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Weekend A La Carte (12/14)

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The Legalism Boogeyman – This is true! “The legalism card often gets overplayed. More and more I’ve interacted with Christians humbly and faithfully working out their salvation with fear and trembling, only to have the legalism card slapped on them. As such, they’re being fallaciously warned about legalism bogeymen. There are many I’ve heard of lurking in Christendom.”

The Scandal of the Semi-Churched – Kevin DeYoung: “I want to talk about church members who attend their home church with great irregularity. These aren’t unchurched folks, or de-churched, or under-churched. They are semi-churched. They show up some of the time, but not every week. They are on again/off again, in and out, here on Sunday and gone for two.”

What We Get Wrong – Here’s a perspective on what we (might) get wrong about gift-giving at Christmas.

The First Ransom Note – Smithsonian shares some fascinating articles. Here’s one of them: “On July 1, 1874, two Ross sons were taken from their family’s front lawn in Germantown, a northwest Philadelphia neighborhood. The kidnappers released Walter, age 5, for reasons unclear. When Charley failed to return home by nightfall, Christian Ross, a dry-goods merchant, feared the worst…”

What Do Protestants Protest? – Not enough, according to R.C. Sproul Jr., and I’m inclined to agree.

Against Gay Marriage – Denny Burk introduces an interesting article from an advocate of gay marriage who is insisting that being opposed to gay marriage doesn’t make a person a homophobe.

Lewis

How difficult it is to avoid having a special standard for oneself!

—C.S. Lewis

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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

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    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…

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    A La Carte (October 31)

    A La Carte: What is the Reformation? / More than a list of problems / A surprising story / More than songs of praise / Do elders need to evangelize? / Preach the gospel / and more.