Two interesting pieces out today—if by interesting one is allowed to mean discouraging and tragic. First, here is a church that is arranging to do a sermon series on wrestling, because you have to keep the crowds coming in somehow. Challies writes: As I watch the video announcing the series, I can’t help but feel some pity for the countless thousands of pastors who have been convinced by this model. James Montgomery Boice once warned “what you win them with... Read more
On Sunday I happened unwittingly to wander onto a subject that clever well-educated people were already thinking about. The Reverend Doctor Leithart, having explained why it is better for Christians to sit down than to stand up or to kneel during communion, concludes: Matter matters, and what we do with our bodies is as important to piety as what we do with our minds (which can’t operate without bodies anyway). In fact, what we do with our bodies can forge... Read more
A Happy Labor Day to you all. We climbed back into our ordinary routine with yet another podcast about Tullian Tchividjian–this time answering a critic who thinks I have been too mean. Matt wouldn’t let me put the comment up because he is mean, but we went through it line by line and then followed it up with a special, and very emotional, reading from The Passion Bible. If it doesn’t set you up for a great week, I don’t... Read more
I happened to see a few days ago that Meghan and Harry aren’t being invited to dinner parties anymore because they deliberately violate the seating arrangements of their hosts by sitting together. Painstakingly arranged affairs are irreparably spoiled because they want to hold hands under the table. Not being on the inside of Britain’s royal scene, I can’t claim to know the veracity of these reports. If you can’t trust Pop Sugar—or wherever it was—what can you trust? It must... Read more
He always smiles when he comments on your Facebook posts. Another one of those long lists of things you should do to be human is making its way around facebook and twitter. This one is called 99 Steps Towards Manhood. As a rule, of course, I object to these enormous catalogs of extra-biblical laws that are supposed to fix you up but never do. I especially hate them when they’re intended for women—like those well-meaning people who try to rework... Read more
I was looking for more videos of big dogs being carried up escalators but accidentally clicked on the wrong thing and came across this curious #thursdaymotivational command: Keep the positive principle going by visualizing energy and vitality continuously at work within you, refreshing body, mind, and spirit. So then, of course, I looked up “positive principle” because I didn’t really know what that was about. Google delivered up this quote by Norman Vincent Peale: The positive principle is based on the fact... Read more
Well, I didn’t mean to fall so headlong off the internet as I did the last few days. The fact is, I happened to drive ten hours south to Charlotte, North Carolina for a very productive meeting of the Pelican Project. Turns out one single day of dedicated work equals months and months of online threaded discussion. Paging Cal Newport–how right he is about everything. I drove down on Friday and back again on Sunday. But I’m not so young... Read more
Oh my word, it’s Friday. One In spite of all my promises to be miserable, I had a very nice day yesterday, puttering around making tortillas, picking tomatoes, and shoving Sunday School Furniture around. A once a year trip to Wegmans is a pretty great birthday present. What did I buy there, you ask? A tub of kimchi, because the Korean restaurant is always closed whenever I have time to go there. Two Did spend a lot of the day... Read more
I’m sorry, it’s my birthday, and I can’t bring myself to talk about Mr. Trump, which was my plan for today in this Epic Birthday Week O Blogging. Also, I can’t face the Let Classical Music Die Because Of Its Whiteness which was my backup. It’s all too depressing. Instead, I went down the rabbit hole of back to school videos, because of my self-loathing, and also because I find the phenomenon of random people giving advice to other random people... Read more
“Oh Goodie,” says Jesus. As I said yesterday, this week is full of all manner of little treats. Today let’s look at the completely un-astonishing and yet heartbreaking news that two people properly removed from ministry for the abuse of their pastoral offices and because of sexual sin, are going to leap back into the pulpit anyway, because of course they are, because what else are they going to do. Explains James MacDonald who has been out of the pulpit... Read more
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Preventing Grace
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