I was with all the Things they don’t like thinking I’m probably a hipster but then not at all with the Things they do like.
The whole idea is, “What is the relationship between Christianity and ‘cool’?” I guess I don’t need to be concerned about it and will let others handle it.
HT: Justin Taylor
How to Enjoy Your Bible by John Blanchard
I first found out about this book on Nathan Bingham’s microblog where he posted an Interview with Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III. In talking about as a pastor, trying to convince Christians under their guidance about the importance of studying God’s Word, Ligon Duncan said, ‘[G]et your people to read good books about Bible study and prayer (John Blanchard, “How to Enjoy Your Bible,” Don Carson, “A Call to Spiritual Reformation,” Matthew Henry, “Method For Prayer,” “Ryken’s Bible Handbook,” etc).’
I respect Ligon Duncan so I looked into it, especially because I was about to embark on reading the Old Testament again. I already enjoy my Bible, but I want to enjoy it even more!
So I wrote to Evangelical Press and asked them if they send out review copies. They wrote right back and said they’d be happy to.
The book is written at a ‘popular level’ meaning it will be understandable to anyone who has any familiarity with the Bible. It’s at a little more basic level than I expected but that’s only because of the other recommendations that surrounded it. At 180 pages it’s fairly easy to get through.
Chapter 2 – Countering the critics, answers many of the arguments people have against the Bible. Maybe even some of the people reading the book have these questions. The questions that are addressed are: Those who deny its authority, Those who deride its simplicity, Those who denounce its history, Those who dispute its accuracy, Those who doubt its integrity and Those who decry its credibility.
There are two chapters on The excellence of the evidence. The author comes from the view of inerrancy. Quoting Brian Edwards, Nothing but the Truth, Evangelical Press, pg. 139, on the Bible’s human authors:
They recorded accurately all that God wanted them to say and exactly how he wanted them to say it, in their own character, style and language. The inspiration of Scripture is a harmony of the active mind of the writer and the sovereign direction of the Holy Spirit to produce God’s inerrant and infallible word for the human race.
He writes about prophecy, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, history and how the Bible comes from God.
There is the obligatory chapter on translations which is basic and brief. This is a decent chapter for those who aren’t familiar with different translations and styles. As in most books, the more literal/formal translations get the nod. After writing about translation theory and why translations are different, various translations are reviewed including KJV/AV, RSV, NASB, GNB, NIV, NKJB, CEV and ESV. Since the book was published in 2007 I would have expected a different selection including the NLT for sure and possibly the HCSB and NRSV.
After writing about the canon and various means of reading and studying the Bible we come to the chapter that is more than worth the cost of the whole book called The outcome of obedience. The vital link that brings reading and studying the Bible, and joy (enjoyment [I made that up]). This chapter has many quotable quotes by the author and others well known. I will pick one by J.C. Ryle:
God tests men’s sincerity by making obedience part of the process by which religious* knowledge is obtained. Are we really willing to do God’s will so far as we know it? If we are, God will take care that our knowledge is increased.
*religion wasn’t a dirty word back then
He writes about loving obedience, willing obedience, believing obedience, wholehearted obedience and dependent obedience. The last one is “so important that it governs all others.” We are dependent on God’s enabling. This is what takes the fear out of obedience for those who don’t like that word and he explains this concept well in the book. This is key and he saved the best for last.
I would highly recommend this book for those who are rather new to these concepts and need more confidence in the reliability of the Bible, need to learn the various ways to read and study the Bible and learn how key obedience is in this whole process. These things all put together will help us to better enjoy our Bibles.
Buy it at:
Amazon.com
I have trimmed the items in my RSS reader so I don’t have as many links to include in these posts. I hope you’re interested in at least one of these.
Photographs can help your blog look more appealing and help people know what your post is about at a glance. If you’re wondering where to get photos and which ones you can use legally, this article is very helpful:
How To Get Photography For Your Blog
You can also find free photos here at the link Free Photo in the sidebar under Categories (this will grow in time) and at Scripture in Pictures.
God’s Word translation (GW) has a new website.
