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A La Carte (August 28)

tuesday

Today’s Kindle deals include a pretty good little collection of titles. We were overdue for a good day!

(Yesterday on the blog: What Does Prophecy Offer that Scripture Does Not?)

Free Bibliography: 101 Books on Biblical Theology (Sponsored Link)

Love Biblical Theology but don’t know where to start reading? In celebration of the forthcoming NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, Zondervan has commissioned a massive annotated bibliography on Biblical Theology.

How to Fight Boredom with the Bible

“The Bible is the most amazing book in the world. And when we’re tempted to feel bored with it, we may need to step back and remember how marvelous and unique and powerful this piece of literature is. The Bible is simply unequaled in its influence, audacious in its claims, and unrivaled in its power to transform hardened sinners into humble saints.”

Is Christianity Just about Being on a Spiritual “Journey”?

Michael Kruger continues his solid series. “Progressives love to portray the Christian religion (and all religion for that matter) as being on a spiritual ‘journey.’ It is just about ‘exploring’ for ourselves what we think about spiritual matters. The problem is that hidden within this approach is an enormous (and unspoken) assumption, namely that God has not clearly revealed himself. Nor has he clearly revealed a message about salvation.”

A Catholic Civil War?

This is fascinating to read in the NY Times (written by a senior editor at First Things): “No matter what Francis does now, the Catholic Church has been plunged into all-out civil war. On one side are the traditionalists, who insist that abuse can be prevented only by tighter adherence to church doctrine. On the other side are the liberals, who demand that the church cease condemning homosexual acts and allow gay priests to step out of the closet.”

Why Hundreds of Uncontacted Tribes Still Exist in South America (Video)

It’s amazing to think there are still people groups who have never made contact with the outside world.

5 Reasons Not to Plant a Church

Jared Wilson: “We need more churches. To be more specific: we need more gospel-centered churches in more areas of missional need. In general, church planting is the most effective form of evangelism and more churches reach more people. What we don’t need, however, are more churches planted for wrong reasons. What might some of those reasons be? Here are just five. “

Why We Need to Talk about Sin

“Faithful Christians have always rejected the call to conform their faith to the desires of those who want to say that all religions are equally true and useful. As Christians, we insist that we must talk about sin if we are to be truthful about the human condition. If we do not understand our sin, we will not understand the kind of savior we need.”

Accountability and Consequences for Sexual Abuse

Randy Alcorn says this very well. “Ministry is not just a task. It is a sacred trust between the under-shepherd and the flock that has been entrusted to him by God. To misuse and violate that trust to achieve sexual conquest, or even emotional dependence, is a particularly deplorable behavior.”

Flashback: Nurture Your Children

Few callings are as joy-filled and as sacred as the calling of father. Yet few callings are as difficult and leave you feeling so inadequate. Perhaps this is all God’s plan to cause you to rely on him all the more.

God has always saved the church, not by theological pacifists but by sturdy contenders for the truth.

—Gresham Machen

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