Daily Catechism (05/23/05 - 0 Comments)
Here's something new.
How would you like to add a daily Question and Answer from the Westminster Shorter Catechism and Heidelberg Catechism to your site? Or how about having them sent to your RSS Reader? This feed will take you through both catechisms twice per year.
RSS
To add a daily catechism question and answer to your RSS reader, simply add the following RSS feed: http://www.challies.com/catechism.php. It is updated every night.
May DVD Giveaway Wrapup (05/20/05 - 0 Comments)
Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway of Amazing Grace: The History & Theology of Calvinism DVD and the Luther DVD. Response was overwhelming.
Before I reveal the names of the winners, I'd like to once again thank Monergismbooks.com for their ongoing support. You can thank them for their support by visiting the site, even if it is just to poke around and see what they offer.
If you would like to purchase Amazing Grace, that is the place to do it.
Friday Frivolity (05/20/05 - 0 Comments)
A few weeks ago we had some Friday Frivolity and I asked people to grab the closest book, flip to a certain page and post a sentence from that page. It was moderately interesting (at best) to see what books people were reading.
Today I thought it would be moderately fun (at best) to ask people to list the books that are currently on their desk. Just a list of the titles and authors. If you have too many to list, just post a few of them.
On my desk you will currently find:
From The Better Late Than Never File... (05/16/05 - 0 Comments)
Well look what the cat dragged into the blogosphere. Phil Johnson has a snazzy new blog all primed and ready to go. A quick prelaunch check shows that all the necessary elements are in place.
Obligatory blogroll? Check. Obligatory reader quote? Check. Photograph of the blogger? Check. Biography? Check.
Content? Well, not yet. But he says it is coming sometime around June 1. Anyone think we'll see a marked decrease in the quality of programming at Grace to You once Phil gets blogging?
BookSwarming? (05/16/05 - 0 Comments)
In your travels around the blogosphere today you may have noticed a few reviews of The Feminist Mistake by Mary Kassian. Chances are these books are part of a program I have put in place through the Diet of Bookworms. I have scoured the blogosphere to find blogs that meet two criteria: First, the blogger must be theologically-conservative and exhibit some discernment, and second, his or her blog must generate a fair amount of traffic. These two criteria have been surprisingly difficult to reconcile. I contacted several bloggers and asked if they would consider reading books and review them. These reviews will all be posted on The Diet of Bookworms.
Headline: Abortions Put Subsequent Babies At Risk (05/15/05 - 0 Comments)
Every now and then a news story takes me by surprise. This morning the Telegraph has an interesting article about a French study which examined the link between abortions and subsequent premature births. The study found that a woman who has had at least one abortion is forty percent more likely to have an extremely premature baby in subsequent pregnancies than a woman who has never had an abortion. And of course a large percentage of extremely premature babies die in infancy or have serious health problems.
"The study of 2,837 births ... found that mothers who had previously had an abortion were 1.7 times more likely to give birth to a baby at less than 28 weeks' gestation.
Recommended Reading (05/14/05 - 0 Comments)
My wife and I just got home from running around doing our morning chores. As we pulled into the driveway I noticed a group of well-dressed gentlemen clutching Bibles and briefcases just a few doors down. I heard them say, "No one's around. Let's try again tomorrow." So I guess I have a visit to look forward to from the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses (can't say I know which group these guys represented). Those visits are always fun. My wife dreads them as she knows that I may end up talking to them for quite a while. Of course these chats are always a dead end, but they are also good fun.
Moving on, I wanted to direct you to some good articles I read this week. I spent an unusually large amount of time reading other blogs this week and present to you some of the best of what I read.
Before There Was Derek Webb... (05/12/05 - 0 Comments)
Yesterday I wrote a post about poetry and quite a few people followed-up by posting some of their favorite poems. After writing that article I continued to think about poetry and music and their power, especially when combined. A reader asked if I consider songs to be poetry, and I certainly do, except that songs are poetry in a less pure form. What I mean by that is that poetry presents nothing but words - songs introduce music which can be manipulative, for good or for ill. That is certainly not to denigrate music, but simply to indicate that music can be doubly-powerful.
Changing my direction a little bit, this morning I was thinking about songs that address problems within the church (I have no idea why, though it probably has something to do with an article series I am researching and writing at the moment).
Poetic Favorites (05/11/05 - 0 Comments)
Poetry is a form of communication that is largely lost on me, and in fact, seems to be lost on our society as a whole (unless it is printed within the pages of a CD cover and is sung to us). Most of us do not read much poetry after we have finished with our educations. We have to study it in high school and college and usually have to make a few half-hearted attempts at it ourselves, but once we have our diplomas in-hand, most never think about it again. It is a shame, really.
It strikes me as strange that a form of writing used so much in the Bible is largely ignored by Christians.
The Most Important Characteristic of a Godly Mother (05/10/05 - 0 Comments)
"Contrary to popular opinion, the most important characteristic of a godly mother is her relationship, not with her children, but with her husband. What you communicate to your children through your marital relationship will stay with them for the rest of their lives. By watching you and your husband, they are learning the most fundamental lessons of life-love, self-sacrifice, integrity, virtue, sin, sympathy, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. Whatever you teach them about those things, right or wrong, is planted deep within their hearts."
So says John MacArthur in his article for Mother's Day entitled The Profile of a Godly Mother. This is MacArthur at his best. Go read it!
Paul Proctor on Heretics and Hypocrites (05/09/05 - 0 Comments)
I am not entirely sure who this Paul Proctor fellow is (despite a few emails back and forth between us), but he sends me notifications when he has posted a new column to News with Views, and he always has interestings things to say. His most recent column takes on an issue I have addressed within the forums but never in an article. And now I do not have to, as I can just point people to this article. I would like to provide a bit of commentary on it.
