You can read and pray over the World Watch List of 50 countries where the church is persecuted. (HT: Z)

Michael Horton writes:

Newsweek‘s current cover-story is “The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World,” by Ayann Hirsi Ali, who fled her native Somalia and served in the Dutch Parliament before taking a position at the American Enterprise Institute. As the article points out, widespread anti-Christian violence is exploding even in countries with Muslim minorities. How do we respond wisely as Christians to this growing threat?

Horton goes on to give three actions we can take and work for: (1) prayer; (2) faithful witness; (3) human rights, not just Christian rights. You can read the whole thing here.

I’m not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure [...]

I’d go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do. Would you? Acts 5:29.

Chuck Colson:

We have come to the point—I say this very soberly—when if there isn’t a dramatic change is circumstances, we as Christians may well be called upon to stand in civil disobedience against the actions of our own government. That would break my heart as a former Marine Captain loving my country, but I love my God more. . . . I’ve made up my mind—sober as that decision would have to be—that I will stand for the Lord regardless of what my state tells me.

Timothy George, with Chuck Colson:

Many bishops have already declared that they will not obey this unjust law. The penalty for such a move would be severe. Catholic hospitals, universities, and other organizations would be forced to pay punitive fines ($2,000 per employee) for refusing to purchase insurance that violates the teaching of their church.

For some institutions, it would spell the end of their existence—and their far-reaching service to the public and the needy.

But Catholic institutions aren’t the only ones affected by this mandate. Prison Fellowship, for example, which employs 180 people, could not purchase insurance for its employees that covers abortifacients. Nor could the world’s largest Christian outreach to prisoners and their families afford the fines we would incur. . . .

We would urge you, therefore, to raise your voice against this unjust mandate that violates our first freedom as Americans. . . . We do not exaggerate when we say that this is the greatest threat to religious freedom [in the US] in our lifetime.

HT: Denny Burk

She has written a four-volume narrative history of the world for elementary-school kids receiving a classical education (our kids are using them and enjoying them), and she is halfway through a substantial four-volume history of the world for adults (which advanced high school students could use as well).

Below is a description of each book published thus far:

The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome

A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own.

This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history.

Dozens of maps provide a clear geography of great events, while timelines give the reader an ongoing sense of the passage of years and cultural interconnection. This narrative history employs the methods of “history from beneath”—literature, epic traditions, private letters and accounts—to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled. The result is an engrossing tapestry of human behavior from which we may draw conclusions about the direction of world events and the causes behind them.

896 pages, 13 illustrations, 80 maps

The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade

A masterful narrative of the Middle Ages, when religion became a weapon for kings all over the world.

From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T’ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled.

In her earlier work, The History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer wrote of the rise of kingship based on might. But in the years between the fourth and the twelfth centuries, rulers had to find new justification for their power, and they turned to divine truth or grace to justify political and military action. Right thus replaces might as the engine of empire.

Not just Christianity and Islam but the religions of the Persians and the Germans, and even Buddhism, are pressed into the service of the state. This phenomenon—stretching from the Americas all the way to Japan—changes religion, but it also changes the state.

746 pages, 4 illustrations, 46 maps

Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor

What terrible secret was buried in Shi Huangdi’s tomb? Did nomads like lizard stew? What happened to Anansi the Spider in the Village of the Plantains? And how did a six-year-old become the last emperor of Rome?

Told in a straightforward, engaging style that has become Susan Wise Bauer’s trademark, The Story of the World series covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas—find out what happened all around the world in long-ago times. This first revised volume begins with the earliest nomads and ends with the last Roman emperor. Newly revised and updated, The Story of the World, Volume 1 includes maps, a new timeline, more illustrations, and additional parental aids. This read-aloud series is designed for parents to share with elementary-school children. Enjoy it together and introduce your child to the marvelous story of the world’s civilizations.

