Rape of the Marlboro Man (12/31/05 - 0 Comments)
Brokeback Mountain is becoming a hit film. Opening in limited release in select markets, it has generated a lot of buzz and seems primed to become even more popular as it opens in more theatres. Here is a description of the movie (copyright Focus Features): From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee comes an epic American love story, based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx and adapted for the screen by the...
Color Scheme (12/30/05 - 0 Comments)
Since launching the new design of Challies Dot Com I have received lots of feedback. Some has been positive and some has been negative. The negative comments have mostly been concerned with two things: the color of the background and the loss of the photo that was in the banner of the old design. I have finally found an alternative background that I think may work. I have also found a way of perhaps bringing...
Violence in Canada (12/30/05 - 0 Comments)
Earlier this week Canadians received news of the 78th murder of the year in Toronto, our nation's biggest city. Of these 78 victims, 52 have been killed by gunfire, a rather tragic record for the city. The victim of this murder was a 15-year old tenth grade student who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jane Creba was with her mother and older sister on Yonge Street, within a busy...
State of the Domain (12/29/05 - 0 Comments)
Today I am going to post the blogging equivalent of a "state of the nation" address. We'll call it a "state of the domain." I wrote this post earlier and realized that I had not been entirely honest and forthcoming, so have added information to it. I realize that this information (discussing readership, privilege and so on) may be confused with boasting or some other ignoble desire, but I assure you it is nothing of...
Travelling Mercies (12/28/05 - 0 Comments)
For the past week I have been basking in the warmth of the Atlanta sun. While I will grant that the Atlanta sun is only moderately warmer in December than the Toronto sun, it creates an atmosphere which is, at the very least, on the better side of the freezing mark. Just yesterday we enjoyed a tremendously nice day in which we hiked to the top of Kennesaw Mountain. This is the site of a...
A Horrifying Admission (12/27/05 - 0 Comments)
Today I will make a horrifying admission, one that might just cast a shadow of doubt over my life, ministry and masculinity. Ready for it? I enjoy Jane Austen movies. I don't just enjoy them, actually, but really, really enjoy them. I hate chick flicks as much as the next guy, but thoroughly enjoy Austen movies. And no, I do not consider those to be contradictory statements. Last night my sister and brother-in-law suggested that...
Whatever Happened To The Gospel of Grace? (12/26/05 - 0 Comments)
“Whatever Happened To The Gospel of Grace?” is exactly the sort of book you might expect a traditional, Reformed pastor and theologian to leave as his final message to the world, for before this book was published, James Boice, long-time pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia went to be with the Lord. This book stands as a call to the church to rediscover the principles upon which the Protestant church was built. It was...
Merry Christmas (12/25/05 - 0 Comments)
There's something a little bit silly about Christmas, isn't there? After all, we have no real evidence that Jesus was born on December 25. Sure there have been plenty of people who have attempted to prove some link, but in the end we just have to accept that there is really only a small chance that Jesus was born this day. Until recently I thought it was silly to remember Jesus in a special way...
Book Review - Putting Amazing Back Into Grace (12/24/05 - 0 Comments)
Of the several hundred books I have read in the past few years, there is one which I have recommended more often than any other. I recently revisited this book and decided that I would post a review of it, though I did so several years ago on this site. It was a groundbreaking book in my life and know that God has used it mightily in the lives of other believers. Putting Amazing Back...
Friday Frivolity (12/23/05 - 0 Comments)
Just about everyone who reads web sites does so at work. It's a strange and shameful fact, isn't it? In fact, you are probably sitting at work right now as you read this. Shame on you. My experience with working the Friday afternoon before Christmas tells me that you're probably not doing much today anyways. This is the day where most people have already taken the day off and the office is half empty to...
Thursday Ramblings (12/22/05 - 0 Comments)
I am now officially on vacation. Every time I take time off I wonder in advance if I will spend more or less time researching and writing articles, reading good books and the like. I always have great ambitions but usually end up spending lots of time just being lazy. And isn't that what a good vacation is all about? So for the next week the posts around here may be the result of lots...
