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A La Carte (4/10)

A La Carte Collection cover image

Undermining Marriage – “Just because you are hetero-sexual does not mean that you are reflecting God’s plan for marriage. You don’t get a pass just on marriage because you are not Gay. The basis of a marriage reflecting God’s plan is how it reflects the gospel. In other words a marriage is reflective of God’s plan in so far as it reflects the marriage between Jesus the husband and the church the bride.”

Is Our Helping Really Hurting? – I appreciate Mez McConnell’s review of When Helping Hurts since he is exactly the kind of person who would see the utility or futility of short-term missions trips. He considers it a must-read book.

It’s Easier to Criticize – It’s so obvious, but still bears mention: it is so much easier to criticize than to encourage. So we ought to be put extra effort into building up one another.

A Dead Baby – Here is the brutal reality: “Planned Parenthood, which receives more than $500 million in government subsidies, is branching out, expanding its mission beyond the provision of abortions to the defense of consumers’ rights: If you pay for an abortion, you are owed a dead baby.”

Churches and Mental Illness – Ed Stetzer: “Matthew’s life was not a waste and, yes, every day had a purpose. His pain is over now, but perhaps his life and death will remind us all of the reality of mental illness and inspire people of faith to greater awareness and action.”

There is no joy in the world like the joy of bringing one soul to Christ.

—William Barclay

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (April 27)

    A La Carte: How to talk to your teens about Taylor Swift’s new album / Soft discipleship / Why doesn’t God make his existence more evident? / Three ways God is working through your suffering / Jesus didn’t come to make any nation great / and more.

  • Free Stuff Fridays (21Five)

    This week the blog is sponsored by 21Five, a new Canadian Christian bookstore. In recent years, many Christian bookstores across Canada have closed their physical and online doors. This is disappointing for believers, as many of the best products come from abroad and can be costly or complicated for Canadians to bring home. There are…

  • New and Notable Books

    New and Notable Christian Books for April 2024

    It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (April 26)

    A La Carte: The parable of Kanye West / Biden’s new regulation reinforces transgender “orthodoxy” / 12 wonderful responsibilities God has given to women / Slow happiness / What I wish the church would understand about disability / Discerning true repentance from fake / Book and Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (April 25)

    A La Carte: For everything there is a seasoning / Influencer culture is toxic for teenagers / The death of attention and loss of our ability to listen / Evangelism in ordinary life / On using wine in communion / And more.

  • Optimistic Denominationalism

    Optimistic Denominationalism

    It is one of the realities of the Christian faith that people love to criticize—the reality that there are a host of different denominations and a multitude of different expressions of Christian worship. We hear it from skeptics: If Christianity is true and if it really changes people, then why can’t you get along? We…