Reading Classics - The Religious Affections (II) (07/31/08 - 30 Comments)
We come today to our third reading in Jonathan Edwards’ The Religious Affections. You can click here to read more about this effort.. Summary While the first week of The Religious Affections felt a bit like drinking water from a fire hose, this week’s reading seemed quite a bit more manageable. In the first half of Part II of the book, Edwards simply lays out seven signs of “nothing.” This is to say that he...
The Filth of Human Hands (07/30/08 - 10 Comments)
This morning I read with joy an account of God’s abundant grace in the life of my friend Stacey. On her blog she wrote about God’s grace despite her long-lingering doubts about His goodness. “For the past couple of years, until not long ago actually, I was constantly plagued by doubts and uncertainty in the goodness of my God. I was confused and always questioning God, unable to read my Bible without doubting and virtually...
Book Review - Atheism Remix (07/29/08 - 9 Comments)
As of January 1, 2008, Al Mohler was the author of one book, and it was an edited volume to which he contributed only a single chapter. By the time January 1, 2009 rolls around, Mohler will be the author of five books. The first, Culture Shift (my review), was published by Multnomah and offered biblical perspectives on cultural issues. The second, published by Crossway, is Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheists. In...
Who Is In Control? (07/28/08 - 30 Comments)
Have you ever noticed how, when a person is looking for a house, driving slowly down a darkened street straining to see the numbers on the fronts of the homes or on the mailboxes at the end of the driveways, he automatically turns down the car radio? He does so because he instinctively knows that music or voices can be a distraction. A person cannot focus as well on the task at-hand when there is...
Memoirs - The Best Place (07/27/08 - 12 Comments)
Today I continue posting memoirs (see here for more), little tidbits of my life experience. Chaffeys Locks is one of the most beautiful spots in all of Ontario. Perched between two small lakes that are part of the Rideau Lakes system, it is a historic town founded by William Chaffey in 1816. He established a milling business there, at the swift-flowing rapids that separated Indian Lake from Opinicon Lake. Sadly, in 1827 he died of...
Book Review - The Year of Living Biblically (07/26/08 - 1 Comments)
A.J. Jacobs, an editor at Esquire, must have a lot of time on his hands. Several years ago he decided to read Encyclopedia Brittanica from cover to cover, apparently in a quest to become the smartest person in the world (though a subsequent attempt to prove his knowledge on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” showed that he had a long way to go (he missed the $32,000 question). He documented his year-long journey through...
Got To Get To (07/25/08 - 25 Comments)
My children have been behaving a little bit strangely at bedtime in recent days. My son tends to be melancholy in the evenings at the best of times but recently has been getting worried as soon as we tuck him into bed. Two nights ago he was concerned that the Sith were going to attack him (how he even knows who the Sith are is beyond me) and last night he was worried that the...
Reading Classics - The Religious Affections (I) (07/24/08 - 28 Comments)
Today we come to the second week of reading through The Religious Affections. You can click here to read more about this effort. This weeks’ reading really marked my first significant attempt at plowing through a substantial part of Edwards’ work. While I began with some trepidation, I have to say that it wasn’t as bad as I may have feared. Sure the language was a bit obscure and sure Edwards often uses several sentences...
Movie Review - Fireproof (07/23/08 - 31 Comments)
Kirk Cameron totally stood me up. “Come to a screening of my new movie,” he says. “I’ll be there and it would be fun to meet up.” So off I went yesterday, along with Aileen and our friends Julian and Stacey (yes, I think all of my friends have their own blogs), to attend a pre-screening of Fireproof in Buffalo, New York. But conspicuously absent was Kirk. He was a no-show. It hurt. (Though shortly...
Book Review - Moment of Truth in Iraq (07/22/08 - 21 Comments)
Michael Yon has logged more time in combat situations in Iraq than any other reporter, and this despite twice being removed from Iraq for his critical statements about the U.S. military leadership. Remarkably, he has spent his time in Iraq largely as an independent reporter and blogger rather than an associate of a massive media network. As such, he offers a unique voice—one that is vastly different from what we are accustomed to hearing on...
