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Weekend A La Carte (March 20)

May God bless and keep you as you serve him and join together to worship him this weekend.

My sincere gratitude goes to Baker Books for sponsoring the blog this week with news of an important and excellent new book on the Trinity.

Today’s Kindle deals include the usual batch of Saturday classics.

(Yesterday on the blog: R.C. Sproul: A Life)

Where Do Christians Go When They Die?

Ben Dunson writes about the biblical (and unbiblical) view of heaven. “Although it is tempting to speculate about all of this, wisdom would keep us tethered to what is clearly revealed in the Bible. Ultimately, the Scriptures are not concerned with identifying for us the physical location of heaven. Based on what we see in Scripture, it seems best that we explain it not as some concrete place in normal space and time, but as an entirely different kind of place.”

Trust, But Verify, the Science

This is a good word about the proper place of science in society. “When people admonish me to Trust the Science, what I hear sounds less like science and more like faith. All too often, the people appealing to science aren’t asking me to accept a certain scientific conclusion about how the world works. They’re asking me to accept their preferred policy prescription for how to change it. That’s because science can only describe the universe.”

How My Mind Changed about End-of-Life Care

Justin Taylor explains how he has changed his mind about certain elements of end-of-life care. “The principles and presuppositions of the Word of God require that I reject active euthanasia (directly and intentionally taking one’s own life or the life of another). It is never an act of love or faithfulness to use medical means (or any other means) to hasten human death. In addition to this—and this is perhaps more disputed among Christians—I have now come to believe that that one can in faith (that is, without sin) decline ineffective or excessively burdensome medical treatment.”

No Bitter Root

Glenna Marshall offers a warning about succumbing to bitterness. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go back over my journals with a black marker, blotting out names so that my future self will have a hard time remembering who said what. Love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs, but sometimes I do. And sometimes I have to blot out the record because bitterness is a willing plant, ever ready to put down deep roots in my heart.”

To Those Who are Frustrated with the Church

“If you’ve ever been discouraged with the church, if you’ve ever felt like giving up on the church (like most Christians at some point in their lives), then this article is for you. The Bible’s image of the church as a building is what you need to grasp so that you will be able to sustain a lifetime of ministry within the body of Christ, wherever He places you.”

Where’s the Lie?

Andrea tells how the Bible is more reliable than anyone or anything else we may be tempted to rely upon.

The Corridor of Time

“Arminians reject unconditional election because they believe it destroys human free will. That aspect of the debate has been argued for centuries, but I would like to focus for a moment on a problem inherent in the Arminian doctrine that most Arminians seem to miss.” Keith Mathison explains…

Flashback: Are You Godly Enough to Watch Smut?

It’s a distressing time we’ve come to when the ability or desire to watch filthy stuff is considered mature and where the inability or unwillingness to do so is considered infantile.

Do not let us think of prayer as the coaxing or the conquering of a reluctant friend, but rather as the confident appeal to One who is always wise, and always willing to give us what is best for us.

—Theodore Cuyler

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