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A La Carte (December 7)

monday

Today’s Kindle deals include a massive list of deals. If you’ve got a Kindle, today’s a good day…

(Yesterday on the blog: No Hope Without Christ’s Righteousness)

Sanctorum Communionem

“As I stood there in that big echoey room, I sighed and considered all that has not gone on in there since March. ‘I believe the communion of the saints.’ Those old ancient words. Credo… sanctorum communionem. I walked over to the wall and noticed the calendars had also not been updated: MARCH APRIL MAY. We keep a quarterly schedule on the wall on white board calendars. They were all still in place. Birthdays and anniversaries and events had gone by.”

The Crisis of Christian Celebrity

David French has an important article about the crisis of Christian celebrity. In the background is a long New York Times article about Carl Lentz of Hillsong fame.

Christmas in a Minor Key

“Since our society so regularly confuses Christmas with the superficial, it is no wonder many people decide to opt-out when life is hard, but this misses the point of Christmas altogether.”

The Children of Pornhub (The World’s Biggest Porn Site)

I don’t know if you should read this one or not. On the one hand, it’s explicit at times. On the other hand, how else can people be awoken to the horrors of pornography—the violence, the rape, the pedophilia—unless people are told what porn is really about? So when the New York Times covers it, even as imperfectly as they do here, it is worth noting and perhaps even supporting with a click. If, with all that in mind, you’d like to read it, click here: The Children of Pornhub.

Bill C-6: What the Criminal Ban on “Conversion Therapy” Means for Churches in Canada

Canadians will want to be aware of this. “Across Canada, in various provinces and municipalities and now in Parliament, laws have been proposed (and most have passed), outlawing ‘conversion therapy.’ Christians should be concerned. As ARPA Canada explains in its policy report on conversion therapy, the devil is in the details: how one defines conversion therapy determines how good or bad such a ban would be.”

Wary of Words on the 1%

“From a collective and societal level, the 1% rhetoric is supremely dangerous. It is the seedbed of classism, and bloody revolution. Here’s the unfortunate secret: by definition, there will always be a one percent. And it will always feel like they have a lot more than you. The pre-occupation with this as an unfairness, as an injustice, leads inevitably to reaching up in order to tear down, rather than reaching down in order to bring up.”

Plan to Be Interrupted

Scott Hubbard: “At one time, I thought the best test for our faith in the sovereignty of God was our fidelity to the five points of Calvinism. But lately I’ve wondered if a different test might be more appropriate: how we respond to the interruptions, inefficiencies, and unforeseen delays strewn throughout our days.”

Flashback: Sexual Revolution, Same Old Revolution

…the sexual revolution is a movement of hate in the guise of love, a movement of destruction in the guise of justice.

Such as will not have Christ to be their king to rule over them, shall never have his blood to save them.

—Thomas Watson

  • Works & Wonders

    Works & Wonders (April 26)

    Uplifting bits and pieces for Sunday: Growing luminous / A $1,200 pen / 250 years of Americana / A house in a church / Reclaimed by nature / Chip wagons / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (April 25)

    This weekend’s A La Carte covers Thomas Kinkade’s hidden legacy, Gen Z and real experiences, John Mark Comer in The Atlantic, Carl Trueman on the trans war, eugenics and AI, LLM sycophancy, and more.

  • Shooting Up

    Shooting Up

    Jonathan Tepper grew up watching his missionary parents transform the lives of heroin addicts in Madrid. Though he has wandered from the faith, his memoir may be the most Christian book you read this year.

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (April 24)

    You’re lazy / Six major views of baptism / John Piper and fur babies / You don’t need a therapist / Stop keeping score / Death and resurrection / A La Quiz / Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (April 23)

    The risk of persecution / The West’s strange genius / Our best years are ahead / Hope in the face of death / Keep the Christian calendar / The grief I did not know / Book reviews / Gen Alpha / and more.