The Cost of Discipleship

The Cost of Discipleship | Sermon Notes Part 2, Luke #63 | The Mars Hill Blog:

You’re either growing in faith and Christ, or regressing away from faith and Christ. … And what could kill it is this: If you have disciples and if you have non-Christians, everything will be fine, but what kills it are all the Christian consumers, all the people who don’t go to community group, don’t serve, don’t give, don’t become members because the bar is set too high. We intentionally set the bar high.

Provincialising God: Anglicanism, Place, and the Colonisation of Australian Land

This could be interesting: Provincialising God: Anglicanism, Place, and the Colonisation of Australian Land - LAKE - 2011 - Journal of Religious History - Wiley Online Library:

This article investigates the importance of Anglican religion and the physical structures of faith to how some believers understood their surrounds in a British settler colony. Its central figure, William Grant Broughton, was head of the Church of England in Australia during the 1830s and 1840s.

Two Cheers for Fox News

Fox News is good because it encourages debate: Two Cheers for Fox News:

Now these new guys have their biases and blind spots, some of them glaring. And some old-timey people on the left lament their polarizing presence, but what they are actually lamenting is the new and unpleasant reality of having to debate people -- something they are clearly not very good at.

15+ inspiring conferences happening in 201

A good list to check back on: 15+ inspiring conferences happening in 2011 | Communicate Jesus:

I’ve compiled a list of conferences (most in the U.S., unless stated otherwise) that are:

- helpful to those of us with a communications/technology interest,
- have speakers that I greatly admire, and/or
- look otherwise interesting.

Conflicted Feminism

Interesting take on feminism: Conflicted Feminism:

'Our feminist culture today hates women, despises them . . . The sexual revolution was a revolution of promiscuous males, for promiscuous males, and by promiscuous males' (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 237).

What to Do When Your Pastor Preaches a Sermon Dud

Newton on preaching: What to Do When Your Pastor Preaches a Sermon Dud:

Do you pity your pastor? Think about the struggles and the sacrifices and the challenges your pastor faces on a regular basis. The demands of pastoral ministry and preaching are great. And on top of the demands, in many cases the pastor carries within himself a greater desire to serve you than he has the gifts to make it happen. This chronic disappointment is a terrible weight upon the soul of a faithful pastor. Perhaps here Newton is writing out of personal experience.

Why I Have Cooled On Multisite

Some good thoughts on multisite churches: Why I Have Cooled On Multisite – Kevin DeYoung:

So upon further reflection, I just can’t see myself sacrificing the dynamic Holy Spirit give-and-take of the preaching event unless it seemed like every other option had been exhausted. I want to see the people I’m preaching to, even if there are lots of them to see.

Husbands: Headship Means Taking the Lead in Reconciliation

Piper on Male headship: Husbands: Headship Means Taking the Lead in Reconciliation – Justin Taylor:

"So husbands, your headship means: Go ahead. Take the lead. It does not matter if it is her fault. That didn’t stop Christ."

What a Marvel is Man

Humans vs Computers: What a Marvel is Man – Kevin DeYoung:

Of course, the win-win for humans is that even with Watson cruising to victory over the humans, the fact still remains he was created by them. He (really “it”) owes his existence to man. He would be nothing without the uber-smart people at IBM. So I’m left marveling at the genius of man to invent a computer that can surpass human knowledge in so many ways and yet is dependent on human knowledge for its existence and can still miss the Final Jeopardy clue many educated (and frequent flying) Americans would know.

Why We All Need the Gospel

I like Francis Chan. This is a good talk and 45 min into his talk he stops with his notes and prays that God would give him the right words to close his talk: Why We All Need the Gospel Wednesday Night Connection Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN - Desiring God

Adultery Incorporated — The Infidelity Industry

How to make money off setting up adultery: AlbertMohler.com – Adultery Incorporated — The Infidelity Industry:

The idea behind Ashley Madison is easy enough to understand. Biderman’s plan was to create a website that would appear to cater to women seeking an adulterous partner, while actually attracting men seeking the women for an adulterous liaison. Clients of the site establish a personal profile, check off their “availability status,” and mark their personal preferences. The real money flows to the site when men connect online with women and then have to pay rather steep fees for the privilege of continuing the conversation. If all goes according to plan, adultery soon follows.

New Atheists and the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Articles | New Atheists and the Dunning-Kruger Effect | Phillip Jensen:

And that brings us back to the Dunning-Kruger effect that the less competent you are the more confident you are likely to be. To launch out on a world-wide campaign on subjects over which you know little and have researched less – to say nothing of intentionally not studying because you do not believe – is less than acceptable as genuine public debate or academic discussion, to say nothing of failing in the art of war.

It was Prof. Dawkin’s great hero Charles Darwin who wrote in his introduction to The Descent of Man:''Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.''

Gospel-Centered Life Audio

Conferences are starting to happen in the US it seems, which means more free audio: Gospel-Centered Life Audio – Justin Taylor:

Audio from the recent Gospel-Centered Life Conference at Coral Ridge

What the Bible Really Says About Sex . . . Really

Maybe the text means what it says...: AlbertMohler.com – What the Bible Really Says About Sex . . . Really:

The most important point I made to Lisa Miller is that revisionist interpreters of the Bible are playing a dishonest game. Consider the audacity of their claim: They claim that no one has rightly understood the Bible for over two thousand years. No Jewish or Christian interpreter of the Bible had ever suggested that the relationship between David and Jonathan was homosexual — at least not until recent decades. The revisionist case is equally ludicrous across the board. We are only now able to understand what Paul was talking about in Romans 1? The church was wrong for two millennia?

Christian Number-Crunching

Some interesting figures from Catholics and stats on world mission: InsideCatholic.com | Christian Number-Crunching | Feature | Articles:

For 27 years, the International Bulletin of Missionary Research has published an annual 'Status of Global Mission' report, which attempts to quantify the world Christian reality, comparing Christianity's circumstances to those of other faiths, and assaying how Christianity's various expressions are faring when measured against the recent (and not-so-recent) past. The report is unfailingly interesting, sometimes jarring, and occasionally provocative.