Volume 1 Grade Recommendation: Grades 1-5. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white drawings and maps

22-page sample PDF

Volume 2: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance

Now more than ever, other cultures are affecting our everyday lives—and our children need to learn about the other countries of the world and their history. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of other lands. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, this revised edition of The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 2: The Middle Ages weaves world history into a story book format. Who discovered chocolate? What happened to the giant Fovor of the Mighty Blows? Why did the Ottoman Turks drag their war ships across dry land?

The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas—find out what happened all around the world in long-ago times. Designed as a read-aloud project for parents and children to share together, The Story of the World includes each continent and major people group. Volume 2: The Middle Ages, is the second of a four-volume series and covers the major historical events in the years 400 to 1600 CE, as well as including maps, illustrations, and tales from each culture.

Volume 2 Grade Recommendation: Grades 1-6. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white drawings and maps

19-page sample PDF

Volume 3: Early Modern Times: From Elizabeth the First to the Forty-Niners

Now more than ever, other cultures are affecting our everyday lives—and our children need to learn about the other countries of the world and their history. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of other lands. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child; Volume 3: Early Modern Times weaves world history into a story book format. Who was the Sun King? Why did the Luddites go around England smashing machines? And how did samurai become sumo wrestlers?

The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas—find out what happened all around the world in long-ago times. Designed as a read-aloud project for parents and children to share together, The Story of the World includes each continent and major people group. Volume 3: Early Modern Times is the third of a four volume series and covers the major historical events in the years 1600 to 1850, as well as including maps, illustrations, and tales from each culture.

Volume 3 Grade Recommendation: Grades 3-8. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white drawings and maps

16-page sample PDF

Volume 4: The Modern Age: From Victoria’s Empire to the End of the USSR

Where was the Crystal Palace? Who was the Sick Man of Europe? And how did cow fat start a revolution?

Now more than ever, other countries and customs affect our everyday lives—and our children need to learn about the people who live all around the world. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of modern nations all around the world. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, the final volume of the popular Story of the World series weaves world history into a storybook format, covering major historical events in the years 1850-2000. From the Middle East and China to Africa and the Americas—find out what happened all around the world in the last century and a half. Designed as a read-aloud project for parents and children to share together, The Story of the World includes the stories of each continent and people group.

Volume 4 Grade Recommendation: Grades 3-8. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white drawings and maps

36-page sample PDF

The links above are to the caseside hardback versions, but you can also get them as paperbacks: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, and volume 4.

The audio CDs of this book are very well done, too. It’s narrated by the entertaining Jim Weiss. You can get volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, and volume 4.

But Edward T. Oakes argues that with the release of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet (first on stage, then on the BBC and PBS, and now on DVD), “here is a Hamlet that finally makes sense.” He says it is “by far the freshest and most arresting interpretation I have ever seen of the play.” David Tennant stars as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius.

“To my mind,” he writes, “the success of this new RSC production stems from a host of factors, all of which work together in such a way that, pace Eliot, the play now finally makes sense.”

Here are his points in outline:

First of all, each line is so freshly delivered that it sounds new (quite a feat for this play!). . . .

Second (and this is a negative virtue), this production eschews any Freudian interpretation, which by now has become an empty cliché, and even an embarrassment. . . .

Third, the setting of the play is the contemporary national-security state, with CCTV cameras everywhere, and from whose tapes we see some of the action (interestingly, the ghost’s outline does not register on the tapes). As world literature’s most famous neurotic, Hamlet’s unstable personality is already sufficiently known by almost any audience; but in this production there is an added reason for Hamlet’s incipient madness besides his own volatile temper. . . .

Fourth, the soliloquies are not treated as the dramaturgical equivalent of operatic arias, but flow naturally out of the action. . . .

Which brings me to the fifth and last great merit of this version: here Hamlet truly displays the dilemmas of his personality. It is one of the great mysteries of this play how Shakespeare manages to get the audience to sympathize with his protagonist. . . .

Read the whole thing for more detailed interaction with this new version.

You can watch the whole three-hour production online for free.

