confront his sin.”

A One-Pixel Sun – This graphic (which takes a while to load) starts with the sun being a single pixel and shows the relative size of some of the other stars in the universe.

New Calvinism – R.C. Sproul was recently featured in the Orlando Sentinel. “At 71, Sproul is one of the old guard in what’s known as the ‘New Calvinism’ movement, which Time magazine identified in 2009 as one of the ’10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.’ Sproul has influenced a generation of younger conservative evangelists and this month announced the creation of a Bible college on his Sanford compound that could extend his influence for generations.”

Sketchy Characters – How accurate are police sketches? Here’s a round-up. The results are, well, not so good.

Information Overload – Here’s an old video where Ted Koppel discusses an issue that is still relevant.


  • New and Notable Christian Books for October 2024

    New and Notable Christian Books for October 2024

    As October draws to its close, I wanted to ensure you know about at least some of the most notable books it brought our way. I did not see quite the quantity of new books I have seen in some previous months, but there were still some special ones. For each, I’ve provided the publisher’s…

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    A La Carte (October 31)

    A La Carte: What is the Reformation? / More than a list of problems / A surprising story / More than songs of praise / Do elders need to evangelize? / Preach the gospel / and more.

  • From Practice to Perfection

    From Practice to Perfection

    You should stop by someday,” he said. “The orchestra is beginning to learn a new piece. I think you would enjoy hearing them. As promised, he met me in the lobby and led me through a locked door. As we walked down a long hallway, I could begin to hear music coming from somewhere ahead.…

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    A La Carte (October 30)

    A La Carte: Not the Halloween you remember / How God used the loss of a loved one to save another / Infertility and longing / Daylight saving and spiritual disciplines / Belong and believe? / and more.

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    A La Carte (October 29)

    A La Carte: When King Charles came to church / Curiositas and the David Platt documentary / Teasing out idolatry in narcissism / Loving people through slow change / Can God forgive without punishment? / and more.

  • Disappointment

    The Practice of Accepting Disappointment

    One of the most important habits you can develop is the habit of accepting that life is full of disappointments. One of the best ways to grow in contentment is to accept the inevitability of discontentment. One of the ways you can be most joyful in life is to be realistic about life, to know…