A First Century Manuscript? – Dan Wallace: “On 1 February 2012, I debated Bart Ehrman at UNC Chapel Hill on whether we have the wording of the original New Testament today. … I mentioned that seven New Testament papyri had recently been discovered—six of them probably from the second century and one of them probably…
The Cross and the Crescent – Michael Horton: “Newsweek‘s current cover-story is ‘The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World,’ by Ayann Hirsi Ali, who fled her native Somalia and served in the Dutch Parliament before taking a position at the American Enterprise Institute. As the article points out, widespread anti-Christian violence is exploding…
Today I’ve got another batch of books that I didn’t review. Life is such that there are lots of great books that I just cannot find the time to read and many other books I’m simply not qualified to review. These books tend to find their way into these round-ups of the ones I received…
Enjoying the View – Here’s a worthwhile resolution: “In 2012, I plan to spend at least 30 minutes a day without my iPhone. Without Internet, Twitter, Facebook and my iPad. Spending a half-hour a day without electronics might sound easy for most, but for me, 30 unconnected minutes produces the same anxious feelings of a…
How Do You Begin Your Day? – Rick Holland reflects on how he begins his day. “So what is the first thing you do when you wake up? Here’s my problem. I find it easy to grab my iPhone and check my email, glace at social media notifications, see if there are any texts awaiting…
Podcast Pastor – “When I am talking to young evangelicals, often who are in ministry, and I say, “Who has been really influential upon you in ministry and on learning to preach and to do the things of ministry?” ten years ago, most people would have given me the name of a local pastor who…
Christopher Hitchens Has Died – Douglas Wilson has a must-read obituary. “Christopher knew that faithful Christians believe that it is appointed to man once to die, and after that the Judgment. He knew that we believe what Jesus taught about the reality of damnation. He also knew that we believe—for I told him—that in this…
Peter’s Denials – “Regarding Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial and the ensuing narrative that describes the denial, Matthew, Luke, and John disagree with Mark in such a way that seems like an irreconcilable contradiction: both accounts logically cannot be true. No commentary has provided a satisfying explanation. Can anyone? Should this interfere with our belief…
Next April will bring the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference–the 4th of these bi-annual conferences. What began in 2006 as a meeting between friends has expanded into a very large event with thousands attending. With a new, bigger venue, next year’s event promises to be bigger than ever. With the early bird registration period…
Courageous Christianity? – The film Courageous has received near-unanimous praise in the Christian world. White Horse Inn has a more critical take. “Art being reduced as a vehicle for sermonizing is problematic enough, but even more so is the type of sermon being preached. The emphasis on personal morality and simplistic transformation turn this film…
Attention Span – This is a very interesting and significant blog post. Bit.ly shares how information flows today via social media. When I link this post on Twitter and Facebook, it will receive the majority of the clicks in the first 2.8 hours. After that it will be lost in all the Internet noise. No…
How Did the Animals Know? – “Shortly before the earthquake hit Washington, D.C., the animals in the National Zoo started freaking out. So did lots of people’s housepets, with sleepy cats suddenly jumping up and heading for the hills just prior to the quake. Scientists can’t figure out how they knew…” Welcome Home – Here’s…
Here is another batch of 30-minute reviews. These are all books I have received over the past few weeks, but have been unable to read in full. Instead, I have given each of them at least 30 minutes and tried to get as much of a feel for the book as possible in that time.…
Protect the Little Ones – John Knight: “Prenatal tests are not the problem. The problem is the bias of our culture against the lives of little ones born with Down syndrome. Our culture does not think that these littles ones should be given the opportunity to live.” Pregnancy Reduction – Denny Burk writes about pregnancy…
It’s Friday already! That’s crazy. I plan on spending most of the day preparing Sunday’s sermon (one of my favorite things to do). So let’s get to the links. The first 3 are deals you may want to consider taking advantage of; after that there’s some reading or watching to do. $5 Friday – Ligonier…
The New Asceticism – I think Byron Yawn has a good word of warning to offer in this article. He looks at today’s many calls for radical living and points out where, if we are not careful, we could lose sight of the gospel. Remember that it tends to be good things that take our…
Father & Son – “Chris Bray and his father, Kenneth, attended the launch of STS-135, the final space shuttle mission, on July 8. Thirty years earlier, they saw the launch of STS-1, the very first one. Possessing nearly identical photos of himself and his father at the two launches, Bray uploaded a composite image of…
We are finishing up a week’s vacation today and heading home from a great little cottage we’ve been parked at for the past week. It’s been a wonderful vacation–the kind that was quiet and relaxing and lasted just long enough (but not too long). Good times. The Most Risky Profession – Writing for CT, Mark…
Rest – A Four-Letter Word? – This is worth reflecting on. “Eleven years ago, I wrote about an observed hurry, in which we have lost our bearings, our sense of proportion. ‘Unavailable’ seems a word from the past, going the way of cursive writing. But of course, with the aid of technology, it is more…
Happy Canada Day! It’s July 1 which makes it Canada up here in the great white north–a day we celebrate the great nation God has given us. It’s always a good day. Who Is Coming to America? – An interesting infographic. Erasing Hell – Monergism Books is offering great pricing on Francis Chan’s new book…