Today’s Kindle deals include quite a lot of books that will be worth a quick peek.
How the Self-Esteem Craze Took Over America
Here’s a fascinating longform article about the self-esteem nonsense that took over America in the 80s and 90s. “If you grew up, or raised a child, during the 1980s or 1990s, you almost certainly remember this sort of material, as well as goofy classroom exercises focusing on how special each individual child was. A certain ethos took hold during this time: It was the job of schools to educate, yes, but also to instill in children a sense of their own specialness and potential.” Turns out it was mostly nonsense.
What We Need Most
Kevin DeYoung: “The biggest need in your life, and in mine, is to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I’m convinced that more evangelism, more prayer, more fruitfulness, more holiness will flow from the fountain of our lives only when we start drinking more deeply of Christ.”
4 Practical Threats to the Church Today
There’s a lot we could say about threats to the church today, but I think Jared has aptly identified four common ones here.
Ladybug Wings (Video)
This little video shows the amazingly intricate process through which ladybugs deploy their wings and fold them up again.
Time for a Populist Bioethics Commission
Wesley J. Smith outlines some of the current concerns in bioethics and suggestions a possible way forward. “The discussions, such as they are, remain contained within the rarified atmosphere of scientific symposia, where they are conducted by the very people intent on pursuing these technologies.”
Who Was Joan of Arc? (Video)
“According to a recent survey, one out of every eight Americans thought that Joan of Arc was the wife of Noah! But the truth about Joan is a little more complex, a lot more interesting, and many years after Noah’s spouse. Here’s a quick video that explains more about her…”
Obsessed with Calories
Where did our calorie obsession come from? And is it really as important as we make it out to be?
Tiger Woods and the Danger of Building a Brand
There are lots of ways to apply this to the Christian world. “Perhaps the deepest lessons of the Woods story are the dangers when the gap between public image and private reality becomes too wide. We all wish to be liked and respected. Yet when image and truth become decoupled, when you participate in the sordid while colluding in the pretence that you are purer than the driven snow, the edifice is always likely to come crashing down.”
Flashback: Well-Planned, Hard, Sweat-Inducing Prayer and Work
Prayer and work belong together. They are like two oars that, when used together, keep a rowboat moving forward. If you use only one oar—praying without working or working without praying—you will row in circles.
Take care of your life and God will take care of your death.
—George Whitefield
