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A La Carte (September 15)

wednesday

May the Lord bless and keep you today.

This week Westminster Books is offering a discount on a book that will interest pastors, scholars, and serious students of the Bible.

Talitha Cumi

This is a sweet bit of writing. “With the quiet of the room and the mourning of the parents… With Peter and James and John looking on… With a twelve year old girl lying dead in her bed… With all the wailing outside and the mockery of Jesus…
With the words of her death spreading around the small town… Jesus, the precious savior, takes this little girl by the hand and whispers in Aramaic: Talitha cumi.”

The Deconversion Stories That Go Unnoticed

Here is something to consider the next time you hear of a deconversion story. “I won’t speculate on the reasons for such celebrity deconversions as I am poorly qualified to speak on any of it. What is striking to me though is that for every high-profile professed Christian that turns his back on the faith, there are 100s overseas that make the same stated professions, walk away from the faith….and it goes largely unnoticed.”

Sometimes People Just Ain’t That Grateful

Stephen Kneale points out that some people just aren’t all that grateful and says, “We can’t live and die on whether people are grateful for what we do.”

The Insidious, Fake Intimacy of Algorithms

Yikes! “Many of us have deeper relationships with the algorithms than with the people in our churches. This is not surprising. When we spend more time tapping on our screens than we do talking with our friends, our algorithms will know us better than our loved ones do.”

Are Pro-Lifers Just “Pro-Forced Birth?”

“Abortion advocates are brilliant at playing word games. Using clever rhetorical moves, they are able to make protecting preborn children look bad and killing preborn children look good.” Tim Barnett provides an example.

How Do We Know We Can Trust the Bible? (Video)

I’m very glad that RTS’s “Wisdom Wednesday” videos are back. In this new one, Dr. Zachary Cole talks about why we can trust the Bible.

Does This Really Matter?

Gretchen Saffles: “How we spend our days isn’t just how we spend our lives. It’s how we become who we are and who we will be. It’s not just about what we’re doing, but the heart behind how and why we’re doing it. “

Flashback: A Failure of Worship

The addict is not merely following deeply-ingrained habits and physical desires, but seeking the escstasy of worship. The problem is not the desire to worship—we are created to be worshippers—but the idolatrous object of that worship.

Waste no time in defending your Bible; preach it and let it defend itself!

—Theodore Cuyler

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (February 15)

    A La Carte: Resisting temptation / Strange familiarity / The reluctant polemicist / A new Getty hymn / The power of one bitter thought / Better than a holy year / and more.

  • The Art of Disagreeing

    Keep Calm and Stay Friends

    It is hard to disagree with someone you love. It is harder still to disagree well—to retain genuine respect and true friendship despite differing opinions or convictions. And, as we all know by experience, there is just so much to disagree about.

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (February 14)

    A La Carte: John Piper on whether baptism saves us / The peril of “He Gets Us” / Send them to seminary / An Inside-out world / Pray for protection / Love is patient / Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (February 13)

    A La Carte: The conundrum of celebrity Christians / The Luka trade / Dopamine media / The best place to hide an idol / Overcoming blind spots in parenting and leadership / and more.

  • Dreams

    What Becomes Of All Our Dreams?

    My dad loved to cook. This was a passion that began relatively late in his life after the kids had moved out. With an empty nest, my parents were able to live a slower-paced life and my dad began to dabble in cooking. He soon found that he loved it and that my mother was…