This is worth watching to hear the story R.C. tells about air accident in which Payne Stewart lost his life.
R.C. Sproul – Study Video from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
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The Bricks know that I regularly pray for young men who will follow Christ with all their heart, soul, and strength. I stress this enough that some might wonder if there is a gender bias in my prayers. But, I’ve sensed what Al Mohler explains here. And, this is part of the reason why I pray for young men in particular.
A visit to your local college or university campus is likely to reveal that a revolution has taken place. On many campuses, young women now outnumber young men, and a gender gap of momentous importance is staring us in the face.
This gender gap has been growing for some time now, as successive generations of young women have entered the world of higher education. Yet, no one seemed to see a gap of this magnitude coming — until it had already happened.
The disparity of enrollment by gender varies by institution, but it is now estimated that almost 60% of all undergraduate students enrolled in American colleges and universities are women. This represents something altogether new in human experience since the rise of the university model as the dominant learning environment for young adults. For the first time, a generation of young women will be markedly more educated than their male generational cohort.
Read more here.
Ross Douthart:
It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It’s at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James.
But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.
In Cameron’s sci-fi universe, this communion is embodied by the blue-skinned, enviably slender Na’Vi, an alien race whose idyllic existence on the planet Pandora is threatened by rapacious human invaders. The Na’Vi are saved by the movie’s hero, a turncoat Marine, but they’re also saved by their faith in Eywa, the “All Mother,” described variously as a network of energy and the sum total of every living thing.
If this narrative arc sounds familiar, that’s because pantheism has been Hollywood’s religion of choice for a generation now. It’s the truth that Kevin Costner discovered when he went dancing with wolves.
Read the here.
Al Mohler, President of Southern Seminary in Louisville reflects on the events of last year:
The year 2009 is still very close in the rear-view mirror, and what a year it was. The year was significant for any number of reasons, including the fact that it marked so many anniversaries. 2009 marked the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock and the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A good many young Americans see both as ancient history.
How will 2009 be remembered? Looking back over the year, ten major developments seem most important to me from this vantage point. A few years from now, 2009 might be remembered differently, but these markers stand out as 2010 begins
1. The Inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States
The inauguration of an American president is an act of solemnity and national purpose. The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States came with all the usual fanfare and formality, but also with controversy and deep concerns. History was made as the nation inaugurated its first African-American president, and one of its youngest chief executives. The inaugural ceremony was marked by controversy over the ministers chosen for public prayer. The choice of Pastor Rick Warren of California’s Saddleback Church was hardly a surprise, given the prominence of the Saddleback Presidential Forum during the campaign. But Warren became unexpectedly controversial when homosexual activists complained about his support for California’s Proposition 8 — the measure that put an end to the state’s brief season of legalized same-sex marriage. Obama later chose Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly-homosexual Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, to pray at the opening event on the Mall. Soon after taking office, the new President discovered what every newly-elected president learns — Congress has a mind of its own.
2. The Uprising in Iran
The year began as the thirtieth anniversary of the Iran Revolution that toppled the regime of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and led to the establishment of Iran as an Islamic republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It ended with big questions about the survival of the current regime under the rule of the ayatollahs and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The spark for the uprising came as Iran underwent a national election. Thousands of Iranians, including many students, took to the streets of Tehran and other major cities to protest electoral fraud and to support opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Despite the protests, Ahmadinejad declared himself the winner and police eventually won back the streets. Nevertheless, the harshly repressive action seemed very reminiscent of the efforts of the Shah to hold back the anger of the Iranian people. At the same time, Iran continued to flaunt international efforts to end its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program.
3. The Travail of the Global Economy
The global economic recession was foremost on most minds as the year began and the Obama administration took office. Working in tandem with a Democratically-controlled Congress, the Obama administration undertook the most significant governmental take-over of the American economy since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, with massive Federal investments in virtually all sectors of the economy. The unthinkable became the actual as General Motors declared bankruptcy and American taxpayers became the company’s largest stockholders — and General Motors was just the tip of the economic iceberg. As the year ended, some declared the “Great Recession” officially over, but declining home values and rising unemployment underlined both hardship and the expected length of the economic recovery. Furthermore, the role of China as America’s creditor loomed as a long-term worry that had been largely unknown by most Americans.
4. The Death of Michael Jackson and the Nation’s Addiction to Celebrity
Notable deaths of 2009 included Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Evangelist Oral Roberts, but the most widely-covered death of the year was the unexpected demise of entertainer Michael Jackson. A digital search of the year’s headlines will reveal the international fascination with Jackson, a brilliant marketer and entertainer, but a tortured soul whose various presentations of himself made him a focus of endless speculation and concern. His death — presumably by a drug-induced cardiac arrest — came as the entertainer was working on a comeback tour. His sensational trial and acquittal on charges of child sexual abuse in 2005 failed to stem his international appeal, but financial sources argued that his net worth surged once again only after his death. His memorial service was broadcast around the world, drawing an estimated 1 billion viewers. Cable news networks and other channels fed a national mania for Jackson that continued weeks after his death, underlining the nation’s seemingly insatiable appetite for celebrity.
