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A La Carte (July 26)

thursday

For some reason, Kindle deals have been reduced to little more than a trickle. I sure hope they pick up again! I did find a few, at least…

(Yesterday on the blog: How an Emerging Church Pastor Inadvertently Changed My Life)

Old, Resting, Reformed

This one is worth reading even if just for the quotes. It turns out that cage-stage Calvinism and the need to go deep into Reformed theology is not a new phenomenon.

A Brief (But Global) History of Ketchup

“Canada recently slapped a tariff on U.S. exports of ketchup, and the EU plans to do the same. But is the condiment all that American?” Here’s a surprisingly interesting history of ketchup.

When Re-Conversion Is Easier Than Repentance

“Re-conversion offers many evangelicals the emotional catharsis of acknowledging sin without the social shaming or awkwardness that comes when people who claim to be Christians acknowledge sin. If you weren’t really a Christian but you are now, wonderful! Enter into our joy. But if you actually are a Christian and you have to talk about sin that you’re not entirely sure how to address, well, how close should we stand next to you? How contagious is it?”

Why American Elites Support Same-Sex Marriage

This is an insightful review of a new work. “Marriages between two persons of the same sex represent the dislodging of the gendered hierarchy in marriages between men and women. Same-sex marriages are less a shared commitment to the demands of a natural institution ordered toward the bearing and raising of children, than they are a potent symbol of individual autonomy, self-realization, and expression. When marriage isn’t a male-and-female reality, gender stereotypes associated with parenting and labor can be undermined. Indeed, for these and other reasons, in many quarters elite opinion swiftly moved to present same-sex marriages as the ideal, not just an exception to be tolerated.”

The $20 Billion Question for Guyana

When an impoverished nation looks ready to gain great wealth, there are serious challenges on the horizon. “Can oil wealth help Guyana overcome its history, or will the windfall that will flood government coffers merely turn the page to a new tragic chapter?”

The Morning Before a Sexual Fall

“Two voices vie for your sexual purity. If you think the battle is just about images and videos, you won’t be ready to fight. This is a war of words. According to Proverbs 2, whom we listen to — each morning, throughout the day, late at night — will determine whether we give in to temptation or resist with the strength of God.”

Parking Has Eaten American Cities

Traveling through Europe you soon realize how much more space America dedicates to parking. “A new study documents the huge amount of space taken up by parking, and the astronomical costs it represents, in five U.S. cities. Parking eats up an incredible amount of space and costs America’s cities an extraordinary amount of money. That’s the main takeaway of a new study that looks in detail at parking in five U.S. cities: New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Des Moines, and Jackson, Wyoming.”

Flashback: Four Sources of Discord in Your Church

In Paul’s letter to Titus he offers four sources of discord and warns us to avoid them…Here, for your consideration, are four sources of disunity that may just exist in your church.

God cannot at times hear the prayer of your lips because the desires of your heart after the world cry out to Him much more strongly and loudly.

—Andrew Murray

  • Works & Wonders June 14

    Works & Wonders: Bowing the knee or shaking the fist, 39 years to translate the Bible, And Can It Be, How to understand a trillIon, Landsat images, and World Cup covers.

  • Weekend A La Carte (June 13)

    Egg freezing is a booming business / Talk to the A.I. me / Is aging becoming optional? / Feminism and the Fall / The lie of living your truth / Moving on from the Christian Nationalism moment / and more.

  • An Ideal Resource For Your Family Devotions

    An Ideal Resource For Your Family Devotions

    There is a lot I miss from the days when our children were young. High on the list is family devotions. Nick once described our family as having a “Spartan-like commitment” to them, though I remember as much failure as success and as many misses as hits. Still, there’s no doubt that over the 26…

  • A La Carte (June 12)

    The curious case of extra resurrections / Are kids too expensive? / Why hot takes are the enemy of conviction / Piper on preaching outrage / A daily rhythm of prayer / Forgetting and pursuing / A La Quiz / The funnies / and more.

  • A La Carte (June 11)

    We lost the baby / The Bible is cessationist (and wondrous!) / Thinking about Eastern Orthodoxy: a primer for evangelicals / Virtue signalling in the church / What is God’s providence? / Restlessness / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Conform

    You Can Conform to Christ Even if You Don’t Conform to Me

    One of the aspects of the Christian faith that I find particularly perplexing is the freedom God gives his people to obey him in different or even opposite ways, so that one person’s obedience is another person’s disobedience. Even as two people take the same action, one might be obeying him and the other disobeying…