An Almighty Flop (06/30/07 - 40 Comments)
It looks like Evan Almighty is sinking. Thought by some to be a sure-thing summer blockbuster, it garnered some glowing reviews in the Christian media but only lukewarm reviews in the mainstream. With other, better family fare now on the big screen (think Ratatouille which has opened to rave reviews), Evan Almighty is going to be lucky to recover the estimated $176 million it cost to make it. The question is: why? At FoxNews author...
Friday Ramblings (06/29/07 - 16 Comments)
School is out! Yesterday my son finished up his last day of grade one and my daughter had her last day of junior kindergarten on Wednesday, so today marks the official beginning of summer vacation. School ends about a month later in Canada than in the U.S. but also begins a month later (the Tuesday after Labour Day). This is a long weekend in Canada as July 1 happens to be Canada Day. Since that...
Hyper-Calvinism: A Brief Definition (06/28/07 - 114 Comments)
The term hyper-Calvinist is often used as a pejorative. Almost any Calvinist who adheres to the doctrines of grace is likely to be considered a hyper-Calvinist by at least someone. Frankly speaking, a hyper-Calvinist can be any Calvinist to a person who doesn't understand Calvinism. So today, just briefly, and because the term has come up a few times in recent weeks, I want to narrow in on a more accurate definition of it. First...
Intelligent Design (06/27/07 - 33 Comments)
This isn't a book review. Though I often refer to a particular book, I mean this more as a series of statements on intelligent design. The concept of intelligent design has undeniable appeal. Forming a kind of middle ground between creationism and evolution, it claims to reconcile the claims of modern science with what seems so obvious to so many--that there is an intelligent force or being in the universe that has guided the design...
Book Review Updates (06/26/07 - 6 Comments)
Tuesdays are review days at Discerning Reader and this week we've added five new ones. Because I am reviewing so many books these days, I will only be posting some of them at my blog. The rest will appear over at Discerning Reader and you can read them there if you're interested. I've written reviews of a couple of popular titles, one coming from a professed Christian and the other from an ardent atheist. Sam...
Book Review - Grace (Eventually) (06/26/07 - 4 Comments)
I really don't understand Anne Lamott's appeal. I'll grant that she is a talented writer but clearly this, in an of itself, cannot explain it. I suppose a good bit of her appeal probably stems from her gut-honest authenticity, her willingness to say exactly what she's thinking all the time. She's profound, she's profane, she's shocking and people seem to love her for it. Her latest nonfiction book (she has also authored several novels) is...
What Proceeds from the Heart (06/25/07 - 10 Comments)
As mentioned in an earlier post, I read through Lou Priolo's book Pleasing People last week. This was a book that just showed up in my mailbox. It is not one I would have chosen and even after I pulled it out of the box and set it in my "to read" bookcase I didn't think I'd actually care to read it. I've got a billion other books to choose from and this one didn't...
The Most Famous Man in America (06/24/07 - 4 Comments)
It requires a certain amount of trust to read and to enjoy a biography. Most books are easily-verified, easily fact-checked. A book discussing a particular doctrine can be easily held up to the Scripture and seen immediately to be true or false. Biographies, though, and especially those that rely on secondary sources, are much more difficult to verify and thus the reader is left having to place his trust in the biographer, believing that she...
DVD Review - Charlie Zahm (06/23/07 - 5 Comments)
I've always had a bit of a weakness for folk music (as my CD/MP3 collection can attest). So when I heard of the latest DVD from Franklin Springs Family Media, Charlie Zahm: An Evening of Classic Melodies, I knew I couldn't pass it up. Zahm is a talented musician and an exceptional vocalist with an absolutely unforgettable baritone. This DVD is simply a recording of a concert he recorded in February of 2007 in the...
Pictures Aren't Words (06/22/07 - 36 Comments)
Yesterday the Resurgence blog posted an article by Greg Wright, a writer and film critic. The article was titled "Movies, Morality, and Ratings: A Hard Look at Our Opinion of Films." He begins like this: Consider this graphic Hollywood plotline: A man travels to Las Vegas to retrieve his cheating wife. On the way back to Los Angeles, the two stop at a rundown motel in Death Valley. During the night, a mob of sexual...
True Forgiveness (06/21/07 - 16 Comments)
I've been working my way through Lou Priolo's new book Pleasing People and it has given me a lot to think about. I don't know that any of us are readily willing to admit that we are eager to be people pleasers but Priolo shows in this book just how prone we are all to slipping into the sin of esteeming the opinion of others higher than the opinion of God. Like so many other...
