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Weekend A La Carte (December 15)

weekend

There are a few Kindle deals you may like to take a peek at today. Also, Amazon has select family board games on sale today.

(Yesterday on the blog: Kirk Cameron Wants You To Connect)

Hard times at Harvest

WORLD magazine has a long report on the hard times at Harvest Bible Chapel. “Former elders, pastors, and staffers from Chicago’s Harvest Bible Chapel accuse the church of financial mismanagement and a culture of deception and intimidation.” Christianity Today picked up the story as well.

The Death of Clear Thinking

Carl Trueman comments on a concerning article in the Times. “The entire article is of the quintessence of the age, instructive not so much for its positive contribution to the transgender case but for the insights it gives to our cultural moment. For such tendentious and flawed argumentation to be considered compelling, it needs to support a cause where the conclusions already enjoy such cachet that no significant exertion of intellectual effort is really needed to justify them in the public square.”

Misguided Proposal From Christian Leaders and LGBT Activists Is Anything but ‘Fairness for All’

In a somewhat similar vein, Ryan T. Anderson writes about “a proposal among some Christian leaders to strike a compromise with some LGBT activists to balance ‘LGBT rights’ with religious liberty. The proposal would elevate ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ (SOGI) to protected classes in federal law in exchange for certain exemptions for religious colleges and institutions. They call this approach ‘Fairness for All’.”

Inside the Killer Whale Matriarchy (Video)

This little video tells how killer whales maintain an important matriarchy.

Child Marriage: Cultural Norm or Distortion of God’s Purposes?

I’m thoroughly enjoying TGC Africa where its writers are explaining and analyzing some of the issues that pertain to their part of the world. In this case, it’s the practice of child marriage.

Amazing iPhone Review (Video)

This is a very different and rather humorous (but also insightful) review of the iPhone.

Not Everything Needs a Gospel Talk

I co-sign this: “I am a firm believer that, at some point, you actually have to share the gospel and that if all you’re doing is mercy ministry, or acts of service without words, you are not doing gospel ministry. But that doesn’t mean those sorts of things have absolutely no evangelistic value whatsoever.”

Flashback: The Visionary Worrywart

Worriers are always looking to the future—a future that is tragic and brutal.

5 Audiobooks that Speak to Suffering

I’m thankful to Christian Audio for sponsoring the blog this week!

There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me.

—J.I. Packer

  • Other side of the Wall

    On the Other Side of the Wall

    A story is told of a convalescent woman and the lovely vine that grew in her yard. Confined to her property during her long recovery from an accident, she turned her attention to the little plot of ground behind her home. She planted the vine on a cool spring morning, dreaming of the day when,…

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    A La Carte (November 22)

    A La Carte: John Mark Comer / Praying imprecatory Psalms / The news media is broken / John Piper on seeing God / No good deed will remain hidden / Pre-Black Friday sales / and more.

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    A La Carte (November 21)

    A La Carte: Lessons from Trump’s and Harris’s social media campaigns / What is my spiritual gift? / The messages we receive / 10 mistakes I’ve made in preaching / Big Kindle and book sales / and more.

  • Finn

    I’m a Grandfather!

    Yesterday Abby and Nathan welcomed their first child into the world: Finnegan Safir Nicholas Elfarrah. Because they live just minutes away, Aileen and I were able to be there shortly after his birth to rejoice with them and to meet our first grandchild. We are thrilled beyond measure. And he is cute beyond belief. They…

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    A La Carte (November 20)

    A La Carte: Pray till you pray / Do children need to consent to puberty? / Pleading for Sodom / A thought experiment / 10 mistakes when reading the Bible / Kindle deals / and more.

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    A La Carte (November 19)

    A La Carte: Good night, my son / The longing for justice following sexual assault / Daughter of encouragement / Mistakes I made as a theological student / The dangers of disordered love / Kindle deals / and more.