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A La Carte (June 16)

Today’s Kindle deals include several books that are worth a quick look. It has been a pretty good week on the Kindle front!

Don’t Leave Those Kids Alone

It’s been said that “Let no one despise you for your youth” is an incomprehensible passage today. A “cursory look at our culture (such as our clothing selections, diet regimens, and social media accounts) easily demonstrates the infatuation with youthfulness. However, I think this there is an entire book of the Bible that is incomprehensible in our culture: the book of Proverbs.” I’d tend to agree.

A ‘Blob’ That Runs the Body

The New York Times gives the liver it’s due. Sadly (and predictably) they give all credit to evolution. But as a Christian you can read it and marvel at God. “We have mechanical ventilators to breathe for you if your lungs fail, dialysis machines if your kidneys fail, and the heart is mostly just a pump, so we have an artificial heart. But if your liver fails, there’s no machine to replace all its different functions, and the best you can hope for is a transplant.”

A Father’s Example of a Legacy Worth Leaving

I think I linked to this before, but it’s worth reading again.

The Institution that Shocked a Nation

Here’s the horrifying story of Willowbrook, the institution that shocked America into changing her laws. “By 1969, Willowbrook, designed with a capacity for 4,000 patients, reached its peak of 6,200. It was the largest mental institution in the United States, and host to some of the country’s most deplorable living conditions.”

God Desires Your Heart, Not Your Degree

“As we immerse ourselves in study, we must keep at the forefront of our minds not only what we study, but for whom.”

The Overpopulation Myth

“Our disobedience can be destructive – our self-centeredness greed, jealousy, and hatred can cause real harm. But not our obedience. That’s why the begetting of many children is not something we need feel guilty about, or refrain from, out of concern for the climate. We can be certain that the world’s doom will not be caused by us, in obedience, listening to God and having children.”

A Mother Teresa Relic

A relic of Mother Teresa (now Saint Teresa of Calcutta)–a drop of her blood–is being taken to Roman Catholic Churches throughout Ireland. It has its own Facebook page where you can see it being venerated by crowds of people. There’s also a video to tell you how to properly venerate it. The Reformation isn’t over!

Flashback: Making the Case: Abortion

How can we make a case against abortion? How can Christians convince others that abortion is wrong? I asked my friend André Schutten for help.

Christian giving is to be marked by self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, not by self-congratulation.

—John Stott

  • Inventory

    The Spiritual Gift Inventory I Believe In

    In many churches, it is standard practice to have Christians take some kind of a spiritual gift inventory. Through a series of questions that probe an individual’s interests, passions, and successes, these tests claim to help people discover the ways the Holy Spirit has gifted them to better love and serve his people.

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (November 15)

    A La Carte: The archishop’s resignation / A church-wide digital detox / 10 theories of the atonement / have salt in yourselves / The Plimsoll line / Book and Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (November 14)

    A La Carte: Is Stoicism a friend of Christianity? / 11 Theses on Instagram and the modern woman / The harvest is plentiful but the workers won’t stay / The unpardonable sin / Maybe you should talk to strangers / and more.

  • Marriage Happy Marriage Holy

    Marriage Happy, Marriage Holy

    God’s purpose in marriage is not to make us happy but to make us holy. Or so we have all been told. The truth is more complicated, of course, and I’m quite certain God means for marriage to cover both. The old Anglican liturgy says marriage “was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort,…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (November 13)

    A La Carte: Should Christians reject slavery and affirm same-sex marriage? / Can women be deacons? / You can’t life-hack your way to holiness / When your pastor thinks he’s brother molehill / When the seeing are blind / and more.