Summer Reading (06/20/07 - 22 Comments)
Every year, when summer approaches, we begin to hear about summer reading lists. I am uncertain if this is a throwback to days gone by or if people really do try to set aside a few books to read over the course of a summer. Or perhaps it is only students who do this as they take a brief break from their studies. Certainly I always have great plans when I head away on a...
The Dangerous Book for Boys (06/19/07 - 21 Comments)
Years ago I found a beat-up old box that contained a stack of musty books. I suppose they must have belonged to my father or grandfather and that they had long since been forgotten. They were interesting books, clearly targeted at boys of a different age. They had stories of pirates, heroic tales of valor and suggestions for activities that would appeal to any boy. It seems that books like this were all the rage...
The Appeal of Roman Catholicism (06/18/07 - 122 Comments)
Over the weekend a member of a mailing list I subscribe to asked an interesting question. Reflecting both on some of the highly-publicized "defections" of former Protestants to Roman Catholicism and some he has witnessed personally he asked "What is the appeal of Roman Catholicism?" I have sometimes wondered the same. Why is it that many Protestants eventually convert to Catholicism? To put things in context, my experience shows that a far greater number of...
Father's Day (06/17/07 - 5 Comments)
Today is Father's Day and I thought I'd share something I posted here before--an article I wrote for my dad three years ago on this day. Like most boys I idolized my father. When I was a child you would have had a difficult time convincing me that there was anyone smarter, faster or stronger than my dad. I really did believe it when I told my friends that "my dad can beat up your...
Book Review - John Newton (06/16/07 - 3 Comments)
While not everyone knows the name of John Newton, everyone knows his song and at least a bit of his story. Immortalized in the words of "Amazing Grace," the most-recorded song in history, everyone knows that John Newton was wretched and miserable until saved by a grace that forever transformed his life. Two centuries ago, fewer people knew his song, but far more knew his story. That story is told again and told afresh in...
Evan Almighty (06/15/07 - 110 Comments)
A week from today, the movie Evan Almighty will hit theaters across the continent. A projected summer blockbuster, it is the sequel to 2003's hit comedy Bruce Almighty which starred Jim Carrey and pulled in over $200,000,000 at the box office. Evan Almighty is, I believe, the most expensive comedy ever made with a budget said to exceed $175,000,000. Clearly the studios are expecting it to be as successful as its predecessor. I did...
Becoming Reformed (06/14/07 - 57 Comments)
By all accounts it would seem that evangelicalism is currently in the midst of a resurgence of interest in Reformed theology. At conferences and in publications all sorts of people are noting the growing interest in Calvinistic theology, especially (though certainly not exclusively) among younger people. Collin Hansen captured some of this interest in an article he wrote for "Christianity Today" called "Young, Restless, Reformed." Now certainly simply saying something is happening does not make...
Book Review - Reconciliation Blues (06/14/07 - 18 Comments)
I often wonder if my Canadian perspective keeps me from really understanding race relationships as they exist in the United States. Things are different here. I live in a city where over half of the population was born outside of this nation. A trip to any public location (or even a walk around the average neighborhood) will show an incredible variety of races and backgrounds and this seems to have been Canada's historical pattern. To...
The Doctrine of Perseverance (06/13/07 - 5 Comments)
A couple of weeks ago I preached for the first time after the elders at my church were kind enough to ask me if I'd like to contribute to a series called "God's Sovereign Saving Grace." This was a series on the Doctrines of Grace that has spanned a few month's worth of Sunday nights. Sermons have been led by a variety of the men of the church--the pastor, elders, future preachers (it seems our...
Discerning Reader News (06/13/07 - 34 Comments)
As you probably know, I run not only this blog but also Discerning Reader, a site that, until now has focused entirely on book reviews. Just last week I relaunched the site with a whole new design and a bunch of new features. Most notably, we will now add new reviews every week (on Tuesdays) and will add other information on a near-daily basis. I expect to update the site at least three to...
TDoSD: The First Endorsement (06/12/07 - 31 Comments)
I mentioned last week that I had received the first endorsement for The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, or TDoSD if you were trying to decipher the headline, (which, to remind you, should be available on January 7 of next year). A few weeks ago the manuscript was sent to a handful of authors, teachers and other people I much admire who indicated they would be willing to read through it with a view to providing...
The Beautiful Letdown (06/12/07 - 6 Comments)
Road hockey is a long-standing Canadian tradition--so much so that we invented the word "shinny" to describe the informal games that are played on driveways, roads and parking lots across the nation. It seems that today's youth generally prefers to play hockey on the Playstation and it is becoming more and more rare to see panting kids, huffing and puffing up the road with frozen cheeks, frozen noses and missing teeth. And the nation is...
