Friday May 19, 2006

Award: Apparently I’ve been awarded something called a “Bologna Badge.” I can’t say I’ve ever heard of this particular award, but I’m sure it’s prestigious. More here.

Gospel: Ligon Duncan posted a roundup of quotes about the gospel that are sure to bless you. Here is a favorite: “When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed.”

Women: Carolyn McCulley has an interesting article entitled “Sex Trafficking: A Death Sentence by AIDS.” “In some sections of India, girls as young as 12 are “married” to a Hindu god and forced into temple prostitution for at least the next 20 years.”

Theology: Steve Camp has uploaded a very good article (part 1) of a tw-part series written by Lars Larson and dealing with biblical discernment.

Thursday May 18, 2006

Technology: ESV Blog brings news of an ESV plugin for Microsoft Word. It uses “the ESV Web Service to insert a passage into a Word document.” Sounds useful enough…

A La Carte: This is the 200th edition of A La Carte (according to the statistics in Movabletype). That’s not half bad! This feature arose as an attempt to “give away” traffic to deserving (and sometimes just plain fun or just plain stupid) blogs and web sites. On the whole I think it has done well at just that.

Language: Now here is a link that will surely bore everyone who clicks on it. But my interest in linguistics makes it a little bit interesting to me. Some enterprising soul has collected a list of animal noises in a bunch of different languages.

In Memoriam: Al Mohler is one of several bloggers to remember Jaroslav Pelikan, the church historian who went to be with the Lord last weekend.

Wednesday May 17, 2006

Video: In case you missed Katie Couric’s interview with Joel Osteen on The Today Show (and you probably did), Keith has a link to it.

Film: “AgapePress” has a good article, written by Ed Vitagliano which reflects on the “End of the Spear” controversy. “Sadly, the result has been a blunted Spear, reducing the impact of the film, not only on many of the Christians who saw the movie, but also on those who refused to see it, and on unbelievers who observed the confusion.”

Audio: The panel discussions from the Together for the Gospel Conference are now available for purchase from the Sovereign Grace Store.

Humor: Did any of you attend the Together 4 Each Other Conference? One attender gives his post-conference report. Unfortunately, no one was invited to live-blog it. Maybe next year…

Tuesday May 16, 2006

Giveaway: Adrian Warnock is having a small giveaway for bloggers who would like to blog their way through the Together For the Gospel Statement.

Music: Kerry, a.k.a. BlackCalvinist, made a bootleg recording of one of the songs sung at the T4G Conference. He did not realize that he was not supposed to do this, but the organizers have generously allowed him to post it regardless. This is what it sounds like when 3000 men sing a hymn!

Video: Desiring God has put together a four-part interview with John Piper in which he discusses the upcoming Desiring God National Conference (which I will be, once again, live-blogging). Justin Taylor has the links. There is also a promotional trailer which you can view here.

Da Vinci: “Discover Magazine” has an article listing 20 things you didn’t know about Leonardo Da Vinci (it includes, unfortunately, one moderately vulgar pun). “An ambidextrous, paranoid dyslexic, Leonardo could draw forward with one hand while writing backward with the other, producing a mirror-image script that others found difficult to read.”

Monday May 15, 2006

Web: “Washington Post” has a list of the most-visited domains in February 2005 and 2006. Unfortunately they only list the first fifty as I’m pretty sure Challies Dot Com would be ranked 51st.

Web Bonus: “The Inquirer” has a list of the most dangerous search phrases. Typing any of these into a search engine, they say, is “the equivalent of lighting a blue touch paper and standing well back.”

Family: There is an interesting story in FoxNews about a girl who was kidnapped on Mother’s Day 30 years ago and was just discovered alive and well by police.

Da Vinci: You’re probably as sick of hearing about “Da Vinci” as I am. Still, the “Boston Globe” has an interesting article suggesting that the film will prove a win-win for the filmmakers and for Christians,. “In fact, debunking the book, especially in anticipation of the film, has become a sort of mini-industry in itself.”

Email: I thought I’d share an email that came in to my account through Discerning Reader. This had the subject “D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones.” “You and your new web page suck. I type in Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones and get nothing even related. The old site was user friendly yours is not.” I was grateful for the encouragement. I hope the good doctor can teach this gentleman some grace.

