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A La Carte (January 17)

I will soon be on my way to the G3 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. It kicks off today with the Spanish pre-conference, then continues into the weekend. You can watch it live at the web site.

Westminster Books has some solid deals on some excellent books about relationships, dating, marriage, and sex.

(Yesterday on the blog: Exploring Ontario, and Why I Love Being a Christian)

She is Broken, and She is Beautiful.

This is an excellent article. “The Church is broken because she is made of broken people. But she is also beautiful because she has been healed by a beautiful Savior. I find pieces of my sanctification in serving alongside the members of the broken and beautiful Bride of Christ. He will surely present her pure and spotless before the Father one bright, glorious day.”

Comfort is a Deadly Compass

“When given choices we often tend towards that which is going to be the most comfortable and most personally rewarding. But what if our compass is defective? What if the right sense of direction would tell us to do the hard thing that requires humility? I believe that personal comfort is a deadly compass.”

France’s Ongoing Quest to Crush English Loanwards

For some reason I find this whole effort very strange: “The French language police tend not to shoot from the hip. Instead, these guardians of the Gallic tongue will agonize for weeks, even months, about how to protect French from an onslaught of Anglo-Saxon terms—e-mail, hashtag, MP3. And now, ‘le smartphone.’”

Have Bible Quoters Replaced Bible Readers?

I rather suspect there have always been more Bible quoters than readers. It is well worth considering the difference between them.

Why It’s Hard for Muslims to Convert

This is good to think about when sharing the gospel with Muslims. “Most Muslims are born in a Muslim country and/or a Muslim family and simply adopt Islam as their religion by default. What that means is that there is a strong cultural and familial component to being Muslim. Abandoning Islam often means abandoning their family and tradition. That is hard to overcome.”

This is Not a Real Church

“How much can you strip away and still have a real church? If we were to apply Ockham’s Razor to church, what would be left standing?”

How DNA Testing Botched My Family’s Heritage

Here’s a interesting look at the real story behind the growing trend of DNA testing (and why the results can vary so much).

Flashback: The Atrocity of Sin

“My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy God. Admire the grace which saves thee—the mercy which spares thee—the love which pardons thee!”

Those who have been justified are now being sanctified; those who have no experience of present sanctification have no reason to suppose they have been justified.

—F.F. Bruce

  • Weekend A La Carte (November 7)

    The Hutterites’ guide to technology / Searching for jobs, Gen Z feels like it’s staring into ‘the void’ / The gospel according to Peter (Thiel) / Scientism and the allure of control / Can science explain sparkling rivers? / What led to Christianity Today’s crisis?

  • I Regret to Inform You That Heaven Tourism Is Back

    I Regret to Inform You That Heaven Tourism Is Back

    I regret to inform you, dear reader, that heaven tourism is back. The genre possibly never went away entirely, but it did at least disappear from the bestseller lists for several years. Sadly, it has returned in Gabe Poirot’s 18 Days in Heaven.

  • A La Carte (November 6)

    Don’t despise the red flags / Your thoughts are shaping your life / Can’t you just love everyone? / Selfies are not the self: forming embodied youth in a disembodied age / Effective altruists and the spreadsheet gospel / 4 Applications for the order of love—from the home to the ends of the earth /…

  • A La Carte (November 5)

    When you feel guilty about your giving / The missing piece in John Mark Comer’s quiet time / A manifesto for phone-free church / The pull of Rome / 4 Misconceptions about spiritual warfare / Slouching toward Narnia / Kindle deals, and more

  • A Daring Suggestion for Netflix

    A Daring Suggestion for Netflix

    Netflix appears to have fallen on hard times and I have some suggestions that I’d like to think would help it: cut the sex, nudity, and profanity, and gain back the viewers it’s long been alienating.

  • A La Carte (November 4)

    Can I love my enemies while addressing wrongs and protecting myself? / Is missions too costly for kids? / Don’t stock the pantry with temptation / Churches face a shortage of worship leaders / AI brought a mathematician to Ecclesiastes / Discerning between godly and worldly grief / Harvest in fearful times / and more.