(David Murray)
Although it’s young people that are specifically commanded to remember their Creator (Eccl. 12:1), it’s probably assumed that middle-aged people will have the sense to do the same. Surely by then we have accumulated enough experience to realize that remembering we have a Creator and that we are creatures is basic wisdom. How then do we respect and remember our Creator in busy, striving, stressed-out middle age?
1. Remember that we are complex creatures MORE
Sunday, May 27, 2012
First and Foremost Citizens of Heaven
Many American hymnals include a section for patriotic songs like "God Bless America" and "My Country Tis of Thee." I remember learning and singing these songs in elementary school music classes, taught by my grandma. She and my grandpa were Christian patriots who loved their God and the country where he'd placed them. My grandpa served in the Marine Corps during World War II and always showed honor and respect for our national leaders and military servants.
But I saw a heavenly gaze in his eyes as he drew near to leaving this world. I saw this same longing in my grandma's eyes as she approached her final breath. Although they were patriots here, they knew that this country, this world, was not their home. Their citizenship was in heaven, and they looked forward to arriving in the place Christ had prepared for them.
Like many others, the church of my grandparents often sung patriotic hymns and integrated civic themes and symbols into their Christian worshiping life. This is only appropriate insofar as the liturgy does not distract from the reality that our ultimate loyalty should be to God alone.
MORE
But I saw a heavenly gaze in his eyes as he drew near to leaving this world. I saw this same longing in my grandma's eyes as she approached her final breath. Although they were patriots here, they knew that this country, this world, was not their home. Their citizenship was in heaven, and they looked forward to arriving in the place Christ had prepared for them.
Like many others, the church of my grandparents often sung patriotic hymns and integrated civic themes and symbols into their Christian worshiping life. This is only appropriate insofar as the liturgy does not distract from the reality that our ultimate loyalty should be to God alone.
MORE
Bilogical Disposition Toward Homosexuality--and Other Sins
(Justin Taylor)
In the book, Psychology and Christianity: Four Views, ed. Eric L. Johnson (IVP, 2000), one of the contributors to that volume, David Myers (professor of psychology at Hope College), advocates a genetic basis for homosexuality.
In his response essay, CCEF’s David Powlison addresses that issue in particular.
Powlison’s perspective both broadens and nuances the discussion. For example, he discusses biological predisposition to homosexuality in the context of biological predispositions that we all have. He also digs a bit deeper into the motivational patterns for lesbianism. MORE
In the book, Psychology and Christianity: Four Views, ed. Eric L. Johnson (IVP, 2000), one of the contributors to that volume, David Myers (professor of psychology at Hope College), advocates a genetic basis for homosexuality.
In his response essay, CCEF’s David Powlison addresses that issue in particular.
Powlison’s perspective both broadens and nuances the discussion. For example, he discusses biological predisposition to homosexuality in the context of biological predispositions that we all have. He also digs a bit deeper into the motivational patterns for lesbianism. MORE
A Mother's Story of Aborting a Child with a Disability
(Denny Burk)
"I have never read a story like this one before. Sarah Carpenter, a married woman with two children, becomes pregnant with her third child. After finding out that the child had a disability, she and her husband Andrew make the decision to abort the child in order to spare him from having a bad life.
The gut-wrenching thing about this story is that everything inside this woman—her conscience, her maternal instinct—is telling her to protect her baby. But her doctor and family members are telling her to spare her child by killing him. In other words, she has a very real sense of what she ought to do, but her conscience collapses underneath the weight of the culture of death. What follows is an extended excerpt from the article in which this mother explains her decision, her abortion, and its aftermath. Read it. Weep. Pray. Maranatha...." MORE
"I have never read a story like this one before. Sarah Carpenter, a married woman with two children, becomes pregnant with her third child. After finding out that the child had a disability, she and her husband Andrew make the decision to abort the child in order to spare him from having a bad life.
The gut-wrenching thing about this story is that everything inside this woman—her conscience, her maternal instinct—is telling her to protect her baby. But her doctor and family members are telling her to spare her child by killing him. In other words, she has a very real sense of what she ought to do, but her conscience collapses underneath the weight of the culture of death. What follows is an extended excerpt from the article in which this mother explains her decision, her abortion, and its aftermath. Read it. Weep. Pray. Maranatha...." MORE
Friday, May 18, 2012
The Gospel is big Enough to Fight for Itself
(by byJonathan Parnell, Desiring God)
Russell Moore:
Russell Moore:
Sometimes believers will throw up their hands in frustration with non-Christian people they know. “I have said everything I know to say to her about the gospel,” one might say. “She already knows it all and doesn’t believe.”MORE
Often what we seek is another argument, a hidden angle that our interlocutor hasn’t thought through before. But that’s rarely how the gospel is heard and received. Think about it in your own case. Did you believe the gospel the first time you ever heard it? Perhaps you did, but if so, you’re quite unusual. Most of us heard the gospel over and over and over again until one day it hit us in a very different way.
And what was different about it? Was it a new argument? Did you say to yourself, “Wait, you mean there’s archaeological evidence proving the historical existence of the Hittites?” or “Hold on, there were five hundred witnesses to the resurrection? Well, what must I do to be saved?”
