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A La Carte (May 3)

monday

Good morning! Grace to you and peace.

(Yesterday on the blog: The Endearing Conceit of Young Men)

Humility on the Opinion Front

This is a really good call for humility when it comes to opinions (and other things).

Tithing in Financially Tight Times

“Your bank balance hovers near zero. Your job feels like it’s hanging in the balance. You can’t see how you’ll pay those bills. And yet you just heard your pastor encourage the congregation to think hard about how much they should give. By which he meant everyone, not just the wealthy. So how on earth can you think about giving money away when it seems like you can’t hold onto enough of it in the first place?”

Why Did the First Humans Live for So Long?

I really enjoyed John Piper’s take on why the first humans lived so much longer than we do today.

What Will Become of Atheism?

The latest newsletter from Esther O’Reilly reflects on other people’s reflections about the demise of the New Atheism. “Speaking as a denominationally homeless but decidedly conservative Protestant, I didn’t expect to find myself in 100% agreement with a secular Marxist hot take on Christianity vs. Atheism. But it’s 2021, so here we are.”

How to Protect Your Church from Abusers

This is a fairly basic (but important!) guide to protecting your church from abusers.

Church Membership Among Former Mormons

I hadn’t ever considered the special difficulty a church would face in persuading former Mormons to value church membership. This article explains it.

Endurance in the Christian Life

Amber Thiessen takes a current sorrow (another lockdown) and uses it to reflect on the Christian life. “The Christian life is all about endurance: Persevering, learning, and growing.”

Flashback: If Only I Had Been Saved By Merit!

One of the hardest tasks for every Christian is to deeply believe and forever remember that we’ve been saved by grace. One of the sweetest disciplines for every Christian is to meditate upon the grace that God extends to the undeserving.

It is harder to slander people in public when we’ve prayed for them in private.

—Dustin Benge

  • Educated, Free, Wealthy, and Privileged

    We are an educated people with high standards of literacy. We are a free people who enjoy religious liberty. We are a wealthy people with unlimited access to a nearly infinite quantity of Bibles. We are a privileged people who may not realize how blessed we are.

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    Weekend A La Carte (November 2)

    A La Carte: Coldplay’s prayer in Melbourne / Zombies, Heath Lambert, and gatekeeping biblical counseling / Keep the Feast (a new song) / Stop playing the numbers game / Squandering security / and more.

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    Free Stuff Fridays (Ligonier)

    This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Ligonier Ministries, who also sponsored the blog this week.  Yesterday was Reformation Day, when many Protestants celebrate the sixteenth-century recovery of the biblical gospel. It was while Martin Luther was studying the book of Romans that he rediscovered the doctrine of justification by faith alone. So, today…

  • Daily Liturgy Devotional

    Why Not Use a Daily Liturgy for Your Devotions?

    Trends come and go. Certain habits or interests rise for a time, wane, then rise again, often at unexpected moments. One of the recent trends I have found particularly surprising and also particularly interesting is the rise (or re-rise, if you prefer) of liturgy. This may be liturgy within formal worship services of the local…

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    A La Carte (November 1)

    A La Carte: When a Berkeley feminist had three sons / The tragedy of IVF / What if I don’t feel forgiven? / Piper on how not to respond to suffering / What sola scriptura protects us against / Kindle deals / and more.

  • 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…