A La Carte (9/2)

It was interesting to watch the big Apple event yesterday (where they unveiled new iPods, a new AppleTV and a new iTunes). It seemed to me that if you didn’t know the context of the event, it would be very difficult to distinguish it from religion. Steve Jobs has done an amazing job of building a brand that inspires religious fervor. It’s a little bit creepy, to be honest. And this coming from a guy who is typing these words on an iMac…

East Toronto Church Plant – My church is in the midst of planting a new one. In this post Julian describes what he is up to and looks to enlist your help (if you are in the Toronto area).

The Key to Growth – Dane Ortlund asked a bunch of people “What’s the key to healthy Christian growth in godliness?” The answers vary a little bit, but all are interesting in their own way.

The Weight of Smut – “The term sexual obesity comes from Mary Ann Layden, a psychiatrist who runs the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania. She sees the victims of Internet-pornography consumption in her practice, day in and day out. She also knows what most do not: Quietly, patiently, and irrefutably, an empirical record of the harms of sexual obesity is being assembled piecemeal via the combined efforts of psychologists, sociologists, addiction specialists, psychiatrists, and other authorities.”

Too Much Saving! – All the saving Americans are doing today is hurting the economy. “‘Consumers are deleveraging (reducing debt) . . . and rebuilding saving faster than expected,’ writes economist Richard Berner of Morgan Stanley. In 2007, the personal savings rate (the share of after-tax income devoted to saving) was 2 percent. Now it’s about 6 percent. Temporarily, this hurts buying.” In any other context this would be a good thing, I suppose.

Design/Evolve – This was just too good not to share. Be sure to watch until the end.

Just as there are no ultimate tragedies for the believer, so for the impenitent unbeliever there are no ultimate blessings. Every good gift God bestows upon the wicked, for which the wicked do not glorify God or acknowledge His goodness with gratitude and worship, becomes a tragedy. The more gifts God gives that are despised by the recipient, the more guilt is incurred, so that, to the wicked, on Judgment Day the gifts of God’s kindness become tragedies. –R.C. Sproul