A La Carte (December 6)

Today’s Kindle deals include a long list featuring several different publishers. There isn’t a bad book among them. Also, Amazon has cookbooks (for Kindle) on sale today.

In case you missed it over the weekend, I launched The 2017 Christian Reading Challenge. You may find it a means of increasing and diversifying your reading next year.

Jesus, a Broken Car Window and a Girl from Oman

This is a really good bit of writing.

The Pauline Prodigy Quiz

Think you know the Apostle Paul? Try this 10-answer quiz. I did embarrassingly poorly.

The Left’s Doomed Effort to Coerce the Right

It is interesting to read this in Bloomberg. “Those of us who are worried about the parlous state of our country’s politics may, however, remain worried that this faux scandal could ever have led someone to write an article and some outlet to publish it.”

A Novel Idea for Preaching Christmas

H.B. Charles Jr. on what and how to preach on Christmas Day. “Don’t look for something new to say. Dig deep in the word of God to find fresh water from the old wells.”

Women and Sexual Temptation

Kelly Needham on the importance of discussing sexual temptation with women: “When we don’t talk about them, a subtle message is conveyed: Sexual sins are unacceptable among women.”

Themelios

If you’re up for some academic reading, there is a new edition of Themelios available.

This Day in 1829. 187 years ago today on a Sunday morning, William Carey learned that widow-burning had been abolished in India. Carey decided to translate the declaration in Bengali rather than preaching that day, fearing that holding off would cost more lives. *

Mothers in the Church

Jen Wilkin lays down the challenge: “A motherless church is as tragic as a motherless home. Guiding the spiritually young to maturity is not solely the job of the vocational pastor, the elder, or the Sunday school teacher. The church needs mothers to care for the family of God. We must rise to our responsibility, eagerly searching for whom the Lord would have us nurture. There is no barrenness among believing women.”

Bean Puzzle Tombstone

Quirky! “In rural Rushes Cemetery, one headstone stands out from the rest. Rather than the usual RIP, the Bean grave marker is etched with a crossword code.” It took 100 years to crack.