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Weekend A La Carte (November 4)

I am down South near Atlanta finishing up a marriage retreat. Lord willing I’ll be back home this evening. If you’re in the international terminal at ATL this afternoon, let me know and we’ll grab a coffee.

There are just a few Kindle deals today but they are on good books that rarely go on sale.

The Universe Should Not Exist

“Christian Smorra, a researcher at CERN, said, ‘All of our observations find a complete symmetry between matter and antimatter, which is why the universe should not actually exist.’” That blows my mind but is still plenty interesting.

Communism’s Bloody Century

This is a long but important and worthwhile read. “A century ago this week, communism took over the Russian empire, the world’s largest state at the time. Leftist movements of various sorts had been common in European politics long before the revolution of Oct. 25, 1917 (which became Nov. 7 in the reformed Russian calendar), but Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks were different. They were not merely fanatical in their convictions but flexible in their tactics—and fortunate in their opponents.”

What It’s Like to Learn You’re Going to Die

This is from a non-Christian perspective. “Nessa Coyle calls it ‘the existential slap’—that moment when a dying person first comprehends, on a gut level, that death is close. For many, the realization comes suddenly: ‘The usual habit of allowing thoughts of death to remain in the background is now impossible,’ Coyle, a nurse and palliative-care pioneer, has written. ‘Death can no longer be denied.’”

The Relationship Between Sin and Work

“The first chapters of Genesis are important to Christians for many reasons. Genesis 1-2 tells us what God originally intended for us as His creatures. Genesis 3 is vital in telling us what went wrong in the world. In short, the world has been cursed by the fall of Adam into sin. Interestingly, Adam’s sin involved a failure in his work. Called to exercise dominion over the other creatures, he instead permitted himself and Eve to be ruled by the crafty serpent.”

What Does it Mean to Be Missional? (Video)

Dr. Elias Medeiros talks about what it means to be missional.

Ask Ligonier

Here is an incredible new resource. “Maybe you’re teaching a lesson tomorrow. Maybe you just need a place to start. It’s good to know that you can always ask Ligonier. For over 40 years, Christians have been looking to R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries for clear and helpful answers to theological questions. Now you can ask those questions as they arise, confident that our team will quickly provide a clear and concise answer. When you have a question, just ask Ligonier.”

We Don’t Need the iPhone X

It has been interesting to chart people’s growing frustration with the current state of mobile technology. (There may be a bad word or two in this one.)

Flashback: A Quiz on the Doctrine of Scripture

How well do you know the doctrine of the Scripture? How well do you know what the Bible tells us about the Bible? This short thirty-three question quiz is designed to help you find out.

95 eBooks Sale

My thanks goes to Zondervan for sponsoring the blog this week.

Addiction to social media will make you aware of everything and wise about nothing.

—Matt Smethurst

  • The Anxious Generation

    The Great Rewiring of Childhood

    I know I’m getting old and all that, and I’m aware this means that I’ll be tempted to look unfavorably at people who are younger than myself. I know I’ll be tempted to consider what people were like when I was young and to stand in judgment of what people are like today. Yet even…

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    A La Carte (April 19)

    A La Carte: The gateway drug to post-Christian paganism / You and I probably would have been nazis / Be doers of my preference / God can work through anyone and everything / the Bible does not say God is trans / Kindle deals / and more.

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    A La Carte (April 18)

    A La Carte: Good cop bad cop in the home / What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh? / The sacrifices of virtual church / A neglected discipleship tool / A NT passage that’s older than the NT / Quite … able to communicate / and more.

  • a One-Talent Christian

    It’s Okay To Be a Two-Talent Christian

    It is for good reason that we have both the concept and the word average. To be average is to be typical, to be—when measured against points of comparison—rather unremarkable. It’s a truism that most of us are, in most ways, average. The average one of us is of average ability, has average looks, will…

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    A La Carte (April 17)

    A La Carte: GenZ and the draw to serious faith / Your faith is secondhand / It’s just a distraction / You don’t need a bucket list / The story we keep telling / Before cancer, death was just other people’s reality / and more.

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    A La Carte (April 16)

    A La Carte: Why I went cold turkey on political theology / Courage for those with unfatherly fathers / What to expect when a loved one enters hospice / Five things to know about panic attacks / Lessons learned from a wolf attack / Kindle deals / and more.