Just for Miss Becca N Miss Allie
A little update before we get to the Good Reads Rollup:
I have been collecting all kinds of articles and neat stuff for a good while on LAH. I update the collection from time to time and here we are again with a few new ones atop the stack. (If the link doesn’t work, I’ll eventually find out and fix it. This should only occur with older stuff farther down the page).
A good article about what a believer knows about an unbeliever, and how it relates. From Team Pyro.
Ahem, this explains your cat’s spiritual condition.
This, a masterful and world-shattering piece from The Internet Monk (well worth the read): When I Am Weak
And a partner to the one above: Our Problem With Grace
Short and beautiful story: The Portrait from Team Pyro.
An article on Video Games, Idols and Your Child’s Heart from Sovereign Grace Blog.
Cool toy idea from new company. Auditorium Toys.
Humorous joke in mildly bad (but still funny) taste from The Churchwarden.
A God-Centered Understanding of Sin from Reformation21.
A treat! A tour through the halls of a legalistic family. Easily visited through the convenient internet to Head Heart Hand.
A timely (for me) post on the Promises of God by Dan Phillips. Not only are God’s promises unbreaking but our promises should be like His as we are conforming to Him. I sure wish Everything was made like Rubbermaid.
Intolerance is Tolerance: Uncool and probably a foreshadowing of what God’s children face in the days to come.
If you’ve heard of Harold Camping or Family Radio, here’s a full dose of what’s up with that from Α & Ω Ministries.
Mohler again with an important, SO important read about the disappearance of men. It’s a systemic infection, frightening and reflective of how disconnected we have all become from God’s design for the sexes.
Short short about doing the right thing @ sixyearmed.
Trusting God with what matters most, a meaningful introspection from Challies.
…………………………………………………..older…………………………………………………………………
Marriage: Biblical and powerful. From Desiring God.
Awesome music free from Andrew Case. He’s great. Also: Free E-Books from him on prayer (I have them and they’re great too).
Sweet photography from Girl Talk a blog run by some of the women at Covenant Life Church (C.J. Mahaney)
Article and presentation on sexual purity from Rand Alcorn.
Definitely an awesome testimony here from a guy named John Shore.
Excellent article on Primary, Ancillary and Contributing problems.
How To Disarm An Angry Person @ CCEF.
Very important discussion on Marriage Between Different Denominations and a second one in Response.
Parenting article for dads with a link to a free e-book.
Calvinist testimony from Phil Johnson @ Pyromaniacs.
T4G is an awesome repository of good learning. The resources are here.
Sad note, filled with serious truth. Adoption isn’t off our charts in my family.
REALLY good prayer reading, free e-book version for Him and Her.
A short, lovely poem.
Bit of history on a cartoonist.
A decent hour on “A New Kind Of Christianity” by Brian McLaren. Discussion by Mohler and faculty.
This will annoy and fascinate: Animated GIF FTW!
Christian Bookstores and Thanking Your Pastor. Right on!
Soteriology mathematics. I loved this one.
Christian Brats. Just what we usually are.
Excellent questions for anyone in church, though officially drafted up for pastors.
Good reasoning for really long and tedious writing (well, only properly tedious): Wordiness
Cooperating with God. Article from Ligonier Ministries
Church vs. world. Article about separation.
Discussion of Intelligent Design. Wow.
Marriage summed up in one sentence. If I can get here with my Beloved Anika, I’ll call it good.
Always on the lookout for a new and awesome song to sing. Before the Throne of God.
A series on the top 10 complaints from atheists regarding Christians.
Cool ad for the 2010 Ligonier National Conference.
We were attending a church that smells just like this. It’s not so easy to realize this if you’re not looking for it. Which is all the more reason to have a firm rooting in the Word; MEAT not milk: Antinomianism.
DON’T read this unless you’re REALLY interested in how horrible the Emergent thing is getting: TICKLE.
Read this if you’re looking for a decent opinion on the Dave Ramsey financial buzz.
Read this if you want a REALLY good perspective on the basic stuff of the Christian faith. Warning: It might convert you.
We are so like Oprah. AAAaaargh! Visit Evangel
Dichotomy of man, or Trichotomy? Something I’ll have to spend thinking about, for sure.
Kerux Noemata has Christian Example, Exhibit #1: Richard Baxter on Delighting in God.
Family Example, Exibit #1: Mr. Piper’s 31 years of work.