I suspect that Thomas Sowell’s classic work, Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles (2002), may be one of the most important books that Christians today can read for help in thinking through worldview clashes and political partisanship. It is an illuminating, even-handed book—not written for purposes of advocacy, and not written from an explicitly Christian perspective, but written to help us understand some of the main contours of why there tend to be roughly two visions of the world when it comes to freedom, power, equality, justice, knowledge, and man.

The big idea in the first paragraph of this book may seem obvious to you, but when I first read this some years ago, it was enormously illuminating to me:

One of the curious things about political opinions is how often the same people line up on opposite sides of different issues. The issues themselves may have no intrinsic connection with each other. They may range from military spending to drug laws to monetary policy to education. Yet the same familiar faces can be found glaring at each other from opposite sides of the political fence, again and again. It happens too often to be coincidence and it is too uncontrolled to be a plot.

A closer look at the arguments on both sides often shows that they are reasoning from fundamentally different premises. These different premises—often implicit—are what provide the consistency behind the repeated opposition of individuals and groups on numerous, unrelated issues. They have different visions of how the world works.

Why, at the end of the day, do we have such a hard time understanding one another across the political divide? Why can’t we find middle ground? As Rodney King asked, Why can’t we all just get along? Sowell identifies a key part of the problem:

Whatever one’s vision, other visions are easily misunderstood—not only because of caricatures produced by polemics but also because the very words used (“equality,” “freedom,” “justice,” “power”) mean entirely different things in the context of different presuppositions. It is not mere misunderstanding but the inherent logic of each vision which leads to these semantic differences, as well as to substantively different conclusions across a wide spectrum of issues. Visions are inherently in conflict, quite aside form the misunderstandings, hostilities, or intransigence generated in the course of polemics. (pp. 245-246)

Sowell recognizes that there is a continuum of social visions—that sense of how the world works and the foundation upon which our theories are built. But for convenience, he identifies two broad and irreconcilable categories: the constrained vision and the unconstrained vision. Sowell identifies their basic difference as stemming from a different conception of the nature of man. So in successive chapters he looks at the constrained vs. unconstrained vision of the nature of man, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of social processes.

Let’s look at an example. The way in which the unconstrained vision thinks about “results” determines the ways in which its advocates define and analyze key concepts like freedom, power, and equality. If results can be directly prescribed, and if basic concepts are expressed in terms of results, then we get something like the following:

The degree of freedom is . . . the degree to which one’s desires can be realized, without regard to whether the obstacles to full realization be the deliberately imposed restrictions of government or the lack of circumstantial prerequisites.

Power is likewise defined by results: If A can cause B to do what A wants done, then A has power over B, regardless of whether A‘s inducements to B are positive (rewards) or negative (penalties).

Equality too is a result, the degree of equality or inequality being a direct observable fact. (pp. 246-247)

All these basic terms are defined in profoundly different ways under the assumptions of the constrained vision. In that vision, man cannot directly create social results, but he can create social processes. Therefore, for the constrained visions basic concepts like freedom, justice, power, and equality get their significance and character from processes, whereas the unconstrained vision (as we saw) thinks of them mainly in terms of results. For example, in the constrained vision:

A social process has freedom to the extent that it refrains from interfering with the choices of individuals—whether or not the circumstances of those individuals provide them with many options or few.

A social process has justice to the extent that its rules are just, regardless of the variety of outcomes resulting from the application of those rules.

Power is exerted in social processes, by individuals or by institutions, to the extent that someone’s existing set of options is reduced—but is not an exertion of power to offer a quid pro quo that adds to his existing options.

Equality as a process characteristic means application of the same rules to all, without regard to individual antecedent conditions or subsequent results. (p. 247)

Sowell wisely writes:

The clash between the two visions is not over the actual or desirable degree of freedom, justice, power, or equality—or over the fact that that there can only be degrees and not absolutes—but rather over what these things consist of, in whatever degree they occur.

