Over the weekend I mentioned a sale at ChristianBook.com, but I wanted to bring it to your attention again since there are some really good deals to be had. The new ESV Chronological Bible is 43% off. You’ll also find the ESV Scripture Journal NT set marked down 84% (from $199.99 to $32.99), the leather ESV Study Bible at 52% off, the Story of Redemption Bible at $5.99, the Six-Volume ESV Reader’s Bible at 60% off, and so on. This is all part of their huge Bible Sale of the Season promotion which ends today. It’s worth clicking through to see all the deals. Use code 2023BIBLES for free shipping on orders over $35. (There are also quite a few noteworthy deals on books and I decided to list those here.)
There is also a nice list of Kindle deals today (that includes, for the first time I believe, Becoming Elizabeth Elliot.)
(Yesterday on the blog: A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Christian)
What Did You Plan To Be Hated For?
I appreciated this article by Rhys Laverty so much I asked if he wouldn’t mind unlocking it (removing the Substack paywall) so you could read it. They key point he makes is that Christians are no longer hated for grace, but for nature. Give it a read!
Halloween Revisited
This one is also super interesting. “So, what is the ‘true’ story of Halloween? It’s complicated, but the holiday we now know of as Halloween is a sort of fusion of older Christian themes with nineteenth century Romantic literary creations and then twentieth century civic associations and mass marketing. Halloween is a creative re-invention that gets turned into a Hollywood and Hershey’s sales extravaganza.”
Talking About Sex in a Pornographic Culture
“The pornographic is the water that we are all swimming in. Like the little fish in David Foster Wallace’s proverb, we find ourselves both completely surrounded and completely unaware.” This is true and well worth thinking about.
Celebrating 85 Years of Crossway’s Tracts Ministry
Crossway is celebrating 85 years of their tracts ministry, and I loved reading the ministry’s origin story. And can you believe they’ve distributed more than 1 billion tracts?
Should Women Teach Theology to Women?
“The title says it all. A small but not insignificant movement that has been gaining momentum over the past couple of years revolves around the notion that women shouldn’t teach other women theology. There is some breadth to this movement, and the goal will be to address the original view as well as some of the fruit that’s come from it.” Henry Anderson addresses it well.
We can always be friendly
Stephen keys in on one area where small churches may be able to offer something that becomes more difficult as churches grow larger.
Flashback: Shaken to Bear Fruit
The God who is sovereign over all things may lead us into times and contexts that are deeply painful. Yet we can be confident that our suffering is never arbitrary and never meaningless, for God always has a purpose in mind.
Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.
—C.H. Spurgeon
