Driscoll lays down the hammer in Sydney

Mark Driscoll spoke to the Anglican clergy concerning what was hindering evangelistic ministry in Sydney.  Some hard-lined statements were laid down in his 18 point critique!

MP3 is also available!

HT: MB

Ray Boltz announces that he's gay.

The well known Christian musician in the 90's announced that he is gay.  He is best known for his GMA song of the year in 1990, Thank You.  I grew up listening to this guy.  His song, I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb was one of my favorites growing up.  I listened to it all the time.  Crazy.  You can read about it here.  

"In my flesh dwells no good thing."

Palin vs Obama

This post by Jeff Emanuel is pretty hilarious.  Check it out here.

HT: AN

Driscoll interviews Piper

Mark Driscoll sits down with Dr. John Piper.  Check it out here.

Best Commentaries

Over at JT's blog, Naselli has posted a really sweet commentary site!  Check it out here.  It's got forthcoming commentaries as well as divisions between testaments, authors, sets, and best 2 of each Biblical book!  Sweet stuff...check it out.

HT: JT (Naselli)

I Can't Say I Had the Same Reaction

Ray Ortlund just posted a powerful personal post about concerning today's entertainment.  Michael Spencer's response to Ortlund was quite powerful too.  This is all continues to speak to me as I work through what it means to live a "cross-centered," gospel-saturated life.  I can talk and talk about it all day long, but at the end of the day does my life betray my speech?

HT: JT

Guns and Martyrdom

John Piper posted an article today on Desiring God's web blog entitled Guns and Martyrdom, and this piece spoke volumes to me in light of some recent events.  Last weekend I completed my concealed handgun training course, and Monday I turned in my application and course completion certificate to the VA Beach City Police Precinct.  I am now registered and licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the state of VA.  I know scary, huh?  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  (I can hear the onslaught of heckles coming now.)  Needless to say, I was quite thrilled and excited to complete this course seeing that I have been looking forward to it for quite some time.  However, I must confess, I have not given the entire situation much thought.  

What am I going to do if I'm in a situation where I might "have" (for a lack of a better term) to take someone's life?  Sure, I can sit back and smugly remark now that, "Pffhh, I'll just blow his freakin' head off!"  But what will I really do if it's my life or his?  As Piper noted (my paraphrase), "I'm ready for heaven, he's not."  I am now sitting back thinking about the Gospel.  Is this the Gospel?  Is my life so dear to me that I can't afford to lose it?  I mean, my initial reaction was, "Wait a second, that's extreme stuff Piper!  I mean we're talking about my second amendment rights here!"   But in reality, do I really have any rights?  

As Americans, "rights" seem to be prevalent in our society.  No where in the current known world or in the history of the world has an individual's "rights" been so prominent as in the United States of America.  

Let's set aside rights, martyrdom, and a man's initial reaction to protect what's "his" (i.e. his life, family, possessions, etc) for a moment.  What about the Gospel?  What about taking someone's life so that they will never have the opportunity to hear/receive the Gospel again?  Is my life really more valuable than theirs?  Is that really my call to make?  I think not.  But is this whole thing Biblical?  Is it Gospel-centered?  I mean, the only reason that I took this course and obtained this permit was so that I could protect those that I love most: myself and my wife.  To be honest with you, I'm not sure if I'm ready to die.  Honestly, I think I still love myself way too much.  But then again is the end of my life for me to decide?  

I must admit that I am struggling with this present issue even as I sit here and type.  For those that know me, I'm pretty sure that you would all agree that I am fairly strong sovereign-tist.  So how does my theology (i.e sovereignty/providence of God) control they way that I live?  In the larger scheme of the eschaton is it wise, biblical, or Gospel-centered that a Christian take another's life to save his?  And I'm not talking about martyrdom here...(i.e. my life is not being threatened b/c of what I believe.) 

Any thoughts?  Insights?

EXPELLED!

Theology hits the theater in Ben Stein's documentary: Expelled! In theaters April 18th. Check it out!

Zondervan's New Hebrew Reader!

Dano gave me the tip about his sweet gem!  A Hebrew Reader!

Some cool features are of course the Italian Duo-Tone Leather cover, it's 1680 pgs., and the binding is on the right side (rather than the left) so that on a normal book you would be starting from the back and working your way to the front!  Cool stuff!

Interesting side note...the general editors are 2 Bob Jones grads.

Top Ten Things to Say on Returning Home with Conference Book Plunder

I came across this today and thought I'd post it:

Here are some verbal tactics you might find useful as you bring your conference book plunder home under the scrutiny of your nonacademic spouse. The premise is that, arriving at the airport, you can’t manage to drop the books off at the office.

10. “Look at how much money I saved! These were all forty to fifty percent off!”

9. “You should have seen the temptations! This is the small price of my restraint.”

8. “Remember, I’m writing a book, and the royalties will more than cover the price of these books. It’s just a temporary investment that we’ll recoup.” (Oh sure. Like your monograph on Athanasius Against the Ariansis going to cover the cost of even one of those Brill titles in your bag!)

7. “Look! I’ve taken care of a lot of our Christmas shopping!” (When he/she tells you that no one on the Christmas list wants those books, you act disappointed and rejected, and absorb them into your library.)

6. “Oh, so you’re going to complain about your husband/wife squandering money on books! Do I blow money on alcohol? tobacco? gambling? drugs? sex? stadium box seats? No! Just books on justice and peace, Jesus and Paul, trinitarian theology and the evils of, uh . . . consumerism!”

5. “Don’t worry. It just looks like a lot. Amortized over my lifetime, I’m not spending very much on books at all. Certainly nothing like You Know Who.”

4. “These are all tax deductible.” (This only works if he/she is under the illusion that you somehow subtract the book bill from the tax due.)

3. “These are all tools. Just the cost of doing business in my trade.”

2. Dull the impact by itemizing. “Some of these are for Christmas. Some of these are for the new class I’m teaching. Some of them are for my research. Some of them I might adopt as texts. And one of them is for you!”

1. “Folks who had lost their homes in the fires were selling these books on the streets of San Diego. I couldn’t resist helping them out. If you had looked into their eyes . . .” *

Next year, perhaps we can offer ideas on how to hustle the plunder onto the premises and avoid this conversation.

*This one shows just how low one can go.