Friday May 12, 2006

Politics: Justin Taylor had what I thought was a very good reflection on American Pessimism. “What used to be a moral sense that we had done something wrong now becomes conflated with compassion and is a sense that we should feel “guilty” and pessimistic if others are worse off than us.”

History: And while we’re on the topic of Justin Taylor, he has a helpful roundup of historical biographies given by Michael Haykin.

Video: Here is a really interesting (if you’re a geek like me) video of FedEx airplane arrivals at the Memphis hub while a thunderstorm rolls through the area.

Da Vinci: Jonathan Morris, who writes for FoxNews and has had some interesting comments on Dan Brown and all things Da Vinci, has posted some interesting quotes by Dan Brown. “We are unable to conceive of our hopes, dreams, memories, and spirits evaporating into thin air when we die, so therefore we say there must be an afterlife. We cant imagine it another way.”

Thursday May 11, 2006

Music: Bob Kauflin is looking to give away 50 copies of the “Worship God Live” CD, but only to people who meet the following criteria: “You are a pastor or a music minister/worship leader in your local church or ministry; You regularly write a blog (that people other than your family read); You will post a review of the CD on your blog by June 15.”

Blogspotting: Paul, with whom I travelled to the Together for the Gospel Conference, has posted a photo essay (if three photos can be considered an essay) of yours truly, including a rare look at me riding a moving sidewalk. I hope they were all taken on the same day, since otherwise it means that I forgot to change the whole time I was in Louisville.

Interview: “Sojourners” has an interview with McLaren that discusses “Da Vinci Code.” McLaren says “We need to ask ourselves why the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown’s book is more interesting, attractive, and intriguing to these people than the standard vision of Jesus they hear about in church.” That’s because they hate the Jesus of the Bible, Brian!

Theology: The most recent issue of “Critical Issues Commentary” is now available. The topic this time around is “Recovering Reformation Theology.”

Wednesday May 10, 2006

Family: Maryanne discusses what a stay-at-home mom would earn if she was paid a salary. But “I want to cautiously avoid the increasingly feminist tones of our age which assert that women work harder than men, sacrifice more and should be overall esteemed in a way that men are not.”

Da Vinci: Carolyn points to the message delivered last Sunday by Al Mohler at Covenant Life Church. “I believe it is well-worth your time to download this message from Covenant Life and listen to this illuminating tour of early church history. As Dr. Mohler said, we need to refute these claims with gentleness and humility, as well as courage and clarity.”

Humor: “Life in a Shoe” has posted a comic that any of us who do not home school our children can identify with.

Design: I finished a new site yesterday and it is one of my new favorite designs (I created it, so I’m free to play favorites, don’t you know). You can see it at martinflowers.com.

Tuesday May 9, 2006

Blogspotting: Peter Bogert responds to my charge that he was self-absorbed at the T4G Conference. “I carried a sign that I unfolded on a few occasions that said, ‘Hey Tim Challies - Hi.’ But Tim ignored it and one of his ‘guardians’ told me to move on or I’d never blog again, ‘if you know what I mean.’”

Da Vinci: Jim Elliff’s latest newsletter has information about a couple of good “Da Vinci Code” resources. There is a helpful faq along with a good article.

Mother’s Day: In anticipation of Mother’s Day, the GirlTalk ladies are dedicating this week to mothers. “Our hope is that not just the moms who are honored, but every mom who reads the blog this week will feel the love and gratefulness of her family and the pleasure of our Savior!”

Church: Frank Turk posted a link to an incredible video showcasing “Kidz Church” at First Baptist Church of Springdale. “Whatever it takes to get the message across…”

Monday May 8, 2006

Humor: Peter, who was at the T4G conference but was too self-absorbed to come over and say “hi” to me, has posted a list of missed giveaway opportunities at the conference. Among them are “RC Sproul, John Piper and John Macarthur Bobble head dolls.”

Book: Justin Taylor’s newest book has been given its own page at Crossway’s site. “Overcoming Sin and Temptation” will bring us updated version of some of John Owen’s best writings.

Technology: Want to know what you agreed to when you clicked “I Agree” to Microsoft’s End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) at the end of your Windows XP installation? LinuxAdvocate breaks it down and makes it simple. It is worth knowing since, regardless of whether or not you read it (and you know you didn’t), you are bound by it.

Gadgets: One of those ever-popular gadget sites has posted an interesting look at gadgets then and now. They compare, for example, the cell phones of today with cell phones of yesteryear.