5. The Rise of Twitter and the Growing Domination of Social Media
Twitter, the micro-blogging sensation that took the year by storm, will soon register its 100 millionth user. “Tweets” of 140 characters or less became the communication medium of the year. At the same time, Facebook registered over 350 million members worldwide, with users spending 10 billion minutes there every day. By the end of 2009, Facebook had reached 54.7 percent of all Americans ages 12 to 17 — up from just 28.3 percent in 2008. The Age of Social Media had clearly arrived by 2009, changing the way Americans communicate and relate to each other.
The rest here.
Crossway is offering a 35% off sale which includes free shipping if your order is over $30.
Theoretically, this would include Unpacking Forgiveness . . .
Remember, the ESV Study Bible makes a tremendous Christmas present.
It’s today only. If you snooze, you loose.
Click here. (Or, go to www.crossway.org )
There’s a joke about the post title . . . I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.
In the mean time, Christina, who is the one caught between the mood and NY City posts about her reflections on the subway. Given that I drive a 1.5 to church through a cornfield, I was intrigued not only by her point, but also her context. We live such diverse lives here in North America.
This morning was one of those rare occasions when I actually got a seat on the subway. As I sat on the bench and looked up I caught a glimpse of my own reflection on the window directly across me. It occurred to me that I’ve been riding this train for a long time now. The first time was when my grandfather brought me to my first day of second grade. I was 7 years old. Some thirty years later, I’m still riding the same line! That’s when it struck me . . .
Read the rest here.
Ernest Hemingway in “The Capitol of the World”:
Madrid is full of boys named Paco, which is the diminutive of the name Francisco, and there is a Madrid joke about a father who came to Madrid and inserted an advertisement in the personal columns of El Liberal which said: PACO MEET ME AT HOTEL MONTANA NOON TUESDAY ALL IS FORGIVEN PAPA, and how a squadron of Guardia Civil had to be called out to disperse the eight hundred young men who answered the advertisement.
We need not wait for an ad in the paper. Rather, like the Prodigal we can come to our senses.
Luke 15:7-24
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.(Luke 15:17-24)."
September 3, 2009
Dear Friend:
If you don’t call yourself a “churchy” person, then I’d like to give you a special invitation to attend a new preaching series at our church beginning on September 13. If you question whether or not you fit with the church crowd, this invitation is for you.
It might help if I tell you my story and how I thought I could never really be one of the “churchy” people.
My family started regularly attending a church when I was eight years old. Where church was concerned, I can remember feeling like I was on the outside looking in.
Not that I was lay awake nights about it. I didn’t really want to be one of the churchy people. Baseball was far more important.
Nor am I am blaming the church where I grew up. We were welcomed. The churchy people were nice. The pastor was warm and dynamic. But, I didn’t think I could ever really be churchy, which again, didn’t bother me if I could avoid Hell and possibly win a prize at Vacation Bible School.
There were lots of reasons that I assumed I would never fit in. Generally, I figured the church kids didn’t get in trouble at school. Not only was I a citizen of the rebellion at school, I was one of the ringleaders.
Cussing was another part of the reason I knew we wouldn’t fit in. We took full advantage of daily opportunities to chew out equipment or express, through colorful language, our displeasure with pigs. I figured church families prayed together if they got a tractor stuck. At my house, we violently threw tools, thermoses, and words just as hard as we could throw them.
Then there was family conflict. My parents weren’t divorced until later, but they were well on their way. Things were often chaotic and unpleasant. I assumed the churchy people held hands at meal time and generally acted like the Ward Cleaver family.
But, I was missing the point. First, of all – - I didn’t realize that the news of the Gospel is the most exciting news ever: both for this life and the one to come. Even better than sports. Infinitely better. Nor, did I get that the good news is for non-churchy people. In fact, the Gospel is especially for those who don’t feel qualified to be churchy.
If you don’t have a church home, why not check out this series? The message of the book of Romans is that the Good News of Christ is the most exciting news, ever heard, and that regardless of what you have done or where you are from, you can be part of God’s people.
Not that you have to be churchy per se. Besides, we’re not as churchy as you think. Since those days when I though I could never fit in, I’ve figured out that pretty much everyone (including pastors) is messed up and our only hope is the good news of Christ.
The Romans series begins September 13. Our services are at 9 and 10:30.
Prayerfully,
Chris Brauns
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”(Romans 1:16-17).”
Andy Naselli:
Non-Christians and Christians alike often give the same answer to difficult questions like these: Why did God allow sin in the first place? Why does God save some people and not others? Why does God send people to hell? Why can living like a Christian be so frustrating? The immediate solution often suggested is simple: “free will.” To many people, it’s a satisfying answer: “Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, God does x because he has to preserve my free will. Yeah, OK. Next question.” I’d like to suggest that we re-think this important issue.
The title of this short essay is a question: “Do We Have a Free Will?” That question may be jarring to you because it asks if something exists that most people assume exists. My short answer to that question is that it depends on what you mean by “free.” The longer answer is the rest of this essay.
We should study “free will” because it is theologically significant and because many people assume a particular definition of “free will” that is incorrect. Studying “free will” is challenging because it is not defined in Scripture. Further, it is complex because it connects to many other larger theological issues; it intersects with philosophy, historical theology, and systematic theology.
Read the whole thing here.
