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Explore February 2016

  • She Who Shall Not Be Named

    You never know where your Bible study will take you. You never understand how perfectly God has woven his Word until you follow a single thread from author to author, culture to culture, millennium to millennium, and see how God’s revelation of himself and his purposes is so perfectly consistent. Recently I followed a thread…

  • A La Carte (February 19)

    How Caring for Children Changes the World Kelly Needham explains. “For the Israelites, redemption began with a baby and five brave women who believed that caring for babies mattered. May we be as countercultural as they were, saying in as many ways as we can that yes, caring for children matters.” The Thinking Man’s Guide…

  • The Character of the Christian: Gentle

    Today we continue our series on the character of the Christian. We are exploring how the various character qualifications of elders are actually God’s calling on all Christians. While elders are meant to exemplify these traits, all Christians are to exhibit them. I want us to consider whether we are displaying these traits and to…

  • A La Carte (February 18)

    Anthems for Little Theologians I generally have a no-Kickstarter policy, but will make an exception here. Bible Sounds: Anthems for Little Theologians has a great sound and some neat animations. It may just be worth supporting. Martin Luther’s Death and Legacy Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546. Stephen Nichols recounts the end of his…

  • One Another: A New Visual Theology Print

    The New Testament contains at least 40 passages that contain the words “one another.” Each one of these points to a way that Christians are to treat, or are not to treat, each other. As Josh Byers and I prepare for the release of our book Visual Theology: Seeing and Understanding the Truth About God…

  • How To Be Conformed to the World

    Romans 12:2 is consistently one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. In that little passage we are warned that there are forces competing for our attention and loyalty and that even Christians are at times torn between the two. “Do not be conformed to this world,” says the Apostle Paul, “but be transformed…

  • A La Carte (February 17)

    In Defense of Date Night Stacey Reaoch defends date nights: “While it’s true that a good marriage is built in the mundane tasks of everyday life rather than on romantic getaways and mountaintop experiences, it doesn’t negate the fact that intentional time together as a couple is indispensable to having a healthy marriage.” Joseph Fiennes…

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    Messy Grace

    When he was a teenager, Caleb Kaltenbach came out to his parents. With fear and trembling, he told first his father and then his mother about a growing realization within, about his acceptance of a whole new identity. His parents responded coldly, they responded with disappointment, they responded with anger, they responded by telling Caleb…

  • A La Carte (February 16)

    That Part of Gospel-Centeredness We Avoid There is truth to this. “One aspect of gospel-centrality remains under-emphasized among us: interpersonal reconciliation.” 43 Giant, Crumbling Presidential Heads in a Virginia Field Smithsonian: After an ambitious monument went bust, big dreams—and big heads—remain. To Your Daughter, Speak the Truth Jen Wilkin has a word for dads. Does…

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    The Number One Reason We Struggle Overcoming Sin

    How many times have you wondered, “Why is being holy such a battle? It seems I start to get things right, and then all my good intentions go flying out the window. Why can’t I get over this (whatever this is) and start living the way I know God wants me to?” The answer is,…

  • A Victorian Perspective

    Sex on the Silver Screen

    What would it take for you? What would it take for you, husband, to be okay with your wife baring her breasts and body in front of a movie camera? What would it take for you to allow another man to strip off her clothes, to kiss her, to fall into bed with her, and…

  • monday

    A La Carte (February 15)

    Fear, Trust, and Missionary Kids “Threat of physical harm and death do not keep missionaries off the field, but there is something that does. I have heard it from the mouths of Americans unwilling to consider missions, and ringing in my head these last few weeks: my kids could die.” Death, the Prosperity Gospel and…

  • Letters to the Editor #13 (Parenting, Bad Preaching, Evening Services)

    With another Sunday, we have another batch of letters to the editor. These letters focus in on just a few of the articles I have posted over the past 2 weeks. Comments on An Unexpected Blessing of Parenting After reading the post, I get it that the picture is probably supposed to show a father…

  • Weekend A La Carte (February 13)

    Israel’s Women-in-Combat Experience “Whenever anyone at National Review … writes in opposition to opening all combat jobs to women or (even worse) drafting women into ground combat, there is predictable hue and cry from the Left. ‘But Israel! You conservatives couldn’t possibly be criticizing Israel, could you?’” Here’s why Israel isn’t the trump card. Bivocational…

  • Free Stuff Fridays

    This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by CLC Publications who also sponsored the blog this week. This week they advertised a bundle of books they handpicked from their catalog for the readers of this site. And today they are giving away a couple of those bundles. There will be two winners this week and…

  • An Unexpected Blessing of Parenting

    There is a lot about parenting I expected. I had been tipped off to many of the joys and many of the sorrows. I knew it would require long days and late nights; I knew it would draw out both strengths and weaknesses in my character; I knew it would expose a part of my…

  • A La Carte (February 12)

    The Creepy, Mysterious, & Interesting History of Valentine’s Day I really enjoyed this article on the history of Valentine’s Day. Scripture’s “Top Two” List “The Apostle Paul has a tendency to give us lists of sins. He gives us at least five of them. At first glance, it feels like he is simply piling it…

  • The Character of the Christian: Hospitable

    Today we continue our series on the character of the Christian. We are exploring how the various character qualifications of elders are actually God’s calling on all Christians. While elders are meant to exemplify these traits, all Christians are to exhibit them. I want us to consider whether we are displaying these traits and to…

  • A La Carte (February 11)

    Conscripted for Life, Not War There are a couple of key lines in this article. “God gave women marvelous strength. Strength that wasn’t meant to be compared or measured against a man. Last time I checked, I’d never met a man able to give birth. I’ve also never known a man able to handle months…

  • 5 Things You Can Give to God Every Day

    We hear endless talk about productivity. It is the major focus of many of the most popular blogs out there. The bestseller lists may as well have a category dedicated to it. But what if we’ve gotten productivity wrong? What if it isn’t quite what we’ve made it out to be? What if it’s actually…