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A La Carte (8/13)

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Gospel or Spirit? – Good thoughts here from Trevin: “Evangelicals love to speak in theological shorthand. We employ phrases and terms that become popular, become a badge of identification, and over time get emptied of their meaning.”

Taking the Text Seriously – I enjoyed this one. “Expository preaching is a new buzzword. Everyone is doing it. But not really. They used to sing, ‘Everybody talking about heaven ain’t going.’ New verse: ‘Everybody talking about expository preaching ain’t doing it.’ That’s fine. Really. It is. If your preaching is not expository, that’s okay. But it is not okay to be unbiblical.”

The Debate – “One of the main rhetorical strategies of gay marriage supporters has been to frame the issue as the next phase in the struggle for civil rights in America. As a consequence, they brand traditional marriage supporters as ‘bigots’ who support ‘discrimination’ equivalent to that of Jim Crow. For the most part, that rhetorical strategy seems to be working. This means that if you are a Christian who believes the Bible, there are many who simply believe you to be a morally retrograde bigot.”

Lessons from an Olympic Hero – John Percival proposes ten lessons we ought to learn from Eric Liddell.

Complicated Isn’t Compromised – “The world isn’t a black and white place. Despite our two party political system and fundamentalist church roots, life doesn’t offer the luxury of a mere two perspectives on every issue – right and wrong, good and bad, up and down, yes and no, now or never. There are a multitude of options throughout life – both, neither, maybe, all of the above, later. The world is complicated, and people who tell you otherwise likely see themselves as wiser than the rest but are more likely blinder.”

Is there nothing to sing about today? Then borrow a song from tomorrow; sing of what is yet to be. Is this world dreary? Then think of the next.

—C.H. Spurgeon

  • The Great Man and the Local Church

    The Great Man and the Local Church

    There is a way of telling history that focuses on the impact of the few great figures that rise up in any generation. This “great man theory” says that history can best be understood when we focus on the dominant figures of the time. History, it says, turns on the actions, decisions, obsessions, and natural…

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    A La Carte (April 29)

    A La Carte: The absence of opposition / Life and death are in the power of the fingers / Preaching Goliath’s sword / This piece of land / Sin wants us isolated / Foolosophy / Kindle deals / and more.

  • A Book Unlike Any Other

    A Book Unlike Any Other

    The Bible may be a book, but it is a book unlike any other. The Bible is inspired—breathed out by God and in that way perfectly reflects the mind and will of God. The Bible is also complete, sufficient, inerrant, and infallible. Because the Bible is all these things and so many more, it is…

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    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…

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    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…