My thanks goes to Zondervan Reflective for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you about a new book that may interest you—a book Trevin Wax calls “one of the most important books of the year.”
Today’s Kindle deals include a variety of titles. Among them, you’ll find several excellent picks by Douglas Groothuis such as his massive Christian Apologetics.
(Yesterday on the blog: Good News at Rock Bottom)
Designer Babies as The Conquest of Nature
It seems we are never far from a whole new regime of eugenics as Alan Noble explains here. “A problem with this ‘liberal eugenics’ (other than the fact that it’s still eugenics!) is that it wrongly assumes that the absence of State mandates means that individuals won’t be pressured to use the technology. But we know from other issues that parental pressure to compete with other parents in giving their children ‘as many advantages as possible’ is a powerful force.”
The Dragon & The Rooster
This is such a wonderful and uplifting piece of writing by Heidi.
“Leper” Christianity: Embracing the Sanctifying Work of Suffering
Zak considers a difficult time he and his family are enduring and expresses his desire to embrace the sanctifying work of suffering.
The Missing Heart in AI-Generated Sermons
Trevin Wax: “Should pastors use AI to generate their sermons? The most common posture I see among pastors is cautious but open. Some say it’s OK to use the tools to generate ideas, suggest an outline, or provide illustrations, as long as you reserve the bulk of your preparation for the hard work of exegesis and don’t rely on these platforms to write your sermons.” However, it’s rarely so simple, is it?
Theologians Against Nature
Andrew Walker writes about James K.A. Smith and his unfortunate turn in doctrine. “This column isn’t really about Smith as a person. It’s more about how certain ideas can influence someone’s beliefs over time. If you paid close attention to what Smith wrote years ago, it was already clear where his beliefs were heading.”
Faithful and Small
I read this as a kind of tribute to churches that are faithful and small (which probably describes the majority of churches). “There’s a lot of temptation in ministry to be big. Big building, big budget, big numbers. As an author, I travel to speak at a lot of big churches, and I’m always amazed at their reach, their ministry organization, their long lists of volunteers and staff.”
Flashback: 40 Random Pieces of Advice for the Christian Life
Not every idea is worthy of an entire article. Hence, this one contain a long list of brief, random (and unsolicited) pieces of advice for living the Christian life, most of which I’ve gleaned from others over the course of the past 45 years.
The Christian leads by example, not force, and is to be a model who invites a following, not a boss who compels one.
—John Stott