Certainly This Was a Righteous Man! (12/21/05 - 0 Comments)
Every believer carries a measure of the guilt for Jesus' death. If it were not for our willful disobedience to God's perfect Law, we would have no need of a Savior. We acknowledge in song that it was our hands that drove the spikes into His' and sometimes speak about driving the nails into Jesus' hands every time we sin. We speak figuratively, of course, knowing that although we were not present at the time...
King For A Week - Cerulean Sanctum (12/20/05 - 0 Comments)
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers. Every week I select a blog, link to it from my site, and add that site's most recent headlines to the left sidebar of my site. While this is really not much, I do feel that it allows me to give honor where I feel honor is...
A Desperate Jealousy - Further Thoughts (12/20/05 - 0 Comments)
A short while ago I posted an article here with the tongue-in-cheek title of "A Desperate Jealousy." In that article I expressed my desire to have a mentor. I said, "I am absolutely desperate to have someone who will invest in me. I am desperate to find a person, or have a person find me, who will play Paul to this Timothy." That article seems to have struck a chord with other men, both young...
Christmas Sunday (12/19/05 - 0 Comments)
In this, the final week leading up to Christmas, Christians continue to discuss those churches that have decided to not hold services on Christmas Sunday. The news, which originally broke following the decision of many megachurches to cancel their services, has put these giant churches on the defensive. Christianity Today's weblog says, "Whatever the uproar over closing of churches on Christmas Sunday means, pastors and pundits are sure that it means something big. For people...
Book Review - To Be Continued (12/18/05 - 0 Comments)
There are few subjects more debated and more hotly debated in the church today than whether or not the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit continue to this day. We have recently seen a great deal of discussion about this issue in the blogosphere. It is an issue which leaves many believers confused, unsure as to what they believe and what they should believe. Cessationists, who believe that the miraculous gifts have ceased, often point...
Saturday Ramblings (12/17/05 - 0 Comments)
It is 2:30 on Saturday afternoon and I have accomplished very little today. I guess that's not entirely true. It's just that I have accomplished very little of any great significance. I usually try to make Saturdays a profitable time where I spend a good bit of the day reading, writing and putting in some quality time with the family. For a couple of months now Aileen and I have been batting around the idea...
5 Paths to the Love of your Life (12/16/05 - 0 Comments)
I believe it was in a Tom Clancy book I read many, many years ago where I found a statement that daughters are given by God to punish men for what they did, said and thought when they were young men. Obviously I know that is purely the imagined theology of a writer, yet I do think that having a daughter causes a man to take a look deep within himself. Every man instinctively feels...
Blogs For Music (12/15/05 - 0 Comments)
This came in to my inbox a little too late to make this morning's A La Carte, but I thought that if I left it until tomorrow it would be too late. Bob Kauflin, of Sovereign Grace Ministries, is spearheading a "Blogs for Music" campaign which is similar to what Sovereign Grace did a few months ago with C.J. Mahaney's book Humility. This time they are offering copies of Awesome God children's CD. I have...
Effectual Worrying (12/15/05 - 0 Comments)
In April of 2002 I was bored. Not just a little bored either, but mind-numbingly, depressingly, discouragingly bored. Having recently been laid off from a job I had held for several years due to the company closing, I was working as a system administrator at a small company in downtown Oakville. The pay was decent and the office's location was great but the job itself was terribly boring. It was repetitive and boring - there...
Continuationism and Cessationism (Part 2): An Interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem (12/14/05 - 0 Comments)
Let me turn to a couple of questions that I know are of concern to cessationists, that they routinely bring up as concerns about continuationist theology. The first of these is: if we grant the existence of non-authoritative prophecy, does not such a position weaken the argument for the sufficiency and authority of Scripture? In other words, does the existence of non-authoritative prophecy weaken our claims for the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture? I would...