Book Review - The Secret (06/11/07 - 20 Comments)
The Secret is a phenomenon. Since the book debuted late in 2006 it has sold over four million copies with some thirty other translations now available or underway. It is likely to become one of the best-selling self-help books of all time and is being constantly praised and endorsed by celebrities. Venture into your local bookstore or look around you while waiting at an airport, and you're bound to see people reading it and absorbing...
About the Bible (06/10/07 - 0 Comments)
Some time ago I was doing some research on the Bible and came across some interesting quotes. I jotted these down and added a few others as I came across them. Each of these really is worth thinking about: "One of the many divine qualities of the Bible is that it does not yield its secrets to the irreverent and the censorious." --J.I. Packer "The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the...
Saturday Ramblings (06/09/07 - 5 Comments)
For the first time in recent memory, I am at home alone. A couple of the neighborhood children have a birthday party today and my two older children were invited. It is apparently a Taekwondo birthday party. I didn't know such things existed, to tell the truth. I'm not so crazy about the martial arts, but I guess there can't be too much harm in letting the kids hang around, kick each other, and eat...
Quotable Quotes (06/08/07 - 11 Comments)
I have done a lot of reading lately and am preparing a bunch of book reviews for the next couple of weeks. I thought it might prove an amusing distraction to select a brief quote from each, provide you the titles to the book, and see if you can match them up. Or even just read the quotes. It's Friday--do whatever you want! #1 The earth turns on its orbit for You. The oceans ebb...
More Tips for Better Blog Writing (06/08/07 - 20 Comments)
At this rate no one is ever going to take the blogosphere seriously. And it's all Justin Taylor and Abraham Piper's fault.* Well, I guess it's not really their fault, but I think they've got some things wrong. Yesterday Abraham, guest-posting on Justin's site, wrote an article entitled "Tips for Better Blog Writing." Earlier this year Abraham was thrust into the role of being Desiring God's primary blogger and in this post he reflects on...
Creativity Cramp (2007 Edition) (06/07/07 - 13 Comments)
I am a Web designer and as such I have to be creative on an on-going basis. Every time a client calls and asks me to design a site I have to be creative and come up with a new design--something that will look attractive, that will be original and will fit the "feel" of the company or ministry or person. This is often quite difficult to do. I find it especially so when I've...
A Notch in the Belt (06/06/07 - 12 Comments)
When I was a teenager, there was a boy in my class who was not quite normal. I don't know if he suffered from a type of mental disorder or if he was just a bit "different"--never completely accustomizing to the culture he lived in. I suspect the latter. Somehow he did not quite fit in. He had funny mannerisms, would sometimes say strange things and often seemed oblivious to social propriety. One of my...
Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart (06/05/07 - 16 Comments)
We live at a time when relationships are increasingly marked by the awful dictum of meet up, hook up, shack up, and break up. This describes too many relationships, too many hardened hearts and too many ruined lives. But as John Ensor says and as observation bears out, this pattern "bankrupts the rich treasure trove of love itself." It does not work and it is time for young people to revolt against the times. The...
Capricious, Cruel, Fatalistic and Grim (06/04/07 - 24 Comments)
Over the weekend I began reading The Most Famous Man in America, Debby Applegate's recent biography of Henry Ward Beecher. The book has been widely celebrated, winning the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. It was a finalist for The National Book Critics Circle Award Best Biography of 2006 and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Best Biography of 2006. It was even winner of the Frederick G. Melcher Book Award for the most significant contribution...
King for a Week - Boundless (06/03/07 - 1 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...or sometimes just because I really like them. It is a way of introducing my readers to blogs that they may also find interesting and edifying. Every two weeks (or so) I select a blog, link to it from my site, and add that site's most recent headlines...
Who You Know (06/02/07 - 5 Comments)
I'm a bit late posting today. I had arranged weeks ago for my son and me to head to the Rogers Center today to see the Blue Jays take on the White Sox. We were going to meet a new friend (and reader of this site who just so happens to have served as chaplain to the Blue Jays for decades) at the stadium and take in the game with him. Early in the day...
A Season's Worth of Conferences (06/01/07 - 7 Comments)
New Attitude is behind us now, and that's that. Six conferences later I am home for the long-haul, or until the fall at least. We've moved from conference season to wedding season (something that is going to take me to Atlanta and Ottawa)! I admit that it may seem an extravagance to go to so many conferences in such a short time, but as I attempted to make clear earlier in the year, I accepted...
