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A La Carte (July 25)

Today’s Kindle deals include a few titles you might want to add to your collection.

A Brief History of the Altar Call

“By the mid-20th century, altar calls had become a staple of evangelical and Baptist life in America, especially in the South.” But where did that thing come from in the first place?

Progressivism’s Peak Lunacy

This is, indeed, lunacy. But I fear we’ve got a ways to go before it hits its peak. But the point Matthew Hosier makes here is an important one: Is gender everything or nothing?

How Can I Forgive Myself?

H.B. Charles answers: “The most faithful response to this question is to reject it as an illegitimate question.”

Extraordinary Octopus Takes To Land (Video)

I prefer when sea things stay in the sea and land things stay on the land. But this octopus doesn’t play by those rules.

Questions I’m Asking While Off to My White Evangelical Church

Lisa Robinson asks some urgent and important questions as she, a visible minority, heads to her white Evangelical church. “How does this all cause me to even look at those white people in my church, and white Christians in general? How can I now not be suspicious of them? Are they now not those who oppose me, who oppose blackness and the struggle that has existed for so many years?”

The Gospel is Like an Old Hymn

Jared Wilson: “A lot of the new songs–not all of them, of course, but a lot of them–head straight to how I feel about Jesus but never take me into the depths of why I ought to feel that way. We’re summoning the wind, calling down the fire, pleading for rainfall. (I begin to wonder if I’m worshiping God or reciting some kind of medieval weather report.) I’m telling God what I want, what I need (what I loooong for, ooooohh).”

A Short Overview of Future Events [Futuristic Premillennialism]

I do not hold to premillennialism. However, I found this a helpful overview to better understand the position. Which, to be clear, I still don’t hold to.

Why Didn’t the Planned Parenthood Videos Change the Abortion Debate?

Joe Carter takes his best shot at answer a perplexing question.

Flashback: We Are All Virgins Now

This whole obsession with virginity misses one New Testament key, the gospel key.

A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.

—Martin Luther

  • Pleasure Obligation

    A Pleasure More Than An Obligation

    Christians are often portrayed as downcast and dour, as people who are trapped in a system of beliefs that robs them of joy and life. And with a bit of honest self-examination, we can probably think of times when we have fit the cliché.

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    Weekend A La Carte (March 14)

    A La Carte: The West’s strange genius / Healing the way women hurt each other / AI skeptics / The world after reading / What about the children? / What caregivers should know about dementia / and much more.

  • Sex and Self-Forgetfulness

    Sex, Self-Forgetfulness, and the Joy of Serving Your Spouse

    I often think there is a kind of paradoxical quality to sex within marriage. It’s paradoxical in that few things have greater ability to bring blessing (through its right use) or to bring cursing (through its misuse). Not only that, but few things bring greater joy to a marriage, and also, in so many cases,…

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    A La Carte (March 13)

    What happened to our pastor? / Youth ministry needs seasoned saints / God’s sovereignty when things don’t go as planned / Preach sermons that algorithms don’t reward / A pastor remains in Beirut / and more.

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    A La Carte (March 12)

    The grief ambush / Forgotten, and that’s good / The foibles and fallibility of Christian leaders / Welcome back, church planting / Weakness is not the enemy / Bad reasons to read the Bible / Bible and book sales.