It was one hundred and twenty years ago today that Charles Haddon Spurgeon finished his earthly race. He was 57 years old. The life and legacy of Spurgeon is well known. He was London’s most popular preacher during the second half of the 19th century. He was passionately and thoroughly biblical and unusually gifted in…
I Am Not a Victim – I found this post a real joy to read: “By the world’s standards, I am disabled. Contrary to the stories I have told, I am not the victim of a shark attack or a vicious anaconda. I am not, in fact, a victim at all. I was formed this…
Today we celebrate the 100th birthday of Francis Schaeffer, the 20th century American pastor, theologian, and philosopher. Udo Middleman, President of The Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation, describes him as one who “communicated the truth of historic Biblical Christianity in a way that combined intellectual integrity, artistic sensitivity and a practical loving care. With a sharpened…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Francis Schaeffer. Though I never met the man and though I haven’t read more than small pieces of his books, I owe a great debt of gratitude to him. Schaeffer shaped me by first shaping my parents. To mark this date I asked my parents if…
Discerning the Conversion of a Child – Brian Croft provides wisdom on this always-tricky question: How do you know when your child is truly converted? He sticks close to Jonathan Edwards on this one. What Is Essential to Being a Christian? – Speaking of Jonathan Edwards, here is Edwards on the essentials of the Christian…
Francis Schaeffer coined some interesting terms–things like true truth and nothing nothing. He wasn’t just being silly; he was making important statements about the world. Here, from He Is There And He Is Not Silent is his description of nothing nothing. We are considering existence, the fact that something is there. Remember Jean-Paul Sartre’s statement…
Don’t Take it From Me – Kathy Keller on why you shouldn’t marry an unbeliever: “Over the course of our ministry, the most common pastoral issue that Tim and I have confronted is probably marriages—either actual or proposed—between Christians and non-Christians. I have often thought how much simpler it would be if I could remove…
I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I’ve decided to put together some occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Here are a few notable links I’ve collected over the past few weeks. The Biblical Counseling Movement…
This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by CBD Reformed. As always they’ve got a great prize package for you–or five of them, as it happens. In addition, CBD Reformed is offering a 4-day sale (January 27 – January 30) on the following three products: This 4-day sale is open to anyone (not just people…
Post-Prayer Whispers – David Murray lists some of the little whispers you can hear after you pray. “Anyone else get that? It’s so discouraging, isn’t it. I mean, why pray if all you get at the end of it is an even heavier feeling of guilt and failure? Prayer should be a delight not a…
Love him or hate him, and there are some on either extreme, Douglas Wilson can flat-out write. He has put this talent to use in writing over thirty books and countless articles, blog posts and the like. In his newest book, Wordsmithy, he offers up a series of hot tips for the writing life, a…
9Marks Books on Sale – Westminster Books has all of the 9Marks books on sale. This is a great time to stock up on some really good books, including a brand new one from Thabiti Anyabwile. Teens and Porn – Courtesy of Covenant Eyes, here’s an infographic with 10 stats you need to know when…
Stemming from the controversy over Mark and Grace Driscoll’s new book Real Marriage—especially the chapter about what Christians are allowed to do sexually—Doug Wilson has written a few posts on what nature teaches us about sex. I wanted to attempt to distill these right down to their essence because I think he has given a…
Over the past two days I have been writing about Ephesians 5 and the great mystery of marriage–that in some way marriage is a portrait, a reflection, of the relationship of Christ to his church. In the first article I introduced this metaphor and in the second I spoke about how the wife completes her…
Nagging in Marriage – From the WSJ: “It’s more common than adultery and potentially as toxic, so why is it so hard to stop nagging?” I’m always fascinated by articles like this that diagnose and attempt to cure sin but without reference to anything spiritual. Tainted Saint – “The death of journalist and polemicist Christopher…
A couple of weeks ago I released the first infographic in a series I am titling “Visual Theology.” What I appreciate about infographics is their ability to display information visually. Just as there are many words that can be used to describe any one fact, there are also many ways to display facts. [Update: There…
Yesterday I began a short series called A Picture-Perfect Marriage. This is my attempt to study what Paul says about the marriage relationship being a picture, a portrait of Christ and the church. Having laid that foundation, I now want to look at how the wife fulfills her part of that portrait. Here is what…
The Jobs Aren’t Coming Back – Here’s an interesting account of a conversation between Barack Obama and Steve Jobs. Jobs says that the manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back to the US and says why this has to be the case. Marrying a Man with Porn Struggles – Russell Moore offers up a great response to…
There is a lot of debate over how to take the command in Ephesians 5:18-21 to “Be filled with the Spirit … submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” How you interpret this text is, for many, the dividing line between being egalitarian or complementarian in their view of the roles of men…
This morning I am going to begin just a short series of articles on marriage. Having read several books on marriage in the past few months, I found myself really intrigued by what Paul says about the topic in his letter to the Ephesians. I’ve since had the opportunity to study it and wanted to…