HT: God Didn’t Say That via BBB (be sure to read those links also if you’re interested)
If you’re not familiar with it, Google has a blog search. It can be helpful to search for the name of your own blog and be notified via RSS when it’s mentioned. This way you can respond to them if necessary and know who’s linking to you. If they say bad things about you, you can tell them how much of a doofus they are.
Best of the Past: Trainer Tells All – What I Have Learned About Health and Fitness
My favorites:
I’ve been noticing a lot of parallels between Deuteronomy and passages in the New Testament like this one.
Deuteronomy 15:10 HCSB
Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.
2 Corinthians 9:7-8 HCSB
Each person should do as he has decided in his heart– not out of regret or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.
One thing I’ve been noticing is that when we give, then God provides us with what we need to do good. This doesn’t necessarily mean money. Many think that if we give (or “tithe” as some people still call it), it’s like karma and we get it back. Although some passages seem to intimate this, like Proverbs 3:9-10, that’s a proverb, a general bit of wisdom, not a promise we can ‘claim’ in every situation. Am I right? It’s more about being equipped to do good than to get our money back.
Deuteronomy 9:4-6 HCSB
When the LORD your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The LORD brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ Instead, the LORD will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness. 5 You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the LORD your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
1 John 1:8 HCSB
If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Pastor Jim at Ex Libris is giving away a copy of this book. See his review post for details:
I find it rather disastrous to fall behind in vocabulary.
–David Black
I know this from experience! Print out flashcards right away. If you have a paper cutter that works great. If not, use a scissors and do them one chapter at a time. Over time divide them into piles. One for those you know well, one for new ones that you’re still learning and one for those that are in between. I just used the book but you can’t separate those that you know well from those you need to go over more often. And memorizing them in the same order all the time doesn’t help either.
There are many software options out there too. I’m one who would rather use technology and the computer than old fashioned stuff but for vocabulary, plain old paper flashcards seem to work the best for me.
Just do it.
I would like to give away some of my images for use in web pages, blogs, etc.
This is the original size.
In the Categories area on the right sidebar you will see Free Photos. This category will only be used for free photos so that you can click on that to see them all.
These images may be used for the web for non-profit use. If you use an image directly to sell a product, it would be nice to be compensated in a small way. If so, contact me using the address listed in the sidebar to the right. If you have banner ads on your blog or affiliate programs, that doesn’t matter. If in doubt, don’t worry about it.
Also see Scripture in Pictures for a lot more free pictures.
Nice post by Randy Alcorn.
Do you believe God created the earth in six literal 24-hour days?
The tragedy is that American Christianity has so closely allied itself with the government of the day that the transcendent Gospel has become submerged in the world’s values.
–David Alan Black, The Jesus Paradigm by pg. 66
Quoted in TC’s review of the book.
I hate politics. (That’s not Black’s point though.)
Here is a light version of Around the Web. See the the one Louis posted a couple of days ago which has more links.
Audio Lectures: Gordon Fee on the Epistle to the Philippians
I haven’t listened to these but read his commentary on Philippians which is excellent.
Here is another T4G video of a pastor’s study:
Ligon Duncan’s Study at Between Two Worlds
See the others at their video site on both pages.
Released This Week: By Grace Alone by Sinclair Ferguson
I read and reviewed his book In Christ Alone and thought it was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I’ve reviewed five books for Reformation Trust and thought I was done for a while but now this one comes up. He may become one of my favorite authors. I have his book on the Sermon on the Mount on my wish list.
We’ve all see those pictures of drops of liquid but I think these are especially interesting:
Highspeed Photography: Drops
Just think, this happens all day everyday and we don’t even realize it. God sees all of the things we can’t and enjoys them because he created them.
I would like to give away some of my images for use in web pages, blogs, etc.
Click on it to see a larger higher quality image. You can download the file directly if that doesn’t work.
This photo may not be usable for a wide variety of applications but it’s one of my favorites. If you would need other sizes let me know.
In the Categories area on the right sidebar you will see Free Photos. This category will only be used for free photos so that you can click on that to see them all.