Kids make you happy? Think again. Here’s an article from Boundless.
This is more of a listen than read from 22 Words: 22 Songs
This is a book review that made me want to see about getting the book by J. C. Ryle: The Duties Of Parents.
Challies put up a pretty prayer: Father of Mercies, Hear me for Jesus’ sake
This is nice. Simply put by Piper: Nothing Works – Try Everything
A wonderful bit on Dad by Tim Challies. WONDERFUL. Like my dad. Almost a perfect capture. Read Boundless.
A bit on mothering from the Upward Call.
This is a good angle on what it’s all about. In 22 Words.
A bit about the dark cost of our technology and culture that I’ve considered for a long time: Tech and Permanence.
The PyroManiac article that really says a LOT about Christian thinking. I love this one. These guys are bright.
Sometimes we doubt we’ll ever get to learn again, or our knowledge is fading from misuse. I like this thread of thought from the Upward Call
This lady has a lot of wisdom about grieving. I have a couple of her blog posts here: how to, Helping With Food, , The Hallmark Issue, and there are a few others.
Think the kids are tough? Try looking at parents too! We can relate. Challies
Belated Easter Poem from Challies: O Little Child Of Salem
If you want a really cool treat, check out Enya’s website. She’s one of my all-time favorite musicians, but she’s got some good web designers too.
Be Holy. Nuff said.
29 things, most of which I do, or try to do, but always need to do more, to glorify God as a parent.
Some Fiscal Wizardry from a guy concerned with the future. Try Banking on God.
Here’s a comparison of a good witness in regards to hell and a truly apologetic witness in regards to Hell. Pyromaniacs.
SHORT read on terminology. Tomato? Tomahto? I think not.
Need a refresher on your Star Wars Memory? These will Help: Episode 1, EPISODE 5 And there’s some behind the scenes discussion from the viewpoint of the pilots in 4. The Original Score from the Death Star Philharmonic.
Work or Faith? These Girls Talk about which is which.
Little sins grow. The Upward Call on competition.
Turn off your music box, open the link and let this page load completely. Don’t look anywhere else until it’s done.
About giving and grumbling.
Pyromaniacs delivers a sobering discussion of the Gospel and Evangelicals.
I have a fairly low opinion of professional athletes. This guy’s interview does not support my sentiments at all.
Do you want to know what fearing God means?
The English Language is doomed, and it’s all HER FAULT.
Are you into all that scientific Mumbo Jumbo? Here is some rEvolutionary fun.
I am so GLAD my Beloved doesn’t.
What is in a 2008 Hope Chest? I am thinking of proposing this to my Beloved and see if maybe it’s something we can work on with our girls.
Mohler talks about what we are doing to our little girls.
Story about a man who left town
Preacherthoughts: List of Church Inhibitors
Jollyblogger: The 5 Whys
Team Pyro: Angels In The Field. (A small part of this near the end that reminded me of some important parent skills)
Girl’s writings opening new window on autism
Challies: Learning How To Rest
Mohler: “Are We Teaching Our Children To Lie?”
… Mr. Tripp, compliments of Monergism.com wherein I found this excerpt from the book, What Did You Expect: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage
Here’s an excerpt of the excerpt:
If that needs fleshing out, head over here to get all 23 examples and some guidance on meeting the standard: How To Love Your Spouse By The Grace Of God
..In a row.
We’re going through Revelation in church. I missed the first in Chapter 2, but pulled it out of the Ether and listened to it this week on the road to work. Last week was Smyrna and this week we did Pergamum.
One church had doctrine down pat, with no qualms about tackling and expelling bad doctrine. They lacked love, their first love, which brought cause for them to repent.
Another was rich, faithful and persevering.
This week’s church was faithful to Christ but had opened the back door and tolerated false teachers. They compromised, and needed to repent.
If I was looking for a church, I’d use these as guidelines for discernment (duh, along with the rest of the Bible).
I’m not looking for a church right now, cause this one is upright, faithful to Christ, faithful in doctrine, uncompromising and cares about her people. I wanna be like that too.
Here are the last three weeks’ messages on audio. I highly recommend downloading sermons for listening while driving. It’s my favorite thing to have in the car (well, steering wheels and gas, not to mention keys are pretty good too).
