Over the past few days, I have been reading J.P. Moreland’s book, Love Your God With All Your Mind. It is a good book; deeply challenging. Moreland says many of the same things Nancy Pearecy did several years later in the much-lauded Total Truth. Like Pearcey, Moreland is concerned with the intellectual environment within Evangelicalism,…
My friend Matthew sent me an interesting article today. It is the story of a Christian athiest. Yes, you read that correct: a Christian atheist. Isn’t postmodernism wonderful? The article begins like this: I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe Jesus Christ was the son of a God that I don’t believe in, nor…
Friday March 10, 2006 Request: John Hendryx, of Monergism fame, is seeking help with a potential redesign of his flagship site, Monergism.com. “Monergism.com is due for a major overhaul. We are writing to ask for your advice about going forward in the functionality of the website.” Music: The Red Letters Project dedicates 2 CDs and…
Today marks the opening day of the Ligonier Ministries National Conference. It kicks off this morning with several pre-conference sessions dealing with “The Intimate Marriage.” This morning’s epeakers are Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. and Dr. Kenneth Jones. Joni Eareckson Tada was expected to speak but apparently was advised by her doctor to cancel her committment…
Pursuing God-A Seeker’s Guide is Jim Elliff’s short book for those who are drawn toward God, but want more understanding. It is an excellent guide to help those whom God is drawing to Himself and gives a solid, biblical explanation of the basics of the Christian faith. Wasted Faith is a natural follow-up, a book…
Thursday March 9, 2006 Du Jour: Mike writes about the joy of having a son become a brother. “I look forward to seeing what God does with this young life, the life of my son who is now my brother.” Theology: Ingrid links to some statistics compiled by Kim Riddlebarger showing that many pastors at…
It is always enjoyable to me when I see secular experts stumble across something they think is revolutionary, yet it is merely something that Christians have known and believed for years. Associated Press writer Samantha Critchell recently reported on a pair of recent studies which conclude that children, and girls in particular, are greatly influenced…
Wednesday March 8, 2006 Books: I was in the Christian bookstore yesterday. I noticed that the bargain section featured a very large stack of Ashley Smith’s book about how The Purpose Driven Life saved her life. Just to the right of that stack was a large number of Richard Abanes’ book about Warren. I guess…
Malcolm Gladwell needs a haircut. This was one of the first things I noticed about The Tipping Point: the photo of Gladwell and his Yancey-like hair. It’s hard to take a guy with hair like that too seriously, but I’m glad that I did, as The Tipping Point is a fascinating book. The Tipping Point…
You can own a piece of Internet history by bidding on this bona fide, genuine, Phil Johnson (a.k.a. PyroManiac) bumper sticker, autographed by Phil himself! These bumper stickers were part of a very limited run and are no longer available. Phil was gracious enough to give me one of the very last of these stickers…
Tuesday March 7, 2006 Theology: Chris Poteet has an audio presentation debunking myths on Calvinism and Arminianism and suggesting steps towards fruitful dialogue. Conference: Nathan Busenitz (whom I met at the conference) has a exhaustive list of blog-based reflections on the Shepherd’s Conference. Conference Bonus: The Fide-O guys have a photo review of the conference.…
I recently decided that I would attempt to read not only books that are published and widely read within the Christian community, but also in the mainstream. To that end I walked into a Los Angeles Barnes & Nobles on Saturday and decided I would buy whatever was listed as being the current top seller…
There is always something a little bit strange about returning from a conference. When at such a gathering one’s mind is set on a particular topic for a day, two days, five days. And what’s more, there are hundreds or thousands of other people in attendance, all of whom are focused on this same subject.…
“As Americans we’ve come to tolerate, embrace, and even champion many things that would have horrified our parent’s generation. Things like abortion-on-demand virtually up to the moment of birth, judges banning the Ten Commandments from public places, a national explosion of middle-school sex, the slow starvation of the disabled, thousands of homosexuals openly flouting the…
This is the final session of the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference. J. Ligon Duncan, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi and chairman of The Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, will bring us the final address. It is interesting to see that this place has cleared out quite a bit already as clearly many…
This is my final day at the conference. The conference proper will end at lunchtime today, though attendees are encouraged to remain until after a communion service tomorrow afternoon. However, I will be spending the day in and around Los Angeles before heading to the airport to catch the redeye flight home so that I…
This has been an encouraging week. It has been a powerful week. I have learned a lot this week, but perhaps more about service than anything else. I have seen young men, so often the type of people who are proud, joyfully traveling with older men in order to serve them. I have seen a…
Over the lunch break this afternoon I elected not to go anywhere off-campus, but to just sit and relax. This was much needed and was very rewarding. Near the end of this time I was privileged to be given a tour of the seminary library by the librarian, Dennis Swanson. Of particular interest was a…
This morning finds us at the fifth and final seminar. I have chosen to attend one led by Carey Hardy, which he has entitled How to Raise a Pharisee: Avoiding legalism in the home.’ Carey is senior executive pastor at Grace Church and an adjunct professor at The Master’s College and Seminary. The pharisees were…
There is a little newsletter given out here at the conference called (not too originally) The Conference Chronicle. This morning it listed some “food facts.” Apparently thus far the conference attendees have gone through 835 gallons of coffee (0 of which can be attributed to me), 6,580 donuts (1 2 of which were consumed by…