I may be a few days late, but that’s okay. I have a new goal for the year. I recently posted a list of some good books I read last year. When I shared the post on Twitter, I tagged some of the authors, including Wm. Paul Young, whose book The Shack I had recently read for the first time. He responded: @bradjersak @ChuckMcKnight @therebelgod @BrianZahnd @brianmclaren @peteenns @greg_boyd Thx…read Marilynne Robinson, too much testosterone. — Wm Paul Young (@wmpaulyoung)... Read more
These books aren’t all new, but I read them all for the first time in 2015. They’re very loosely sorted with my favorites closer to the top. Read more
Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly. (Matthew 1:19, WEB) Joseph was betrothed to Mary. Legally, she was his wife, though they had not yet been officially wed. And then he discovered the unthinkable. She was pregnant. He knew the child wasn’t his. So what else was he to think? The only explanation was that she had been unfaithful. Of course we know the truth... Read more
I very rarely agree with John Piper. I love him as my brother in Christ, but beyond the most foundational elements of the Christian faith, he and I just don’t see eye to eye on very much. So I was thrilled when reading his recent article, “Should Christians Be Encouraged to Arm Themselves?,” to find such a major point of unity between us on such an important issue facing the church. The article does reflect a few of the theological... Read more
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18, WEB) With the exception of some liberal scholars, Christianity has always maintained that Jesus was born of a virgin. However, much of Christianity is divided over whether Mary remained a virgin after giving birth to Jesus. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, along with some Anglicans and Lutherans, believe... Read more
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1, WEB) As we begin reading the Gospel According to Matthew, it’s tempting to just skip over the genealogy he opens with. After all, what do we really have to learn from a list of names? But this list is far more than a historical record. In fact, Matthew doesn’t seem at all concerned with historical reliability here. He freely skips over generations,... Read more
This past Friday, I visited a thrift store and picked up a book called If Grace Is True: Why God Will Save Every Person, which I then devoured over the next day and a half. It’s coauthored by two Quaker pastors, and as the subtitle implies, it seeks to defend the view of universal reconciliation or universalism—the idea that God never rescinds his offer of forgiveness, that he continues seeking the lost even after death, and that all will eventually... Read more
Over the next few months (or for as long as it takes) I’m going to blog all the way through the book of Matthew. This won’t be a verse-by-verse commentary so much as a section-by-section exploration, in which I’ll pick out anything that seems to be of particular interest or importance. Why? Matthew is the first book of the New Testament according to most canons, making it a natural place to start. But more importantly, it contains Jesus’ “Sermon on... Read more
It’s that time of year again. We’re once more officially allowed to sing about our Savior’s birth. I won’t dwell on how much I detest the divorcing of so-called “Christmas carols” from the rest of hymnody. I’ll just say that I believe we should preach the incarnation of the Word, both in season and out of season, using music along with every other method. But for now, I’m going to focus on one of my favorite incarnation hymns, “Hark How... Read more
I came across this comic from Adam4d.com. Cute. But not exactly accurate. So I fixed it. Enjoy! Read more
Hippie Heretic
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