The Remedy For Returning To Your First Love: Revelation 2:1-7
Revelation 2:8-11 Smyrna: The Fragrant Aroma of Suffering for Christ
Revelation 2:12-17: The Sin Of Tolerance
Any Christian with a discerning eye should probably already have at least an inkling of the comparison of Sodom to Pretty much all of the planet today. Here’s an article from Grace To You (Click the link):
“Brace yourself, believer. You’re going to keep seeing this fire-storm of opposition against the family. Soon, many people will consign Christians who uphold a biblical view of marriage and family to the same moral category as white supremacy groups, and they’ll consider any effort to oppose homosexuality as a hate crime. In fact, it won’t be long before this blog post becomes a violation of law, under “hate speech” legislation.”
My own thoughts:
Ponder this, ponder the definition of marriage and family that is presented in the Bible, then ponder what Christians face when their homes and places of worship are smack-dab in the middle of a world that resembles a collection of Moabs with capitol cities just like Sodom.
Nevertheless, it’s our duty out of love for Christ and His Truth that we become increasingly discerning, ruthless even, about what we’ll tolerate in our own lives.
Will we continue to consume the media that makes a mockery of God’s ordered creation?
Will we play with the toys of the world which make women into men and men into women, raise babies completely out of touch with what real parents and real families are?
Will we be part of organizations that promise to be tolerant toward everyone, inclusive of any idea, but persist in “allowing” nothing except that which God has declared unrighteous? This includes the churches and their leaders who downplay the holiness of God and focus on anything but the Truth of the Word and our obligation to live according to it.
Godlessness in the Last Days
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. — 2 Timothy3:1-9
I am reminded of the last verse of Judges, prelude to Elimelech’s departure into Moab:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. — Judges 21:25
There is a king in Israel. He is Israel. We have a king, and he’s given His faithful subjects the directions they need to remain faithful. The Bible is right here, growing dusty on our shelves and the church is right down the road, with a place reserved for us. Christ doesn’t pander to the masses or tolerate their corruption of His kingdom. He’s not “tolerant” or into “liberated” thinking or theology. Neither are those who love Him and are called by His Name.
So, if you’re in Christ but hangin’ out with the world, maybe it’s time to remember who owns you, repent and run after Him. If you don’t know Christ, however, then He doesn’t know you and you need Him. Still, the answer is the same: Realize who is King, repent and run after Him.
I just read this at Stand to Reason:
All this by a man named Craig Hazen who wrote a book. I think I shall look it up.
Repentance (from Grace To You resources).
It is not “faith plus repentance” that saves, but rather a repentant faith. The notion that salvation is possible apart from a genuine, heartfelt repentance, which includes a deep hatred of sin, is a relatively new one, neither believed nor taught by the people of God until the twentieth century.
Returning to a point where my approach to life, the universe and everything need evaluation. I think, especially as a husband and father, it is increasingly vital to be clear in my mind about what is truly important. What is truly important today, just as in any era since the first day of man’s entry to the scene of creation, is worldview. By worldview, I mean what is the understanding of God, creation, man, you know, all that stuff.
Out of all that what really hits me hardest is salvation. Unfortunately, the intricacies of salvation require a hard look at everything involved. That makes it all pretty complicated. Have you ever tried to work your way backward from a proposition that isn’t Just Plain Hard Objective Fact that is easily proven by hand-eye-reasoning? Salvation is like that.
There is one, simple, minimum requirement: belief. That’s Faith. Faith that leads to repentance. Repentance that leads to Faith. But it’s not really simple, is it? Yes and no. God himself is the one who applies the call, the ability to respond and the means to transform. Read:
…testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. – Acts 20:21
When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” – Acts 11:18
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9
Here’s where I’m going with this. Given that God does the work, what is (should be) the result of that work of Repentance, Belief, Transformation (these three in no particular order)? Should it be simply a comforting feeling that “now I’m safe, secure,” in a sort of relief? Should it be a momentary elation like taking a cool shower after a scorching hot day?
Or should it be a genuine Transforming event?
This from Grace Community Church in L.A.