Sowell is one of the most eloquent advocates today for the constrained vision, but in this book he plays it straight, choosing to explain rather than to persuade. As such, it is not a Christian book per se, analyzing the various options in light of God’s word written. But I would still submit that it may be one of the most important books a Christian can read to understand what is going on in today’s culture when it comes to political struggles.

[Emphasis added in quotes.]

You can get four introductory lessons and two regular lessons here. If you decide to purchase the additional lessons, you can use the coupon code BTWLATIN to get a 15% discount. The code is good for one week from today.

Descriptions below of the free material:

These four introductory lessons provide background and tools for learning Latin. They are intended to be watched before starting  Visual Latin and are different from the normal teaching lessons.  

The 2 free regular lessons are Lessons 1 & 2 of Visual Latin. Test them out with your children to see if they like them. We think they will. 

Lesson A | Why Study Latin? – This first introductory lesson tells you what to say when people ask you why you’re studying a dead language. (Length: 11:08 min)

Lesson B | Latin Then & Now - Where did Latin come from anyway?  And what happened to it after the Romans disappeared? Furthermore, does it have a future? (Length: 8:07 min)

Lesson C | How to Learn a Language - This lesson gives you techniques, ideas and a few tricks for learning any new language (and especially Latin). (Length: 8:43 min)

Lesson D | Stuff You Should Know About Latin – Latin does some funny things. You’ll need to know what to watch for so you don’t slip and hurt yourself. (Length: 6:47 min)

* * *

Lesson 1 | Being Verb Basics – To Be and Not To Be

Lesson 2 | Being Verb Basics – Predicate Nominatives and Adjectives

Here are a couple of video previews:

I am grieved that New York City is planning to take the unwise step of removing 68 churches from the spaces that they rent in public schools. It is my conviction that those churches housed in schools are invaluable assets to the neighborhoods that they serve. Churches have long been seen as positive additions to communities. Family stability, resources for those in need, and compassion for the marginalized are all positive influences that neighborhood churches provide. There are many with first-hand experience who will claim that the presence of churches in a neighborhood can lead to a drop in crime.

The great diversity of our city means that we will never all agree completely on anything. And we cherish our city’s reputation for tolerance of differing opinions and beliefs. Therefore, we should all mourn if disagreement with certain beliefs of the church is allowed to unduly influence the formation of just policy and practice.

I disagree with the opinion written by Judge Pierre Leval that: “A worship service is an act of organized religion that consecrates the place in which it is performed, making it a church.” This is an erroneous theological judgment; I know of no Christian church or denomination that believes that merely holding a service in a building somehow “consecrates” it, setting it apart from all common or profane use. To base a legal opinion on such a superstitious view is surely invalid. Conversely, I concur with Judge John Walker’s dissenting opinion that this ban constitutes viewpoint discrimination and raises no legitimate Establishment Clause concerns.

A disproportionate number of churches that are affected by this prohibition are not wealthy, established communities of faith. They are ones who possess the fewest resources and many work with the poor. Redeemer has many ties with those churches and their pastors, and our church community invests time and resources to assist them to be good neighbors in their communities.

Let them be those good neighbors. I am hopeful that the leaders of New York City and the legislators of New York State will see the value of a society that encourages all spheres of culture—the church, government, education, business, etc—to work together for human flourishing.

HT: Z

Average Bible readers—like me—want to answer three overarching questions when they read God’s Word in reading God’s word:

What’s the big idea in each book?

How does each book point to Jesus?

And how does each book speak to contemporary life?

In this concise and well-written book, Michael Williams deftly guides us to the right answers.

Few books do a better job of giving us an overview of Genesis to Revelation in such a compact way.

This is the sort of book I’d love to have in the hands of every member of my church!

For each book of the Bible he provides:

• a succinct statement of the theme of every biblical book
• an explanation of how that theme finds its focus in Christ
• a brief discussion of how the New Testament treats that theme as fulfilled in Christ
• suggestions for contemporary implications
• a convenient summary chart for each book of the Bible

You can read the brief chapter on Genesis here.