These images may be used for the web for non-profit use. If you use an image directly to sell a product, it would be nice to be compensated in a small way. If so, contact me using the address listed in the sidebar to the right. If you have banner ads on your blog or affiliate programs, that doesn’t matter. If in doubt, don’t worry about it.
Also see Scripture in Pictures for a lot more free pictures.
Making matters simpler for the enemy is the fact that in these days of “happy talk,” pastors, biblically illiterate parishioners, and thousands of churches that are theology-free zones, are virtual modern Marcionites. Marcion was a second century heretic who (to oversimplify a bit) embraced the “good” Redeemer God of the New Testament but rejected the (presumably) wrathful Creator God of the Old. Any discomfort with the God of the Old Testament smacks of Marcion’s heresy. To view the God in the Old Testament as different from the God of the New Testament is to expose how little we understand either.
–Jim Andrews, Polishing God’s Monuments, pg. 97
Without elaborating, sometimes when I hear people say certain things, I feel like saying, “Have you read the Old Testament?”
We’ve lost the fear of God. We’ve lost the fact that God is jealous and hates sin. I see this more than ever when reading through Numbers and Leviticus. He wouldn’t let any little tiny thing defile them and couldn’t be in the presence of anything or anyone who was unclean. And when we don’t understand that, we don’t really know God and we can’t more fully appreciate his grace and love. We talk about his grace and love all the time, but by doing that to the exclusion of other aspects of God’s character we can’t appreciate them as much as we could. We’re really missing out on enjoying God and more importantly glorifying him even more. Am I right?
This is one thing I love about the Puritans. They had that balance. And there are certainly a lot of Christians now who do too. For me this is the value of reading the Old Testament, using Psalms as a model for prayer, worship, praise etc. Spending ample time confessing when praying and when noticing things throughout the day (and asking God to point them out) etc.
I wonder if many people are afraid to fear God.
The Prayer of the Lord by R.C. Sproul
This is a Reformation Trust review. They send you a PDF file of the book, you review it on your blog and they then send you the book.
I use The Lord’s Prayer every Friday as a template for my praying. So I wanted to take the opportunity to review a book on it.
Like The Truth of the Cross, this is a relatively short book on a subject that has a wide interest. The reading level of this book would be ‘popular’ or a little deeper than introductory. At 130 pages it’s not imposing at all. Whenever there is a term that might need explaining, he does so concisely and in a well understood manner. As long as the read is familiar with the Bible and has read the Lord’s prayer, this book will be very accessible.
Sproul uses anecdotes sparingly but wisely, always dealing directly with what he’s teaching as opposed to trying to entertain or tell funny stories to try to keep the reader’s interest.
The first chapter is How Not To Pray. Of course in learning how not to pray one also learns in very general terms how to pray. This is a helpful first chapter that introduces the account of the disciples asking Jesus how to pray.
The main body of the book of course deals with each section of the prayer. These are expository (explaining what it means) as opposed to looking at it from the audience’s culture, point of view, politics, Jesus’ Jewishness etc. That would be for another book.
In the chapter on Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread, he writes of providence and provision as if they are synonymous. This was rather confusing to me because I thought that providence is God ordering of things and provision is God providing for us. I realize there is some overlap and in God’s providence he provides for us but more of a distinction may have been helpful so that readers wouldn’t confuse the terms.
Unlike many other writings and sermons on this prayer, Sproul spends a whole chapter on Yours Is the Kingdom which is the last part of the prayer that some Greek manuscripts include and some don’t.
Chapter 10 is Questions and Answers which deals “other issues surrounding the practice of prayer and the Lord’s Prayer specifically.” This chapter is a helpful bonus.
And yet another bonus is If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray? Anyone who wrestles with this idea will be enlightened and encouraged by reading it.
I felt this endorsement was the closest to how I feel abut the book:
I love listening to R. C. Sproul teach, and this book sounds just
like him—penetrating truths strikingly illustrated. His good
quotations and pastoral wisdom make him as easy to read as he
is delightful to listen to (and the short chapters help!). Sproul
clearly explains the Scriptures with sentences that are simple and
accurate. He knows enough to say important things concisely
and clearly—truths about the kingdom, the fatherhood of God,
history, and, of course, prayer. There’s even a helpful question-and-answer section at the end. This little book now takes its
place with the classics on prayer.