Scripture teaches that real faith inevitably produces a changed life (2 Cor. 5:17). Salvation includes a transformation of the inner person (Gal. 2:20). The nature of the Christian is new and different (Rom. 6:6). The unbroken pattern of sin and enmity with God will not continue when a person is born again (1 John 3:9-10). Those with genuine faith follow Christ (John 10:27), love their brothers (1 John 3:14), obey God’s commandments (1 John 2:3; John 15:14), do the will of God (Matt. 12:50), abide in God’s Word (John 8:31), keep God’s Word (John 17:6), do good works (Eph. 2:10), and continue in the faith (Col. 1:21-23; Heb. 3:14). In contrast, easybelievism teaches that although some spiritual fruit is inevitable, that fruit might not be visible to others and Christians can even lapse into a state of permanent spiritual barrenness.
I wish that this could be ‘nuff said. But it’s not. We bring too many conflicting elements to the table. Note that I did not say God brings; I said We bring. Years of relativism and hands-off living have rendered us sadly devoid of any sort of conviction or ability to adhere to concrete concepts. We downplay solid facts or proofs as if it’s an offense to others when we’re absolute about something. Sometimes we even avoid the obvious elephant in the room. We make assumptions that everyone else is in on the same belief as we are and do not test the waters.
In other words, “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours. Don’t enter into my domain with anything that poses a threat.” I think we’re all like that.
People don’t want their comfy chair to have sharp corners of truth. They want to ooze into the chair without much effort and remain there with lower lumbar support, a custom headrest and cool drink nearby. I’m like that too.
Or maybe not. I believe. I am repentant. I am transformed. I know this in my head and heart. The Gospel has changed me; the Spirit is here applying that change. Sanctification is progressive so there has to be progress. I look back on 7 years and I see progress. I see the valleys and rocky spots where I ditched or took a side-road into self-serving misery but there’s progress.
I think that every Christian should have a sell-out point. Some may be God-blessed to see that early on, perhaps at the moment of conversion. Some may have to wait. In my case, over the last seven years, I’ve had a number of “knocks” on the door that hinted at a pending re-structuring, but it hasn’t been until recent weeks that there has been a white-cap on the waves. Maybe there are storms on my horizon. I’ve been praying for them.
Scripture teaches that behavior is an important test of faith. Obedience is evidence that one’s faith is real (1 John 2:3). On the other hand, the person who remains utterly unwilling to obey Christ does not evidence true faith (1 John 2:4). In contrast, easybelievism teaches that disobedience and prolonged sin are no reason to doubt the reality of one’s faith.
Listen. There’s supposed to be a radical change when the Lord calls a man to repentance. And with that change is, I’d say almost always, going to be conflict. If there isn’t even a ripple of difference in my life after salvation then there’s a problem. I don’t believe in eradication soteriology where a man loses his corrupt nature upon conversion. But I do believe, whole heartedly, that when God is involved there will be a marked difference in the life of a believer. Not “in time…whenever you get around to listening to Him” but NOW. Because He has CHANGED you. The Holy Spirit is IN you.
And so I’ve been hemming and hawing around, sorta growing here and there, desiring to be more and seeking ways to do so. I believe I’ve done a fair job of grieving the Spirit through my little self-indulgent time as a sojourner here on earth. And I regret it. I can’t explain how I’m responsible at the same time God is responsible for my belief and sanctification but it’s fact. Two pillars that cannot be united or meshed together are those of God’s work and my responsibility.
I believe in His timing. I think I get it, that God has particulars set up for when and where we change. And He has plans and reasons for these changes.
Recently, there has been a rash of blogging about creationism, BioLogos, old-earth and young-earth debates and evolution. Some of it is very interesting. I’m a big fan of Team Pyro’s work, and MacArthur’s discussions and articles, though the ensuing metas pretty much reveal how rough and technical many people can be and how I’m not equipped to deal with them.
Warning: whenever intricate maneuvers, prolific amounts of explanation, tiered references within references to make a point, massive logic processes and mathematical kung-fu are present, I suspect I can be pretty sure the end product is going to either be dead wrong, destructive, useless or a combination of the three.
OR
Bottom line: It’s all too much for me. Coming from the Biblical side of all of these arguments, I’m pretty much on firm ground, able to learn and understand what’s being presented. What gets me is the insanely complicated and frustrating arguments from the sides that support theories which go against the grain of the Bible’s claims.
I’m not taking this opportunity to go out on a Sola Scriptura tirade, though I’m absolutely an adherent to the Solas (that’s the only way to look at the Bible). What I’m shooting at is the insane amount of labor required to understand the positions of the old-earth, evolution, science-rules people. I realize I’m a simple guy, not too many brains, with no skills in mathematics or any of the high sciences. I’d like to think I’m in a class with the majority of regular old humans. Being saved gives me no better insight into technical stuff than I had prior to.
