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A La Carte (September 16)

There are some days I struggle to find six solid articles to share with you. Today, though, the struggle was to pare a huge list of worthy articles to merely six! I hope you benefit from the ones I selected. If you’re interested in video content, scroll down to see some recent trailers for films and series that will be coming our way in the months ahead.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include books for those with anxiety, those with teenagers, or those who want to study 2 Peter. There are other options as well as those ones.

If you are Prime subscriber, it looks like Amazon is offering Audible for 4 months at just $0.99/month. Get the details here. You can cancel anytime, meaning you can legitimately get 4 books for $4 and then cancel before the price rises.

10 Tech Protection Strategies for Your Kids—and Their Friends. Kristy Etheridge believes “tech advocacy on behalf of kids is missional for those who follow Christ, a matter of loving not just our own families but our youngest neighbors.” She also says that “as a new school year begins, I’m sensing tech-talk burnout from moms and dads. I’m preaching to myself when I say we can’t afford to stop.” To that end, she offers 10 protection strategies for your kids and their friends.

Why Protestants Are Drawn to Catholicism and Orthodoxy. By now, we probably all know someone who has been drawn away from Protestantism in favor of Catholicism or Orthodoxy. Bryan Kim explains what people may be looking for in these traditions, then explains why they do not need to apostatize to find it. “As I get older, the more I come back to the big questions: what does God require of me? Where has God truly spoken? I know with each passing day that I am nearing the judgement seat of Christ. This leads me to hold on tighter to the things that can be trusted in. The Reformers have done me a great favour by pointing me back to the finality and trustworthiness of the word. Catholicism and Orthodoxy, on the other hand, point back to themselves … and does not seem like safety to me.”

What if AI Devastates the World? Amy Medina: “I don’t know about you, but I find it rather disconcerting that all these AI engineers keep quitting their jobs because they don’t want to take responsibility for the devastation of the world as we know it.” She asks, “So what if? What if we wake up one day without phones, internet, electricity, running water, bank accounts, jobs, and life as we know it is never the same again?”

Grieving Together: A Husband’s Call After Miscarriage. Everett Henes has a wise and compassionate article for husbands who wish to love, serve, and care for their wives after miscarriage. “This experience taught me that while miscarriage is common, it is never commonplace for the husband and wife who lose their child. Common does not mean ‘small.’ A child was anticipated, loved, prayed for, and already given a place in the family’s future. Then, suddenly, that future was gone.”

Live Outside of the Christian Bubble. J.V. Fesko draws an important distinction here. “Protecting your children from the dangers of the unbelieving world is one thing; refusing to leave the protection of the Christian bubble once you’re a mature adult Christian is entirely another. I’m not saying that you need to dump your Christian friends and find a cadre of unbelievers. Rather, look for opportunities to befriend unbelievers.” In other words, be sure to live at least some of your life outside of the Christian bubble.

Is Predestination Fair? This is a question pretty much everyone asks when they read the book of Romans and encounter the concept of predestination. Andy Naselli responds to those who think predestination is in some way unfair.

Trailers

Here are a few trailers for new video productions that are coming our way.

American Gospel: Spirit & Fire – Season 1 will have a total of 18(!) episodes, and the first three were released a couple of weeks ago. The rest will follow at a pace of three per month. The whole series focuses on Bethel Church and its associated ministries.

The Kingdom and the Seven will debut at next month’s Missionary conference. It covers the St. Andrews Seven.

The Holy War is a forthcoming web series based on John Bunyan’s book of the same name. It obviously relies heavily on AI and CGI, but looks promising.

Flashback

The Local Church Was Made To Serve The Christian, Not The Christian The Local Church. If we judge our faith or our spiritual maturity or our commitment to the local church by the quantity of activities we participate in (or choose not to participate in), we are judging ourselves not by the freedom of the gospel but by the captivity of the law. 

Truly it is poor work to set our affections on a dying world and its short-lived comforts, and for the sake of an inch of time to lose a glorious immortality!

—J.C. Ryle

  • Truths to Preach to Your Sorrow

    4 Truths to Preach to Your Sorrows

    All has been well, and your life has been good. It has been easy to love God and trust him, to pray to him and sing his praises. But then suddenly you are struck by a great trial or a deep sorrow, and for a time it can be difficult to adjust. Here are truths…

  • A La Carte (October 7)

    Some marriage advice: just shut up / How to be happy at work / Is Jesus the social justice champion of progressives? / Get a grip: ‘Claude’ isn’t a person / Why Christians should not buy into AI catastrophism / Don’t suppress young men / and more.

  • Prime Big Deals Days for Christians

    These are Prime Big Deal Days at Amazon. This page is a roundup of some of the best deals I’ve been able to track down. Check in a couple of times on Tuesday and Wednesday as I’ll be adding deals as I find them.

  • A La Carte (October 6)

    When you’re not sorry / What is her body for? / Is AI the new Covid? / On dying well / Why translation must have fingerprints / When friends turn against you / Kindle deals / Prime Big Deals

  • A La Carte (October 5)

    What I’ve learned in the cancer school of wisdom / 10 Things you should know about heaven / There is no secular remedy to rape culture / How to talk to strangers / Why surrogacy can’t be redeemed / Kindle deals