Ask Yourself, “Do I smell?”
(Erik Raymond, Oridnary Pastor)
Years ago my wife and I met a newlywed couple that provided us with no small amount of comic relief. This was seen starkly one day at a church meeting when we met them in the parking lot and the wind was at their back. We smelled garlic–a lot of garlic! As they approached it was overwhelming. Behind a full-toothed grin the new hubby said, “My wifey can cook!”
During the events of the morning we got disconnected. My wife and I tried to find them but were unsuccessful. That is, until my wife channelled her inner Sherlock, she said: “Pick up the garlic scent.” We found the trail of garlic and quickly tracked them down. MORE
Years ago my wife and I met a newlywed couple that provided us with no small amount of comic relief. This was seen starkly one day at a church meeting when we met them in the parking lot and the wind was at their back. We smelled garlic–a lot of garlic! As they approached it was overwhelming. Behind a full-toothed grin the new hubby said, “My wifey can cook!”
During the events of the morning we got disconnected. My wife and I tried to find them but were unsuccessful. That is, until my wife channelled her inner Sherlock, she said: “Pick up the garlic scent.” We found the trail of garlic and quickly tracked them down. MORE
A Father’s Example Guides Tebow
(Seth Mydans, published in the NY TIMES)
LAMSUGOD, the Philippines — The last time Tim Tebow visited his father’s orphanage here in the remote hills of Mindanao island, he stood at the edge of a grassy yard and told the children to make a loop with their arms. Then, to their amazement, he threw a football right through them.
“He’s really good at throwing!” said the Rev. Roberto P. Gauran, 67, who runs the orphanage with his wife, Raymunda, 65. “At 30 meters he could hit dead center, or even farther.” MORE
LAMSUGOD, the Philippines — The last time Tim Tebow visited his father’s orphanage here in the remote hills of Mindanao island, he stood at the edge of a grassy yard and told the children to make a loop with their arms. Then, to their amazement, he threw a football right through them.
“He’s really good at throwing!” said the Rev. Roberto P. Gauran, 67, who runs the orphanage with his wife, Raymunda, 65. “At 30 meters he could hit dead center, or even farther.” MORE
Frank Beckwith on Pres. Obama and The Golden Rule
(by Denny Burk)
Frank Beckwith has a short piece on President Obama’s facile application of the Golden Rule to same-sex marriage. Here’s the bottom line:
Frank Beckwith has a short piece on President Obama’s facile application of the Golden Rule to same-sex marriage. Here’s the bottom line:
The Golden Rule is not about merely protecting your neighbor’s preferences, but rather, advancing your neighbor’s good…
Although the president is mistaken about the Golden Rule, it would be interesting to see to what extent he is willing to apply his version of it more generously, to really “treat others the way you would want to be treated.” MORE
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Pansies, Pearls and Pigs
by Barnabas Piper (World Magazine)
Late last month, nationally syndicated columnist and noted gay-rights activist Dan Savage made headlines for his abrasive (abusive?) anti-Bible comments at a high school journalism seminar. He encouraged students to “ignore the [expletive] in the bible about gay people” just like they do about virginity, masturbation, and a few other subjects. Then when offended students began leaving he called it a “pansy [expletive]” reaction.
MORE
Late last month, nationally syndicated columnist and noted gay-rights activist Dan Savage made headlines for his abrasive (abusive?) anti-Bible comments at a high school journalism seminar. He encouraged students to “ignore the [expletive] in the bible about gay people” just like they do about virginity, masturbation, and a few other subjects. Then when offended students began leaving he called it a “pansy [expletive]” reaction.
MORE
Mother's Day and the Infertile
by Russell D. Moore (Moore to the Point)
Mother’s Day is a particularly sensitive time in many congregations, and pastors and church leaders often don’t even know it. This is true even in congregations that don’t focus the entire service around the event as if it were a feast day on the church’s liturgical calendar. Infertile women, and often their husbands, are still often grieving in the shadows. MORE
Mother’s Day is a particularly sensitive time in many congregations, and pastors and church leaders often don’t even know it. This is true even in congregations that don’t focus the entire service around the event as if it were a feast day on the church’s liturgical calendar. Infertile women, and often their husbands, are still often grieving in the shadows. MORE
God Kits: Does Yoga Matter?
By: Eric Metaxas (Breakpoint)
According to New York magazine, yoga studios in the city “have become as common and competitive as yellow cabs.”
What’s true of New York is true of large cities all around the country. The number of Americans practicing yoga quintupled between 2001 and 2011: from four to twenty million.
Yoga has become so commonplace that the "U.K. Telegraph" recently ran a story that, only a few years ago, would have only run in the satirical publication "The Onion." The link to the story read “How yoga with snakes cured my phobia.” In it, a woman told readers about a “Kumara Serpent Healing Class,” which she summed up as being “a bit like traditional yoga but . . . you get to handle real snakes at the end of the class.”