I am excited that the Journal of Biblical Counseling—after a four-year hiatus—is now back, this time online and for free.

If you are not familiar with this resource, now would be a good time to become acquainted with it. It’s under the direction of David Powlision, about whom John Piper has written:

Among living authors who think deeply about the Word of God and the workings of the human soul, I know of no one who writes more perceptively or ministers more deeply to me than David Powlison. . . . There are many today who specialize in soul-care or deep, faithful grasp of biblical theology; but there are few who do both. David Powlison does both.

You can read more about the new JBC in this editorial by Powlison.

Here’s just one example of one of their articles: if you are a pastor, I think this is the best thing I’ve ever read on the pastor as counselor.

Here are the books they mention at the end:

B.B. Warfield, Inspiration and Authority of the Bible

D.A. Carson and John Woodbridge, Scripture and Truth and Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon

G.K. Beale, The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism

John Oswalt, The Bible among the Myths

Andreas Köstenberger and Michael Kruger, The Heresy of Orthodoxy

I suspect like many readers, my formal education skimmed lightly over the actual content of the Constitution, focusing only on the process and the key players. The result is that we have to play catch-up.

Here are a few resources to consider.

You catch watch below four half-hour lectures from Dr. Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, introducing some key points about the Constitution:

1. The Declaration and the Constitution (study guide)

Dr. Arnn argues that the American republic’s meaning and proper method of operation is found in two documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He introduces the two main principles of the Declaration-Nature and Equality-and explains how they are key to understanding the arrangements of government found in the Constitution.

2. The Constitution: Representative Government (study guide)

Dr. Arnn begins to outline the key arrangements of the Constitution. The topic of this lecture is the principle of Representative Government, which he argues is the most fundamental principle of the Constitution.

3. The Constitution: Separation of Powers and Limited Government (study guide)

Dr. Arnn continues his outline of the key arrangements of the Constitution. He discusses the principles of Separation of Powers and Limited Government, and how they relate to Representation and the ideas of Nature and Equality in the Declaration.

4. Bureaucratic Versus Constitutional Government (study guide)

Dr. Arnn draws a contrast between centralized, bureaucratic rule and constitutional government.

If you want to take this to the next level, you can register for a free online, ten-week class featuring the faculty at Hillsdale expanding upon this introduction. This is essentially equivalent to the undergraduate Hillsdale course on the Constitution.

You can also purchase the course book, written by the Hillsdale politics faculty: The U.S. Constitution: A Reader, featuring 113 primary source documents.

Finally, you could pick up The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, a reference book that provides a clause-by-clause analysis of the Constitution, each amendment and relevant court case, and the documents that serve as the foundation of the Constitution.

He writes, “An author can be held to teach the Penal doctrine if he plainly states that the punishment deserved by sin from God was borne and dealt with by Jesus Christ in his death on the cross.” He then works through quotes from Justin Martyr, Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose, and Augustine to show that they did indeed hold to the penal doctrine of the atonement.”

Here is his conclusion:

How then should we read the fathers?

My plea is not for Christus Vicarius to the exclusion of all other language and concepts. Again, let Aulén have his prize. Certainly the themes of restoration and victory were present, and in some writers they were the primary categories.

But that does not mean that they excluded retributive notions. Rather than adducing general evidence of restoration or victory and using it to trump specific retributive vocabulary, we should maintain the integrity of all of the descriptions in the passages in question and allow the richness of patristic views of the cross to stand out.

Proper exegetical attention to the details of their writings, which I have begun to set out here, demonstrates that for Justin Martyr, Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose, and Augustine, this richness included penal substitutionary atonement.

HT: Carl Trueman

When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.

Insofar as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all.

When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.

This has echoes of Augustine’s Confessions (XI.29):

He loves Thee too little, who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.

Writing to Dom Bede (April 16, 1940), Lewis mentioned a great line he spotted from Denis de Rougemont’s Passion and Society about sensual love: “It ceases to be a devil when it ceases to be a god.

