More good reads this week. I’ve been blogging bits and pieces but nothing in final form as yet. In the meantime here are some things that caught my eye during this past week:
The Strange Yet Familiar Tale of Brian, Rob, and Don – Three names which were famous during the early days of the emerging church movement. The emerging church movement was a bit of an experiment in which Gen-X leaders in particular started rethinking traditional forms and methods of church. The voices were intriguing to listen to, but that was over ten years ago. Since then the movement has essentially finished and where the leaders ended up was fairly predictable about halfway into its development. The likes of Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Donald Miller ended up on the path of theological liberalism, whereas someone like Mark Driscoll ended up in the ballpark of theologically reformed. This article from Christianity Today highlights some of what went wrong with McLaren, Bell and Miller. Insightful.
Visual Unit – Some very helpful stuff on the bible contained within. And it’s all free for use in churches! “This site is a collection of biblical diagrams, illustrations and infographics that I’ve put together over the last few years in various ministries.”
Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed: A Review – Kevin DeYoung gives a very balanced review of a new book from someone who went from the reformed theological tradition towards Arminianism generally.
“Although I disagree with Fischer on a lot of things, I agree with his insistence that what we make of Reformed theology is tremendously important. I love this line at the end of the book: “I wish there were middle ground, but… where would it be?” (108). Amen. It’s not possible to be a Calviminian. If you care about theology and care about consistency—like Fischer does—you’ll see how different understandings of God’s sovereignty set you on markedly different intellectual, devotional, and practical trajectories.”
What Does It Really Mean To Cause Someone To Stumble? – Stephen Altrogge does a helpful job in explaining this saying from the New Testament. “When our “rights” lead others to act against their consciences we have become stumbling blocks.” There is a flipside to this, though, and I’m hoping to blog on that in the future as well.
A Dangerous Assumption About God’s Will – Here’s an interesting little post from Kevin Thompson:
“…making good choices does not guarantee an outcome we will love. Praying, listening to wise counsel, reading the Bible, and doing everything in our power to make a wise choice does not mean a new job will be easy, that a marriage will be perfect, or that doing what the Bible says will lead to a reconciled friendship or popularity.”
The False Teachers: Arius and Pelagius – It might surprise you to know that pretty much every book in the New Testament (with the only exception of Romans that I can think of Romans included!) contains some explicit or implicit warning against false teachers/teaching. Tim Challies has started a new series of posts titled ‘The False Teachers’. He aims to go through church history and look at some of the biggest false teachers, who they were and what they taught which was so thoroughly wrong. The first two in the series helps explain the existence of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the prevalent view even among Christians that humans are either generally morally good or neutral. This is a series worth keeping your eyes on.
How To Handle Image Theft – With the exponential increase in cameras (DSLRs, compacts and phones) there is going to be an increase in image theft. Here’s a neat little article on how to deal with it, especially if you draw an income from photography. It’s also just plain not nice when someone uses an image you’ve created without permission and that you haven’t provided for free use.
Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce – Fellow QTCer, budding theologian, blogger, and aspiring masterchef Josh Tan has a rather delicious looking blue cheese sauce recipe. I have to admit I’m not a fan of blue cheese, but this sounds really good!
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