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A La Carte (6/12)

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Three Buzzwords – “When writing and speaking about Christian themes, it can be easy to adopt the popular language associated with an idea without realizing the implications of the words we use to describe, teach, or communicate these concepts. It’s important for us to think through the way we talk and grasp the influence that our language has on how we understand certain concepts.” Here are three buzzwords we should think about.

Putting Sin to Death – Here is wisdom from the Puritans on putting sin to death. And while we’re on the subject of the Puritans, Paul Tautges has been reading Thomas Brooks and came up with several important counseling principles.

Breaking Ties with the Boy Scouts – I appreciate R.C. Sproul Jr’s answer to this question: “Should my family, or my church break ties with the Boy Scouts of America, given their decision to welcome openly homosexual scouts?”

False Sense of Progress – Maybe this is part of email’s tricky allure: “we like to feel that we’re making progress. So if you get to erase ten e-mails from your inbox, you feel like you have achieved something. But if you think carefully about it, it’s not clear that you’re going to get something out of it.”

Praying Terrifying Prayers – Erik Raymond writes about those times when we need to pray terrifying prayers.

Satan watches for those vessels that sail without a convoy.

—George Swinnock

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    As you know, I like to do my best to sort through the new Christian books that are released each month to see what stands out as being not only new but also particularly notable. I received quite a number of books in January and narrowed the list down to the ones below. I have…

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  • Amplify Not a Fool by Responding to His Folly 

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  • No Cotton Candy Fairy Tale

    If you’ve read or listened to the news lately, you’ve probably heard much about the persecution of Christians across the world. Dozens and hundreds and thousands suffer and sacrifice for the sake of their faith every day. But a fair number of these sufferers weren’t born into Bible-believing households and families. What are their stories?…