Today’s Kindle deals include a handful of classics as well as a few newer options.
This month’s free audio book from Christian Audio is The Gospel’s Power & Message by Paul Washer. (There are a few other good picks on that page discounted to $4.98)
(Yesterday on the blog: An Early-June Family Update)
Canceled: How the Eastern Honor-Shame Mentality Traveled West
“In cancel culture, a single mistake is perpetually unforgivable because it’s not simply a guilty act. Rather, the mistake defines the individual’s identity, turning them into a shameful person—someone who can be ‘canceled.’ How Eastern! Juliet November summed up what used to be the differences between Western and Eastern cultures: In a Western framework, I would feel guilty because I have ‘done something bad’; in an Eastern honor-shame framework, I would be guilty because ‘I am bad’ in society’s eyes. Becoming someone bad means that redemption doesn’t come by fixing the mistake. An apology isn’t enough.”
The God Who Sings
“God has called his people to ‘sing and shout, to rejoice and exult!’ Now it is said that God Himself rejoices and exults and sings over His people. Can we even begin to fathom that? If we by God’s grace are His people, He rejoices and exults and sings over us. It’s almost incomprehensible! The love of God Almighty for us overflows into singing and rejoicing over us!”
Deepfakes Are Going To Wreak Havoc On Society. We Are Not Prepared.
Here’s another almost-here technology that we need to get concerned about. “While impressive, today’s deepfake technology is still not quite to parity with authentic video footage—by looking closely, it is typically possible to tell that a video is a deepfake. But the technology is improving at a breathtaking pace. Experts predict that deepfakes will be indistinguishable from real images before long.”
10 Songs Churches Gravitated Toward During COVID-19
It’s interesting to see the songs churches gravitated toward during COVID-19.
How Pro Sports Leagues Plan To Return (Video)
I’ve often thought of how much it would have meant to be able to watch baseball during this lockdown. Here’s a look at how pro sports hope to return.
Ethics and the Conscience
R.C. Sproul comments on the conscience. “The function of the conscience in ethical decision making tends to complicate matters for us. The commandments of God are eternal, but in order to obey them we must first appropriate them internally. The “organ” of such internalization has been classically called the conscience. Some describe this nebulous inner voice as the voice of God within. The conscience is a mysterious part of man’s inner being. Within the conscience, in a secret hidden recess, lies the personality, so hidden that at times it functions without our being immediately aware of it.”
Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov’s Two-Headed Dog
Amusing Planet tracks down some fascinating characters. “In 1955, at a meeting of the Moscow Surgical Society, a sensational exhibit was presented to the assembled guests. On the platform close to the audience, a large white dog was brought in. The dog looked happy, cheerfully wagging its tail, and unintimated by the large crowd of eager guests in front of him. He seemed particularly unconcerned by the unnatural appendage protruding from the side of his neck.”
Flashback: Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Opportunity
Ordinary people working ordinary jobs have an extraordinary number of opportunities to improve or erode our joy.
God’s mind and God’s Word are so much broader than our own perspective, and he will prompt you through the Bible to pray with an awareness for things far beyond the same old things.
—Donald Whitney