The problem becomes one of practicality, which points back to what’s obvious: God reveals to us what we need to know and understand and He makes it work for us to believe in Him, trust Him, receive His Son and so-on. Practically, I have to develop a second brain in order to comprehend the “Christian evolutionists,” complete with an entirely new series of additional Bible study and hard work just to grasp their arguments.
What takes an hour or two and hard thinking along with prayer to work out in Scripture, regarding Creation as it is in Scripture, takes twice that (or more) to apprehend from the arguments at such locations as Answers In Creation or at Biologos who argue extensively for old-earth and even evolution. It’s too complicated.
My poor Beloved Wife faces the distinct honor of persecution in this matter as her current geology course at college is based on evolutionary old-earth science and has made no room for her belief in the Word of God. She faces this very same counter-intuitive, complex reference-in-reference science in real life, and it’s frustrating her to no end. Our pastor preached on persecution a bit on Sunday, and he hit a chord with us. The world is a harsh, unforgiving place for the Faithful.
Here’s, in a nutshell, what I want to say: No fruit? Be Very Concerned. If I’m wrapped up in the world’s buffet of fun and games, consuming all that there is to be had, my salvation is in question. If I’m not seriously concerned with the things of God, the doctrine, the lifestyle, the Gospel reaching the lost, the life of the Church and so on, I’m seriously missing something.
A Christian’s attitude and activity is (in a sort of concrete, maybe meaning inarguable sort of way I’m saying: IS) markedly different from that of the unbeliever. Period. I refer to James and John in their epistles for this argument. Many will say that these absolutes are presented as the Standard, which is right, but too many treat, in the same breath, these absolutes as purely philosophical statements that have nothing of more value than a politician’s promises during campaigning. NO. John is right on and though as a rule we cannot tow the line perfectly to his standard, we can, will, and must be reflecting a desire and some progress toward the standard. And, consistently, we must demonstrate a repentant and sincere regret that we do not meet the standard.
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. – 1 John 3:9-10
And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. – 2 John 1:6
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. – James 1:22
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? – James 2:14
I just came out of a church that ignored these principles. Though they did not openly deny them, they bypassed the clear statements of John and James by teaching that one can be saved and remain carnal and that there is a second level, or inner-circle Christian who is “on fire for God.” This is a distortion of the idea of Visible vs. Invisible Church as well as, and more importantly, the Gospel that Jesus preached. The Gospel makes change. It makes definite change. In believers, it makes change toward Godly lives. In unbelievers, it makes unbelief worse, bringing hostility and hardened hearts.
The Gospel is not a message among many conflicting messages. It is THE Message and there is no other. And if we believe this is true, then we must (how can we not) believe the truth about the Gospel’s impact? It really makes changes. God really changes lives. Not just some select few Christians (the Elect of the Elect) but ALL believers must be changed.
How about this on Repentance (from Grace To You resources).
It is not “faith plus repentance” that saves, but rather a repentant faith. The notion that salvation is possible apart from a genuine, heartfelt repentance, which includes a deep hatred of sin, is a relatively new one, neither believed nor taught by the people of God until the twentieth century.
Listening to the Resolved Conference recordings this week, I encountered a few memorable bits. Here’s something from yesterday’s audit of Rick Holland’s session.
Our obsession with pleasing others, our fear of men and desire to make them happy and our endless tendency to serve other men in order to obtain their approval is a miserably misplaced desire.
Only when we are enabled to point that obsession, fear, service, desire to please toward Christ can we know the joy we’re seeking because all that has been designed, all along, for Him and only Him.
Also, the whole issue of Christ manifesting Himself to us, our experiencing Him in our lives is a result of love and obedience. The equation, simple as it is, becomes simpler when we realize that loving Christ = obeying Christ. And it gets so awesome when we love Him, want to know more about Him, read His Word, obey it, know more, love more, and go back for even more.
That’s in contrast to the World, where we seek the things we believe will satisfy us, that fail to satisfy us. Our precious sinful pursuits only aggravate the desires and can never satisfy so we pursue all the harder. We saturate ourselves with our lusts, never getting to the fulfillment, ever incomplete. That desire for fulfillment is a misplaced obsession too, eclipsing the real source of fulfillment. That’s Christ.