A La Carte (10/17)

  • Tim Challies
  • 10/17/08
  • 5
Deep Truths of the Bible for Children
The Ligonier blog looks at several books for children written by R.C. Sproul and Susan Hunt.
Socialists Everywhere
This article looks at Obama’s proposed tax cuts. “Presently, the bottom 40% of income earners pay zero income taxes. The top 20% pay 80% of all the federal income taxes. Therefore, it is not possible to give the bottom 40% a tax cut because they pay no money to the government. So this begs the question: How is Barack Obama proposing to give a tax cut to 95% of Americans?”
A Review of The Shack
Gerald Hiestand, writing for Straight Up, does an excellent job of reviewing William Young’s bestseller.
Jesus Didn’t Die for a Campus Ministry
Russell Moore writes about the attraction of campus ministries and the centrality of the church to the Christian life.
Kenyan AIDS Orphans
This short video shows some of the trials faced by Kenyan boys orphaned by AIDS (Warning: It has a little bit of graphic content).
The Eyeballing Game
A fun distraction if you’ve got five minutes to kill.
Preacher Robbed While Preaching on Mercy
“Authorities are looking for two people who allegedly stole a preacher’s wallet and went on a shopping spree while he was giving a sermon about showing mercy to others.”
Joseph Is a Single-Issue Evangelical
Though I haven’t listened to it yet, this message by Russell Moore comes highly recommended. Says Denny Burk, “In Southern Seminary’s chapel today, Russell Moore delivered one of the most prophetic pro-life messages I have ever heard.”
Days of Autumn
Here’s a beautiful collection of Autumn-themed photographs from around the world.

Comments (5)

1
Anonymous's picture
a comment from nmarroni • 10/17 @ 8:28am

regarding “Jesus Didn’t Die for Campus Ministry”, can someone explain to me what he is really getting at?

I belong to a church that is very much a ‘campus ministry’ but in the same way, it is also my home church. I am not clear on his biblical references supporting membership to a local church, but not a campus ministry. Nor do I understand what “dangers” he is proposing…

thanks!

2
Anonymous's picture
a comment from baptyterian • 10/17 @ 10:08am

Have you heard of The Navigators, Campus Crusade, etc? That is what I assume he is talking about.

3
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Nick S • 10/17 @ 12:01pm

baptyterian,

I would be interested in more of your thoughts on those two groups (or others) if you’re willing. Do you see them doing what Moore warns against? I’d be interested in yours as well Tim…or any others. Thanks!

4
Anonymous's picture
a comment from JT • 10/17 @ 2:49pm

i really think he is say a “real church” must have pews, old people and a guys up front giving a monologue, then God will be there.

5
Anonymous's picture
a comment from J.P.H. • 10/18 @ 1:32am

Presently, the bottom 40% of income earners pay zero income taxes.

This is misleading, to a degree. While the bottom 40% may pay no federal income tax, that does not mean they have zero tax burden. They still have payroll deductions, property tax, sales tax and gasoline tax.Therefore, it is not possible to give the bottom 40% a tax cut because they pay no money to the government.

See the details of each candidate’s plan here, on page 11:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411749_updated_candidates.pdf

In the sense that Obama wants to make permanent select portions of Bush’s tax package, he could be counting that as a “tax cut” since those measures currently aren’t permanent.

With his “Making Work Pay” credit (6.2% on the first $8100 earned), Obama is offsetting FICA on the first $8100. He could be arguing that anyone earning a salary pays FICA, and so this credit represents a tax cut for all those individuals.

So this begs the question: How is Barack Obama proposing to give a tax cut to 95% of Americans?

It’s possible he really meant “95% of tax filers”. I’m not even sure 95% of Americans are old enough (>=15) to work.