They Were Ready (07/21/08 - 11 Comments)
At four o’clock in the afternoon of August 2, 2005, I was just a few minutes into a long online training session with a software manufacturer. As we spoke, and as the technician showed me the features of this software, I suddenly noticed that it had gotten very dark in my office. I looked outside and saw that the sky was as dark as ever I’ve seen an afternoon summer sky. Within minutes rain began...
Memoirs - A Weekend Away (1990) (07/20/08 - 9 Comments)
Today I continue posting memoirs (see here for more), little tidbits of my life experience. I can’t believe my parents are making me do this. It is Christmas break and the last thing I want to do is head away from home to spend time with a bunch of people I don’t know. Yet mom and dad have seen fit to send me for a weekend away at a little Reformed Presbyterian Church in Smiths...
Quote for a Busy Day (07/19/08 - 3 Comments)
It’s funny how Saturdays, a day of fun and relaxation when I was young, have turned into days of busyness. Early in the day I had to put on my coach’s hat to lead my son’s team through a baseball practice. No sooner had we returned home from that than Aileen had to run my daughter to a birthday party. This afternoon will be spent, least in part, preparing lunch for a crowd we’re having...
Book Review - Touching History (07/18/08 - 3 Comments)
I think we all remember where we were and what we were doing when, on September 11, 2001, we first heard that a plane had slammed into the World Trade Center. It is one of those moments we will undoubtedly always remember, just as so many people have never forgotten where they were when they heard about the assassination of J.F.K.. They are seared forever into our memories. They are utterly unique moments in history....
Reading Classics - The Religious Affections (Introduction) (07/17/08 - 45 Comments)
This morning we kick off the fourth round of Reading Classics Together, an effort in which we read some of the great Christian classics together and convene here once a week to discuss them. In the past we’ve read J.C. Ryle’s Holiness, John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation and A.W. Pink’s The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross. We’ve had hundreds of people participate by reading the books together and discussing them each...
Data Smog and the Christian Life (07/16/08 - 25 Comments)
We are at a strange and unique stage of human history. The combination of the Internet, electronic storage media, the rapid rate of technological progress and the fast-pace of our society, has given us unparalleled access to unparalleled amounts of information. Never in history have people had access to so much information. Consider just a few examples: Google currently indexes billions upon billions of web pages and adds hundreds of thousands more every day (I...
Book Review - What Is A Healthy Church Member? (07/15/08 - 10 Comments)
There are many books available today that address the needs, the responsibilities and the health of the local church. While The Purpose Driven Church is probably the best-known of these, there are plenty of others as well, many of which were written in the aftermath of that book’s unparalleled success. To this point the books have been largely focused at pastors and church leaders. Where many books have been written describing a healthy church (among...
Sandbox Devotions (07/14/08 - 18 Comments)
There was a period in my life where I spent a good bit of time playing computer games. I developed a fascination with certain games and gained a lot of pleasure from playing them. Truth be told, if I was able to find a way of extending my days from 24 to 48 hours I might take up the hobby again. Unfortunately, as it stands now, I just have too many other responsibilities in life...
Resolved (07/13/08 - 14 Comments)
This is just about my favorite time of day. The house is quiet and no one else awake. It allows me a few minutes to myself—time I use every day to read the Bible and pray. I know that in a few minutes the family will begin to stir. Nick and Abby will wake up and Michaela will not be far behind. It won’t be long before the quiet is punctuated by their childish squabbles...
A Biblical Guide to Love, Sex and Marriage (07/12/08 - 4 Comments)
Though it has been thousands of years since it was written, and though countless people have made valiant attempts to decipher it, it seems as though we are no closer than ever to reaching a consensus regarding the Song of Solomon. Should it be read literally, as a poem that deals with love and sex? Or is this only a superficial meaning beneath which we will find a whole world of allegorical meaning pointing us...
Friday Miscellania (07/11/08 - 18 Comments)
On the last day of the first round of my summer vacation, I want to offer up some links that have been collecting in my Bookmarks folder. NoiseTrade NoiseTrade is a site co-founded by Derek Webb that offers good music for “a few friends or a few bucks.” Their music is free to download if you pass along information about it to three friends or if you pay what you think it is worth. There...
On Vacation (07/10/08 - 14 Comments)
Last summer we vacationed at a cottage on the shores of Lake Erie, a couple of hours away from home. It was a fun place to be, but by the end of our week there the water had turned bad with huge piles of seaweed and algae plugging the beach. This is apparently quite common along that stretch of shore and we decided we would not return in case we found the beach unusable for...
