Weekend A La Carte (May 26)

Today’s Kindle deals include a couple of new/old books you may want to add to your collection. I also added a few for the history buffs.

(Yesterday on the blog: Would You Like To Read a Christian Classic With Me?)

What is a Praying Life?

This is a really sweet article about prayer. “I burst through her bedroom door to announce our arrival but stopped in my tracks when I discovered her kneeling in front of a small padded bench, her Bible fanned out in front of her. Her eyes were closed, her face a picture of intent determination, her lips moving silently. I tiptoed backwards out of the room and shut the door as delicately as I could. I stood in the hallway, hand on the door knob, uncertain of what to do next. I knew I’d interrupted something important, but it was years before I understood the significance of my grandmother’s powerful life of prayer.”

Planned Parenthood Is Using Facebook Ads to Tell Middle and High School Students That “Sex Is Hot”

“Today, Facebook activated a feature it’s been talking about for a long time: the ability to see who is running what kind of political or issue ads on Facebook at any time.” Chris Martin did some digging to see what Planned Parenthood is advertising and who they are attempting to reach. Be warned!

4 Questions: Tim Challies and Justin Taylor on Blogging

In this interview Justin Taylor and I reminisce a little on the early days of blogging and discuss what has changed. It’s a follow-up to interviews we did five years ago.

How to Solve the Housing Crisis (Video)

Many major cities are having a housing crisis where housing within the cities is becoming unaffordable. This video is quite interesting both in its analysis of the problem and its proposed way forward.

5 Great Sermons from Church History

This looks like a promising series of articles. “This is not meant to indicate that these are the greatest or the best sermons, or even the five most important in the history of the church. However, these sermons were selected based on historical significance, content, accessibility (both good translations and comprehensibility), and each as exemplary of the particular era in which it occurred.”

Why So Many Christians Sound the Jewish Shofar…

I’ve noticed this: “The shofar, an obscure instrument made of a ram’s horn and traditionally blown during the Jewish High Holidays, has made its way into evangelical hands in recent decades. Some Christian Zionists, Holy Land pilgrims, and even worshipers at charismatic churches in the United States use the curled horn to call out in celebration and identify with the ancient heritage of their faith.”

Should We Sing of God’s ‘Reckless Love’?

John Piper answers the question of whether we should sing a song that proclaims God’s “reckless love.” I rather appreciated Piper’s response. “Back to the pastors and lead worshipers. Please do your job, and do not ask too much of the sheep. As we sit in service, give us songs whose original meaning we can joyfully affirm because they are fully biblical. Don’t give us too many where we have to change the meaning in order to be faithful.”

No, I Won’t Check My Privilege

I appreciate Joanna Williams’ analysis of the “privilege problem” we see all around us today. “In the minds of those keeping count, privilege is something that must, like original sin, be acknowledged and atoned for. Over the past five years, calls on anyone making an argument that challenges the intersectional orthodoxy to check their privilege have become ubiquitous. It’s the go-to response of those determined to stake a claim to the moral high ground but unable to formulate a coherent argument.”

Flashback: Desecration and Titillation

God says “Of all I created there is nothing with more worth and dignity,” and you delight in her desecration and indignity. God says, “I hate it when her body and soul is stained” and you say, “It turns me on.”

A Widening of the Apologetic Enterprise

My thanks goes to Zondervan for sponsoring the blog this week with A Widening of the Apologetic Enterprise.