King for a Week - Common Grounds Online (12/13/05 - 0 Comments)
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers. Every week I select a blog, link to it from my site, and add that site's most recent headlines to the left sidebar of my site. While this is really not much, I do feel that it allows me to give honor where I feel honor is...
Continuationism and Cessationism: An Interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem (12/13/05 - 0 Comments)
This is the second of two interviews I have conducted with leading theologians discussing the issues of cessationism and continuationism. You can read the first interview with Dr. Sam Waldron here. It will help you define terms and understand a cessationist perspective. Today's interview examines this issue from the continuationist perspective. Dr. Wayne Grudem is Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University, M.Div. from Westminster Theological...
The Truly Reformed and Narnia (12/12/05 - 0 Comments)
This morning Kurt Nordstrom, one of the fellows at Boar's Head Tavern, wrote the following in an article entitled "The TRs watch 'Narnia':" [TR stands for "Truly Reformed" a term that is generally used in a pejorative sense] Well, I've yet to see LW&W, and it'll probably be a while, due to life (hopefully I can catch it over the holidays), but at least I don't have to worry about basic storyline spoilers! Maybe I'll...
How Do French People...? (12/12/05 - 0 Comments)
By the midpoint of this article all those people who homeschool their children will probably be giving themselves a big pat on the back. The strange thing is that I might not blame them. The following conversation took place over dinner a couple of nights ago. My five year old son had a few questions for my wife and myself. Son: "Daddy, next year am I going to go to French school or English school?"...
The Greatest Is Charity (12/11/05 - 0 Comments)
"In a library archive in Surrey can be found the last words Andrew Reed ever wrote. They sum up his philosophy, that true gospel compassion, true gospel charity should look to the needs of the whole person; that individuals should be cared for holistically, both body and soul. They are words of Scripture written in a spidery hand with failing strength, but then underlined with a firmness and resolve showing that in his dying days...
Book Review - River Rising (12/11/05 - 0 Comments)
Because I review primarily non-fiction I find myself inequipped and lacking confidence in my ability to review fiction. Fiction, after all, is far more subjective than non-fiction. Where a book about doctrine is either right or wrong when measured by the standard of Scripture, a novel can appeal to one person and have no appeal to another. I prefer to deal with hard facts than the intangibles of fiction! Still, at times I enjoy reading...
Book Review - Humility (12/10/05 - 0 Comments)
As I read Humility by Wayne Mack I could not help but draw comparisons with C.J. Mahaney's excellent book by the same title. I am glad to say that both books are deeply challenging and saturated in Scripture. Both men are skilled expositors of Scripture and both have a heart for the church. While I will go so far as to recommend both of these books I do not wish to make further comparison between...
Movie NotReview - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (12/09/05 - 0 Comments)
Wow. I'm really not easy to please when it comes to movies. Film is not my medium of choice and I almost always prefer a good book to a good movie. Rarely does a movie captivate me in the way a book does. As with most people I almost always find a movie to be less enjoyable than the book it is based upon. When it comes to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe...
Tongues! Signs! Wonders! An Interview with Dr. Sam Waldron (Part 2) (12/09/05 - 0 Comments)
This is the second part of an interview with Dr. Sam Waldron. It would, I'm sure, be helpful for you to read part one first. One issue you do not address in the book, very much anyways, is the issue of guidance. How is the issue of guidance, how God speaks to us, how God guides us through life, how does that differ between a strict cessationist versus someone who believes in the continuing gifts?...
Tongues! Signs! Wonders! An Interview with Dr. Sam Waldron (12/08/05 - 0 Comments)
There are few subjects more debated and more hotly debated in the church today than whether or not the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit continue to this day. We have recently seen a great deal of discussion about this issue in the blogosphere. It is an issue which leaves many believers confused, unsure as to what they believe and what they should believe. Cessationists, who believe that the miraculous gifts have ceased, often point...