As the "Weekly Standard" likes to say: “not a parody.” MORE
According to New York magazine, yoga studios in the city “have become as common and competitive as yellow cabs.”
What’s true of New York is true of large cities all around the country. The number of Americans practicing yoga quintupled between 2001 and 2011: from four to twenty million.
Yoga has become so commonplace that the "U.K. Telegraph" recently ran a story that, only a few years ago, would have only run in the satirical publication "The Onion." The link to the story read “How yoga with snakes cured my phobia.” In it, a woman told readers about a “Kumara Serpent Healing Class,” which she summed up as being “a bit like traditional yoga but . . . you get to handle real snakes at the end of the class.”
As the "Weekly Standard" likes to say: “not a parody.” MORE
The Blasphemy of Barack Obama
It’s one thing to support gay marriage. It’s quite another for a professed Christian to bear false witness about Christ to make the point. That is why Joe Carter doesn’t mince words in an open letter to President Obama. Carter writes:
Implying that Jesus supports same-sex marriage—and there really is no other way to interpret your statement—is nothing short of blasphemous.
No, Mr. President, Jesus does not support same-sex marriage. Even a liberal Christian like you should not be able to make such an historically and theologically absurd claim with a straight face. The history of Christian thought on sexual ethics from the time of the stoning of Stephen to the Stonewall riots has been consistent that engaging in homosexual behavior is strictly and clearly prohibited by God’s Word…MORE
Implying that Jesus supports same-sex marriage—and there really is no other way to interpret your statement—is nothing short of blasphemous.
No, Mr. President, Jesus does not support same-sex marriage. Even a liberal Christian like you should not be able to make such an historically and theologically absurd claim with a straight face. The history of Christian thought on sexual ethics from the time of the stoning of Stephen to the Stonewall riots has been consistent that engaging in homosexual behavior is strictly and clearly prohibited by God’s Word…MORE
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation
(by
A dark room that reeks of the musty smell that accompanies rot. Alone here, your mind wanders nowhere yet everywhere at the same time. A feeling of dread, loneliness or something wriggles through your bones. A sucking feeling in your gut tips you off that you are hungry but you are not sure. It might just be anxiety. All of this happened because of a keen experience of separation from God. A sort of spiritual anxiety. The Puritans described this feeling with the phrase, “the dark night of the soul.” They knew well about the malady of spiritual depression.
A dark room that reeks of the musty smell that accompanies rot. Alone here, your mind wanders nowhere yet everywhere at the same time. A feeling of dread, loneliness or something wriggles through your bones. A sucking feeling in your gut tips you off that you are hungry but you are not sure. It might just be anxiety. All of this happened because of a keen experience of separation from God. A sort of spiritual anxiety. The Puritans described this feeling with the phrase, “the dark night of the soul.” They knew well about the malady of spiritual depression.
Spiritual stagnation is a problem that will bombard everyone at one point or another. Depression, fears and anxiety gush out, because we feel “separated” from God, from grace. We feel alone, sinful, dirty and unloved—or perhaps unloving.
Part of reason spiritual depression occurs, I am convinced, is because we have a wrong view of Biblical Change. We go to God and ask for ways to overcome our problems, our worries... MORE
Learning to Delight in Scripture
(Andrew Kerhoulas - The Center for Gospel Culture)
When you read Bible verses in which the author talks about loving or delighting in Scripture itself, how do you usually respond? For me personally, I often feel guilty or anxious about the lack of these verbs in my life. I have even doubted my salvation on occasion when forced to admit that I do not love or delight in God’s word as much as I “should.” Admittedly, there are often things I would rather love and delight in more than Scripture. What happens to your heart when you read verses like Psalm 119:12-16?
When you read Bible verses in which the author talks about loving or delighting in Scripture itself, how do you usually respond? For me personally, I often feel guilty or anxious about the lack of these verbs in my life. I have even doubted my salvation on occasion when forced to admit that I do not love or delight in God’s word as much as I “should.” Admittedly, there are often things I would rather love and delight in more than Scripture. What happens to your heart when you read verses like Psalm 119:12-16?
12 Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
MORE
Eight Reasons My Anxiety is Pointless and Foolish
(Justin Taylor - The Gospel Coalition)
MORE
1. God is near me to help me.
Philippians 4:5-6: “The Lord is at hand; [therefore] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”2. God cares for me.
1 Peter 5:7: “. . . casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
Ex-Victoria's Secret Model Promotes Proverbs 31
(Baptist Press - WACO, Texas) -- When Alex Eklund updated his Facebook status on Nov. 30, he
had no idea it would make him a social media star.
Eklund was
studying in the Baylor University library when he noticed a theme among his
friends' status updates. During the airing of the annual Victoria's Secret
fashion show on CBS, girls posted updates like "I'm going to have to hit the gym
after this" and "I'm going to starve myself for a week." Although Eklund assumed
his friends didn't mean the statements seriously, they still made him uneasy.
"There was an underlying sense of insecurity which I sensed throughout the entire thing," he said.
MORE
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| Kylie Bisutti |
"There was an underlying sense of insecurity which I sensed throughout the entire thing," he said.
MORE
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