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A La Carte (9/27)

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The Psychology of Resentment – Dane Ortlund looks at the psychology of resentment: “Here is what happens: instead of doing something externally to harm them you do something internally to harm them. You harbor bitterness. This is the psychology of resentment. You exercise emotional punishment toward them internally when actual punishment can’t be exercised externally. You set up a law-court in your heart since an actual law-court is unfeasible.”

The Blessing of Being Unpopular – Jesse has a good reflection on the disguised blessing of being unpopular saying, “We’re hardwired to crave feedback. We’re always looking to improve, to refine, to gauge our words and actions against the response of other human beings.”

The Most Zoomed – Here is the most zoomed-in photo in human history. “Scientists combined 10-years-worth of Hubble Space Telescope photos to create this resulting image that shows 5,500 individual galaxies, some of which are one ten-billionth the brightness of what our human eyes can see.”

Pastoral Failure – Thabiti on researching the moral failures of several prominent church pastors: “It was enlightening to observe some common dynamics and failures in the scandals. In most cases, men who should have been disqualified were back in their pulpits or establishing new ministries within months. In most cases, churches were seriously injured by the transgressions and hurt further by the inadequate efforts at redress. In all the cases, the offending pastor received more attention and support than the victims of his abuse or deceit.”

Remus Lupin, Werewolf – With a new J.K. Rowling novel released today, James Hamilton (associate professor of biblical theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) writes about his love of the Harry Potter series.

The Mind Reader – You can’t watch this and miss the point (Note: One of the people blurts “Oh my God” at the end).

Where Christ is truly preached, there is the gospel; and where the gospel is truly believed, there is the church.

—Mark E. Ross

  • Crash and Burn

    When Christians Crash and Burn

    The pictures quickly made their way around the world—pictures of an aircraft lying upside down in the snow just beyond runway 23 at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. On February 17, Delta flight 4819 landed hard, shearing off the right wing and flipping over before finally sliding to a stop. Remarkably, despite the crash and subsequent…

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    A La Carte (March 24)

    A La Carte: Wokeness as a tax / The religion of wellness / Freckles, thigh gaps, and beauty / The 50 most edifying films / If I have matching dishes but not love / The Bible and sexuality / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer

    Every now and again I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer from Grace Fellowship Church. I do this because there are few examples of pastoral prayers online and I thought these may serve to inspire themes, passages, or ideas as other pastors and elders prepare to lead their churches in prayer. Please…

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    Weekend A La Carte (March 22)

    A La Carte: In case I die unexpectedly / The daily midlife crisis / Anora and the end of #MeToo / Building the habit of family worship / We are not Númenóreans / Iain Murray / and more.

  • The Future of New Calvinism

    The Future of New Calvinism

    I was intrigued by Aaron Renn’s recent article The Maturation of New Calvinism. His thesis is that “New Calvinism has shifted from an ‘All-Star team’ model designed to exert influence over the broader evangelical world to a post-superstar model that primarily serves its own community. This represents the maturity of the movement, perhaps putting it…