Closed Doors on Christmas (12/07/05 - 0 Comments)
I love the expression "ink has been spilled." Unfortunately it is not entirely valid in today's world in which most nonverbal communication happens in a virtual realm of fonts, screens and pixels. As far as I know there is no phrase that adequately replaces it ("keys tapped?" "pixels sent?"). So I will use it even though it doesn't make perfect sense in this context. In the past couple of days the blogosphere has been buzzing...
We Have Christ's Own Promise, And That Cannot Fail (12/07/05 - 0 Comments)
It is easy to grow discouraged at the state of the church. As a matter of fact, as one who has invested a lot of time and attention to studying the church, her health and what Jesus requires of her, I often find myself lamenting her state. Writers from all backgrounds and denominations have written about the church, and I have read many of these books and publications. The standard book begins with a few...
King for a Week - Solo Femininity (12/06/05 - 0 Comments)
I'll be the first to admit that this week's King for a Week is not a site that is geared primarily towards a person like me - a married male. However, this does not mean that the site is without value to me. Solo Femininity is the home of author (Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye?), blogger, speaker and all around nice person Carolyn McCulley. Carolyn is part of the Sovereign Grace family and works with...
Book Review - Rediscovering God's Love (12/06/05 - 0 Comments)
If the measure of a book that means a lot to me is the amount of topics it provides for writing then Rediscovering God's Love by Frank Allred must be a very good one. As I read this book I was continually challenged and found myself constantly scribbling down notes about future topics I would like to discuss on my web site. Frank Allred is a retired Anglican minister and author of How Can I...
Blogging and a Committment to the Ninth Commandment (12/05/05 - 0 Comments)
Last week Laura Brumley, she of A Practice in Belief fame, wrote a little article she entitled (rather verbosely, I thought) "blogging, the ninth commandment, and your prerequisites to reading this blog." It seems odd to me that Laura can read "A Reformation Debate: Sadoleto's Letter to the Genevans and Calvin's Reply" and "The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love" but she cannot capitalize her titles. But I digress. That post coincided with my reading...
Paradoxes (12/04/05 - 0 Comments)
The following is a prayer taken from The Valley of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett. I read this prayer yesterday and was gripped by the honesty and humility it displays. I was challenged to ask myself if I really believe all of this or if I feel I am something just a little bit better. By the end I realized that the author's prayer had become my prayer. "Give me a broken heart that yet...
DVD Review - March of the Penguins (12/03/05 - 0 Comments)
I guess that if a movie about Jesus became one of the highest grossing movies of all time (no pun intended), we should not be surprised to see other unusual subject matter become popular at the box office. This is the case with March of the Penguins, a documentary about the life cycle of the Emperor Penguin. This strange species lives in the Antarctic in what is surely the most horrific climate in the world....
A Birthday Reflection (12/02/05 - 0 Comments)
Today is my 29th birthday. Yes, I know that I'm younger than you thought and that you have children older than me. I get that a lot. Actually, having a birthday in December has always meant that I'm younger than my peers so I am quite accustomed to people saying, "You're younger than I thought." I don't know that I have ever actually revealed my age on this site and know that many of the...
Toronto Evangelical Bloggers Brunch (12/01/05 - 0 Comments)
Ian Clary, who blogs at Ruminations by the Lake, and who serves as Research and Administrative Assistant to the Principal of Toronto Baptist Seminary (the Principle being Michael Haykin), has begun to organize a Toronto-area Evangelical Bloggers Brunch. "This will hopefully provide an opportunity for a lot of us who only know each other through our respective blogs to meet. The invitation is open to anyone in the GTA who blogs and considers themselves conservative...
Evangelism - The Chief End of Man? (12/01/05 - 0 Comments)
I want to take a little break today from our regularly-scheduled programming (a series about profanity) to discuss something that has been on my mind a lot over the past few days. It stems from a few things I've read and a few discussions I've had, so I wanted to write about it while it is still fresh in my mind. Be warned that I am writing this by way of stream-of-consciousness so it may...
