A La Carte (February 27)

There are a few Kindle deals for you to look through. Also, this week’s deals from Westminster Books include all kinds of great resources from Ligonier Ministries (and 3 free months of Tabletalk magazine).

Cultural or Christian?

I really enjoy reflections like these on very different cultures. “One afternoon I came out of a meeting and saw a large group of men parading down the street. They had completely taken over the road and were blowing whistles, horns and singing all kinds of songs. It was a traditional Bagisu circumcision parade. The last two months of each calendar year is the season for these celebrations, and they mark when a young boy becomes a man in the cultural society. Yes, they do involve circumcision.”

America’s Religion Is Work

I think this is fascinating and convicting. “The economists of the early 20th century did not foresee that work might evolve from a means of material production to a means of identity production. They failed to anticipate that, for the poor and middle class, work would remain a necessity; but for the college-educated elite, it would morph into a kind of religion, promising identity, transcendence, and community. Call it workism.”

Grace over Guns

“Pastor Evan has met with more persecution in the last few years than many Christians will experience in a life time. He is currently on trial facing a charge of ‘Subverting a Constitutionally Elected Government’ (a.k.a. Treason) which carries a maximum 20 year prison sentence, along with a charge of ‘Inciting Public Violence’. His only crime is speaking out against the abuses of the government, and decrying the economic situation which has forced Zimbabweans from all walks of life to near starvation. This is now the second time Pastor Evan has faced this charge.”

How Your Dog’s Nose Knows So Much (Video)

You’ll enjoy this one. So will your kids. “Dogs have a famously great sense of smell, but what makes their noses so much more powerful than ours? They’re packing some sophisticated equipment inside that squishy schnozz.”

Famous Christian Quotes… That Aren’t Real

Trevin Wax: “Some of the most famous Christian quotes floating around out there are on the Internet aren’t real. To put it another way, the quotes are real, but they’re sometimes misattributed to famous Christians instead of lesser known writers. Or no one knows the actual origin of the quotes at all.”

Is It Ok To Still Have Children?

I’m hearing more and more of this kind of sentiment, that we should stop having children. Anne Kennedy has too, I guess. “It seems, truly, that we have given up. That there is no reason, no purpose for human kind. Let nature have her own back and we will go back down into the dust whence we came. But that is not the view of God. That is not the Christian view. That is not biblical. Christians should be able quickly to stand up and say No. As long as human people are on this earth, and there is evening and there is morning, day by day, season by changing season, degree by warming degree, children are a gift, humanity itself is something that God made, God designed, and God alone will bring to an end.”

Poll Finds “Dramatic and Sudden” Shift in America Toward Pro-Life Label

This is happy news. “Americans are now evenly split between the pro-life and pro-choice labels, after a 9-percentage-point jump in those calling themselves pro-life. The latest Marist poll finds 47 percent of Americans identify as pro-life and 47 percent identify as pro-choice. Just one month ago, however, Americans were more likely to identify as pro-choice than pro-life by 17 percentage points—55 to 38 percent.”

Flashback: 5 Ways Porn Lies To You

Porn’s greatest lie may be that it owns you, that you are beyond redemption, that you are beyond hope. Your heart and mind may be whispering that you’ve sinned too many times, that you’ve established patterns too deep to change. This is complete nonsense, a devilish lie, an utter denial of the gospel. Jesus says, “You are not your own; you were bought with a price.”