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A La Carte (March 6)

Today’s Kindle deals include several books by Geoffrey Thomas and a 90-day study in some key passages from the Bible.

(Also, just because I noticed it, the DJI Mavic Pro seems to be at its lowest price ever in case you’re in the market for a drone.)

(Yesterday on the blog: 10 Lessons on Parenting Big(ger) Kids)

The Stings of Death: An Article Not Just for Old People

“The Lord Jesus has taken away the sting of death through his resurrection. Believers know that for all who are in union with Jesus, their bodies will be united to Christ after death and they anticipate the hope of the resurrection. The sting is gone. The last enemy is defeated. Death has no victory over the believer.” That’s some pretty good news! It also offers some very practical counsel.

How Would You Counsel Someone Interested in Assisted Suicide?

“Imagine you are a pastor of a local church and a man who comes infrequently to your church has requested an emergency meeting with you. In your meeting, he tells you that his father is dying of brain cancer. It is painful for this man to see his father suffer by slowly losing control of his physical and cognitive abilities. The father wishes to die because he wishes to no longer be in pain. Because the state where your church is located just passed an assisted suicide law, this man—who you do not believe is a Christian—is asking you whether it would be appropriate for this man’s father to exercise his ‘right to die’ in accordance with the state’s new law. How would you answer him?”

Did Old Testament Law Force a Woman to Marry Her Rapist?

This is a frequent accusation about Scripture’s treatment of women, but is it really what the Bible says? This article provides a careful answer.

Five Reasons to Include Women on Your Church Staff

Michael Kruger writes, “Indeed, staffing issues for churches are complex, multi-dimensional, and vary from church to church. My only point here is that churches ought to at least have a category for hiring women on staff as finances and circumstances allow.” I quite agree! (On a related note, here’s Mez McConnell: Why My First Church Hire Was A Woman, And Yours Should Be Too.)

Was the Apostle Paul Married? Yes, He Was.

Denny Burk defends the view that the Apostle Paul must have been married at some point in life.

Do Whatever Makes You Holy

“We will only begin to make holiness a habit when we acknowledge the fact that our habits, no matter how minor they might seem, have consequences.” But for this one I basically love the headline: Instead of “do whatever makes you happy,” “do whatever makes you holy!”

Why Teenagers Are Becoming ‘Trans-curious’

“A new study published in the medical journal Pediatrics finds many more teens than previously thought say they are transgender or identify themselves using other nontraditional gender terms.” The reason is exactly what you’d expect: social contagion.

Flashback: The Training Ground of Sound Doctrine

Because Christians are not trained in sound doctrine, they wholeheartedly embrace error, often finding it more satisfying than God’s revealed truth.

Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the triune God.

—John Wesley

  • The Path to Contentment

    The Path to Contentment

    I wonder if you have ever considered that the solution to discontentment almost always seems to be more. If I only had more money I would be content. If I only had more followers, more possessions, more beauty, then at last I would consider myself successful. If only my house was bigger, my influence wider,…

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    A La Carte (April 22)

    A La Carte: Why my shepherd carries a rod / When Mandisa forgave Simon Cowell / An open mind is like an open mouth / Marriage: the half-time report / The church should mind its spiritual business / Kindle deals / and more.

  • It Begins and Ends with Speaking

    It Begins and Ends with Speaking

    Part of the joy of reading biography is having the opportunity to learn about a person who lived before us. An exceptional biography makes us feel as if we have actually come to know its subject, so that we rejoice in that person’s triumphs, grieve over his failures, and weep at his death.

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    Weekend A La Carte (April 20)

    A La Carte: Living counterculturally during election season / Borrowing a death / The many ministries of godly women / When we lose loved ones and have regrets / Ethnicity and race and the colorblindness question / The case for children’s worship services / and more.

  • The Anxious Generation

    The Great Rewiring of Childhood

    I know I’m getting old and all that, and I’m aware this means that I’ll be tempted to look unfavorably at people who are younger than myself. I know I’ll be tempted to consider what people were like when I was young and to stand in judgment of what people are like today. Yet even…

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    A La Carte (April 19)

    A La Carte: The gateway drug to post-Christian paganism / You and I probably would have been nazis / Be doers of my preference / God can work through anyone and everything / the Bible does not say God is trans / Kindle deals / and more.