Proctor begins by saying, "Every now and then I get a terse email from someone who has taken exception to my candid comments on Rick Warren, asking questions like: 'Have you ever spoken with him personally about your objections and concerns and tried to work through your differences privately as scripture teaches, rather than attack him publicly as you do?'"
May DVD Giveaway (05/09/05 - 0 Comments)
We are a week into May and the calendar tells me that it is once more time to have another giveaway. Instead of giving away the usual pair of books or a book with a DVD I thought I would break with tradition this month and giveaway two DVDs.
First, I'd like to thank Monergism Books for once again sponsoring this giveaway. Please be sure to visit this store and check out his wide range of reading material. By visiting his site you are supporting these giveaways!
Sunday Reflection (05/08/05 - 0 Comments)
Today I present a brief reflection on Sunday, providing some historic viewpoints on the Lord's Day as summarized in various creeds and confessions. I do not think my commentary would be helpful or necessary:
The London Baptist Confession says:
As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week...
My Wife The Anti-Feminist (05/07/05 - 0 Comments)
Over the past week my wife and I have both been absorbed in nonfiction books. I have been reading The Feminist Mistake: The Radical Impact of Feminism on Church and Culture by Mary A. Kassian. In this book Kassian details the rise of modern feminism and points to its impact on the church. The basic premise of the book is that feminism, whether it be secular or Christian, is based on the same principles and will end up at the same place - a place far from God. It has been fascinating to see how women who dedicate themselves to feminist philosophy end up straying farther and farther from the truth. It is almost as if radical feminism is a mental disorder. What is radical in secular feminism becomes mainstream about ten years later, and what is mainstream in secular feminism becomes mainstream in the Christian world just a few years after that. I will publish a full review of this book sometime in the next week or so.
How To Listen To An (Expository?) Sermon (05/06/05 - 0 Comments)
Last Sunday I posted a review of Famine in the Land by Steven Lawson, a great little book that discussed the importance of expository (or expositional) preaching. It is his thesis that "a return to preaching - true preaching, biblical preaching, expository preaching - is the greatest need in this critical hour" and through the book he discusses the priority, power, pattern and passion of expository preaching.
Following the review, a reader asked about the responsibility of the listener to prepare for a sermon. Despite being terribly wounded that she did not remember it, I directed her to an article...
Public Service Announcements (05/06/05 - 0 Comments)
I've got a few public service announcements to share today. You can be sure that they are all of the utmost importance.
First, I wanted to remind you about the Diet of Bookworms. This is a site I created that collects links to book reviews written by discerning reviewers. My vision for the site is that this can be a place for Christians to research books to determine what others are saying about them. So far the reaction from readers, authors and publishers has been very encouraging. While the site is (in all likelihood) going to undergo a bit of a revision in the coming days (in both style and function), the content that is there is updated and helpful. You can check it out at dietofbookworms.com. Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, and so on.
Eleven (Plus 2) Characteristics of Purpose Driven Churches (05/05/05 - 0 Comments)
This week's Minstry Toolbox, a weekly publication written by Rick Warren (and/or his staff) is entitled "11 characteristics of a PD church." I thought this would be an interesting document to examine. You can read each of the characteristics below. Each one is followed by a few words of commentary. I will speak of the "traditional" church as the opposite to Purpose Driven churches.
- They have a purpose statement that describes (in their own words) their commitment to building the church around the five New Testament purposes: worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry.
Blood On His Hands (05/03/05 - 0 Comments)
A couple of weeks ago, for some unknown reason, my computer lost the ability to visit MSN.com, which had been set as my homepage. I looked around and eventually settled on FoxNews as my new home, despite the strange lack of all sporting headlines from the site. Just a few minutes ago I noticed a headline which reads, "Fla. Judge OKs Abortion for Girl, 13." Apparently The state Department of Children & Families had argued that the girl, was too young and immature to decide for herself to have an abortion. The judge ordered that she undergo a psychological evaluation. After the state completed the evaluation, "Juvenile Judge Ronald Alvarez on Monday ruled that the teen who has been in state custody for four years, would not be physically or emotionally harmed by the procedure."
Imagine saying that a 13 year old girl will be able to have an abortion without suffering any emotional harm! How can anyone possibly say that a person can undergo an abortion and suffer no emotion harm, and especially a mere child?
Quotable Quotes (04/25/05 - 0 Comments)
Over the weekend I did a lot of reading. Actually, it was probably an unhealthy amount of reading, if such a thing is possible. Strangely, Aileen's absence (you may recall that she was at a women's conference in Niagara Falls) gave me more time than usual to read. On Saturday I helped my son get setup in his new bedroom and he and my daughter proceeded to spend most of the rest of the day up there, acting out various scenarios, most of which involved them calling each other "mommy" and "daddy." It's a good thing they were content there, as the weather was just awful so we couldn't have played outdoors. When we did go out, though it was only a dash from the car to the post office, we got practically drenched by the downpour.
Blogging and Accountability (04/24/05 - 0 Comments)
This is something I have wanted to write about for quite some time. Unfortunately I have always put it off because I’ve found that I have not been able to formulate my thoughts on it sufficiently nor have I been able to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. But I think it is an important topic and has been on my mind in recent days. So formulated or not, let’s talk about this.
God has built His church, the body of Christ, around a particular authority structure. Each local body has within it a pattern of authority. The leadership of the church is to be held accountable by the people and the people entrust the leadership with a degree of spiritual authority over them. Some churches place a greater focus on this than others. In my younger days the most dreaded day of the year was the “elder visitation.”
