Today’s Kindle deals include some newer books and some older ones—not bad for a Saturday!
(Yesterday on the blog: The Power Over Christian Publishing We’ve Given To Amazon)
Evidence of Biblical Story Found in Layers of Jerusalem Ash
“The Bible describes King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon laying siege to Jerusalem and specifically burning down the temple, the palace and “all the great houses” (2 Kings 25:9). A group of archaeologists believe they’ve found one of those great houses and their discoveries support the biblical story.”
Why Europe Doesn’t Build Skyscrapers (Video)
Here’s a geekily-satisfying look at why Europe doesn’t build skyscrapers at quite the rate of some other continents.
I Pray God Turns the Church Upside Down
“During the Protestant Reformation, the church rediscovered the doctrine of justification, and the world got turned upside down. Today, I think it could be the church that is turned upside down if the application of the doctrine of justification were rediscovered.”
Can a Person Be 100% Sure of His or Her Salvation? (Video)
R.C. Sproul answers.
Am I Truly Born Again?
This article plays nicely with the above video. “This is not a new problem. Anyone who has been a Christian for long knows someone who professes Christianity but fails to believe what Christians should believe, or believes right doctrine but exhibits little or no fruit. A gap always exists between the number of people who profess to be born again and those who possess the reality. This is true of every congregation. That is one reason why the constant preaching of the gospel matters. The more the gospel is preached, the smaller that gap becomes.”
On Controversy and Rules of Persuasion
Nick Batzig: “John Newton once wrote a letter on rules of controversy to a fellow minister who informed him of his intention to confront another minister about that minister’s supposed unorthodox doctrine. In this letter, Newton warned the man to 1) consider his opponent, 2) consider the public, and 3) consider himself prior to entering into the fray of theological debate. This sage counsel continues to bear fruit, in a day of internet outrage and trigger happy polemics.”
Off to College
Andrée Seu Peterson warns that as your child heads to college, hundreds of years of bad philosophy are about to immerse him or her. “What our kids in college sit under is not just bad philosophy but watered down, to boot.”
Flashback: Where Is God Asking You to Take Him at His Word?
The great enemy of the Christian is the sin of unbelief—the sin of refusing to accept what God says and the sin of refusing to do what God says. The great friend of the Christian is the joy of belief and the joy of obedience. Where is God asking you to simply take him at his word?
Living for “my will be done” is a lust for my own will to rule all. This is a serious defection from what a human being is meant to be.
—David Powlison