Book Review - I Don't Believe in Atheists (07/09/08 - 13 Comments)
I’m on vacation this week and today we’re heading across the border into the U.S. of A. to spend some time at the Buffalo Zoo. And, if we have some time left over, we’ll swing by Niagara Falls since we haven’t taken the kids to see that site in some time. Today I just wanted to post a short review I wrote quite a while ago but haven’t yet had opportunity to post. It’s a...
The Shape of Temptation (07/08/08 - 27 Comments)
As I continue reading through Waltke’s Old Testament Theology I continue to dig up pure gold. Today I’ll share yet another example. In one of the earliest chapters Waltke writes about man’s fall into sin and discusses “the shape of temptation.” Here he shows how Satan’s original act of temptation is an archetype or sorts. All of the temptation that would follow through the long line of human experience would mimic this one. Satan tempted...
Every Word of God (07/07/08 - 60 Comments)
Imagine, for a moment. You wake up one morning and, as you stumble downstairs to grope for the coffee maker, you notice that the front door of your house is wide open, the brisk morning air blowing into the room and clearing your mind just a little bit. You stare at the door for a moment to process the fact that it is open. Your first thought, of course, is for your family. You race...
Memoirs - Scotland (1988) (07/06/08 - 16 Comments)
Today I continue posting memoirs (see here for more), little tidbits of my life experience. Since the first grade I’ve been a student at Willowdale Christian School and I’ve come to enjoy the place as much as a boy can ever enjoy his school. But here, just a few weeks into seventh grade, I am saying goodbye to my classmates. My father has decided to spend a few years studying in the Free Church of...
Quote - Glorious Submission (07/05/08 - 6 Comments)
Here is yet another little quote drawn from that great big book I’ve been reading. In his Old Testament Theology, Bruce Waltke is careful to prove that gender roles and differences are rooted not in society and culture but in creation. He shows that, though men and women have been created equal, man was to take the leadership role in family and in the church. This is not a result of the fall into sin...
How to Begin a Commentary Collection (07/04/08 - 58 Comments)
Though I'm certainly no scholar, I do enjoy putting a lot of time and effort into studying God's Word (and especially so as I have increased opportunities to teach and preach to others). As I've found real joy and benefit in such study, I've quickly realized the benefits and importance of commentaries--good commentaries. I've also learned just how inadequate my commentary collection really is. To that end I've been working towards a solid collection that...
Six Faces of New Paganism (07/03/08 - 8 Comments)
As I mentioned in a brief post yesterday, I have begun making my way through Bruce Waltke's Old Testament Theology. It is a massive book and is perhaps just a bit intimidating, but I have been enjoying it a lot. It is my first attempt to read an Old Testament theology and even through the opening chapters I can see that there is much to learn. After six introductory chapters, Waltke turns to Old Testament...
Quote - Inexcusable Hubris (07/02/08 - 19 Comments)
I have recently been reading Bruce Waltke’s (rather large!) Old Testament Theology and came across this quote. It seemed appropriate in light of all of the attention being give to The Shack and its distinctly feminine portrayal of God. Waltke argues here that it really does matter how we think of God and how we address Him. God, who is over all, represents himself by masculine names and titles, not feminine ones. He identifies himself...
Book Reviews - "A Book You Will Actually Read" Series (07/02/08 - 1 Comments)
In his rather unique ministry, Mark Driscoll has come across some rather unique challenges. Among these challenges has been finding a way of addressing some of the fundamentals of the Christian faith with a fast-growing church body comprised primarily of men and women who have no Christian background whatsoever. Because Driscoll found that he would not able to meet with each of these people one-by-one, he began to write booklets which were subsequently distributed by...
It's a Fact, Eh? - Canada Day (07/01/08 - 50 Comments)
Today is Canada Day and I, like just about every other Canadian, am taking the day off from work. But it does give me a good opportunity to add a new article to the “It’s a Fact, Eh?” article archives. Every year on July 1, Canada pauses for one day to focus on our nation. Though often compared to America’s Independence Day, Canada Day celebrates something quite different. The day marks the anniversary of...