–Dr. Mark Dever
Senior pastor
Capitol Hill Baptist Church
For those who have read books on prayer that cover the Lord’s prayer well, books on the Sermon on the Mount or commentaries on Matthew, this book may be somewhat of a review as far as the chapters that deal directly with the prayer. If you recited this during church but never deeply pondered what it really means or are unfamiliar with this portion of Scripture, this is an excellent book for you.
Read a sample chapter.
See excerpts on Facebook.
Hardcover: 130 pages
Publisher: Reformation Trust Publishing (May 31, 2009)
Buy it at:
I would like to give away some of my images for use in web pages, blogs, etc. I think I will do them one at a time. In the Categories area on the right sidebar you will see Free Photos. This category will only be used for free photos so that you can click on that to see them all.
Many won’t be large enough to use in print materials but I will try to get some larger ones up in the future.
Here is the first one. This is the full size picture. Windows users right click to save. Mac users are smart enough to know what to do.
Also see Scripture in Pictures for a lot more free pictures.
These images may be used for the web for non-profit use. If you use an image directly to sell a product, it would be nice to be compensated in a small way. If so, contact me using the address listed in the sidebar to the right. If you have banner ads on your blog or affiliate programs, that doesn’t matter. If in doubt, don’t worry about it.
Looks like Crossway has some good stuff coming up (gallery of eight book covers).
They all look good, especially these two for me:
I found a list too if Facebook is a problem:
Mitchell at ve’al timkor is discussing the meaning of Genesis 6:3. Please go see his post and another thought . . ..
I read this in the NLT which reads:
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”
So naturally at first reading I thought this is why the lifespan of Adam and his descendants living around 900 years and then they got shorter. However Mitchell doesn’t see it this way so I looked it up in other translations and found this:
Genesis 6:3 NET
So the LORD said, “My spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.”
My question is why are these translations so different? Any Hebrew people want to tackle it?
I can’t stop at the end of each day’s reading. I think I’m going to get done early. I’m just going through the Old Testament though and then keep reading about it.
Also see:
Bible Reading Roundup
Here is the most concise quote I’ve seen on Augustine’s idea of seeking and doing God’s will and it can be distilled down to this:
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). Augustine said, “Love God and do as you please.” Because if you’re really loving God, you want to do what pleases him.
–Randy Alcorn on Facebook
John MacArthur spoke a very good sermon on it. Here is a quote:
You say, “But…but…but…but what about me?” Are you ready for this? Hum, if you’re saved, Spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, suffering, and saying thanks, you know what God’s will is? Whatever you want. You like that? Do whatever you want. Go do whatever you want. You say, “You’re kidding.” No, I’m not kidding…No, I…you say, “What do you mean? How can…I can’t just go do what I want.” Yes, you can, because if that’s how you’re living, guess who’s in charge of your wants?…
But you really have to hear or read the whole thing to really know what he’s getting at. This quote is near the end of the sermon.
Lately I’ve been having thoughts about the genre of poetry in the Bible and how people can easily dismiss it as inaccurate or greatly embellished. I found a quote that expresses what I’ve been thinking (and is related to Genesis 1):
Second, “poetry” is not some lesser form of literature that tolerates nonsense. The Israelites did not think, “Well, it is just poetry so we can say some whacky things we would never dare say in narrative.” The opposite is the case. The Psalms were used in worship. The presence of the cosmic battle motif in Psalms actually tells us how important this notion was to them for praising the Lord. He is worthy of praise in part because of the defeat of his ancient “foes.” That is how the Israelites understood it.
–Pete Enns, The BioLogos Foundation
See the rest of the post at the link.
Disclaimer: I’m not familiar with Pete Enns or the BioLogos foundation. For all I know their basic tenets may be against mine. I just like this quote.
HT: Joel
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