There’s a new issue of the always-excellent Credo magazine for you to download or read online.
(Yesterday on the blog: Not What You Think)
5 Questions to Ask When You Are Suffering
It was this kind of wisdom that gave people such respect for David Powlison.
Reading the Bible Upside Down
The pope recently approved of changing the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. John Piper explains why that’s such a bad idea. “All I want to do here is point out how the Pope’s reported rationale reveals an approach to Scripture that undermines its authority. His approach is to do what you might call a hermeneutical headstand. He turns things upside down.”
Stop Praying “Be With” Prayers
Alistair Begg: “The time-bound and fallen creature that I naturally am, I often forget the spiritual and eternal element of reality. That’s why the things that fill my prayers are so regularly absent from Paul’s—and why the things that fill his prayers are so regularly absent from mine. He has his eyes fixed on eternity. His prayers are spiritual. We need to make ours so, too.”
Why Chernobyl Exploded (Video)
Nuclear physics is largely un-understandable to me, but this video comes close to clearing away at least some of the haze. It’s a relatively simple explanation of the terrible accident at Chernobyl.
Why Is it Hard to Understand the Bible?
“The Bible is a book full of spiritual riches that can make us wise unto salvation, train us to live godly lives, and equip us for ministry (2 Timothy 3:14-17). It’s the world’s all-time bestseller and the best selling book in every year that sales have been recorded. Even so, the task of reading the Bible can feel like putting together a massive jigsaw puzzle that is missing pieces!”
David Platt Addresses Trump Prayer Controversy
David Platt: “Sunday, a week ago, I made a lot of people glad with the decision I made, and I made some other people mad. So you know what I did? I turned around Monday and I took the people who were glad and made them mad. Albeit unintentionally I successfully ensured that no one would be happy with me. … I somehow managed to be labeled, in Washington, both a far-right-wing conservative and a far-left-wing liberal in less than 24 hours. That is not easy to do.”
Technology and Our Anxious Hearts
“It’s hard for us to grasp how massive a change has happened in this area of portable technology. For instance, in a single decade we have rushed from a world with zero smartphones to a world with approximately two billion smartphones. We bought these devices because of what they promised to do for us, but we can be sure that they’re also doing something to us.”
Flashback: It’s Not a Blind Faith
We need faith when the way ahead seems unclear or intimidating, when answers are hard to find. Faith is trusting in someone who has the answers we lack. Faith is trusting in the goodness, in the character, of God.
The fact that we have died to the dominion of sin is not a truth to be put on a shelf and admired. It is a truth we must put to use every day.
—Jerry Bridges