Lewis comments,

Isn’t that well put? So many things—nay every real thing—is good if only it will be humble and ordinate.

• Because of Jesus God will provide everything you need.
• God will deliver you from problems you caused yourself.
• God will bless you through wrongs others have done.
• God is in complete control.
• God will provide the job and income you need.
• God has a perfect plan for each day you are unemployed.
• God will give you full joy in Himself without a job.

See the whole post here.

Also worth reading is Greg Gilbert’s post on trusting God in unemployment—part 1 and part 2.

Here’s one insightful exchange:

Was the team an encouragement to you and your family personally? Please explain.

 

Yes, however, our encouragement is not the primary aim of a team. We actually find ourselves having to encourage them as they struggle through the cultural adjustment and difficulties Africa can present even on a short term basis. Team members are initially enamored with the newness rather than the substance of what is actually happening on the field. They explode with expression when they experience what they had always imagined Africa to be. That is fine, and thankfully this typically wears off after a week or so (or after a “running stomach” or what they believe are symptoms of malaria). I love seeing Africa through the eyes of someone who has never been there before. They become intoxicated with a continent which truly feels rugged and exotic. This is normal, but it needs to fade at some point for the sanity and effectiveness of everyone involved. We always tried to schedule slots for our teams to enjoy the beauty of “untouched” Kenya or Zambia, but these excursions were not scheduled until they worked for it. . . .

Anytime a structured team arrives the missionary’s normal schedule is abandoned for a “maximum ministry exposure” itinerary. It’s not artificial, but neither is it standard operating procedure. It’s a high octane schedule that leaves everybody wasted. Boredom is public enemy #1 for a mission team.

Everyone steps up before and after a team. Students give their summer and raise support. Team leaders give of themselves and their “time off” to host an energetic group to a foreign land. Those who make the greatest sacrifice are the missionary wife and children. That is why it’s great when team members include our family in the little things (picture below of a team member playing checkers with my son).

The greatest encouragement is when the team takes an interest in our children. Our teams had exceptional young people who “ministered” to our children. Our children are Third Culture Kids (TCK’s) – true “Global Nomads.” For our children to be loved by “big kids” from their “Passport Culture” is huge to their little perspective! This may have been the team’s greatest ministry and certainly one of the greatest encouragements to us personally. . . .

There is so much to manage and organize to make a team of any significant size operate well. Months of planning and preparation go into a team before they “make sure their seat is not back and folding trays are in their full upright position in preparation for take-off.” Our primary focus on the field becomes the “team” having an accurate vision of mission work and life. It is imperative the team receive a good understanding of a particular region, a proper understanding of biblical missions, a realistic strategy for that area, the proper etiquette necessary when working in another culture, and the dangers of creating problems for the missionary even after the team has left. Many mission teams unknowingly harm rather than help the cause because they are not dissimilar to the tourist groups that arrive to see the wildebeest migration and the East African coast. It only takes one young person with an arrogant western outlook to create problems that could take months to clear up. We have not had this experience, but know other missionaries who have. Initial impressions are always fun to watch, but a team living in the area for several months will have most of those “impressions” forced back to reality.

You can read the whole thing here.

See also Jeff Brewer’s article on 10 Things to Remember When Coming Home from a Missions Trip.

Here’s an outline of his 11 points—followed at the end by an extended excerpt of one of them:

1.  Nothing has changed with Jakes.

2.  Something may have changed with us.

3.  Theological depth is critical.

4.  We need a practical understanding of repentance.

5.  Divisions come swiftly and easily.

6.  A lot of reconciliation and brotherly affection gets shared privately, but it’s sometimes not useful to be insisted upon publicly.

7.  Our cooperation needs to be principled rather than pragmatic.

8.  Our cooperation can have a liberalizing tendency.

9.  There are descriptive and prescriptive ways of using “race.”

10.  “Race” is not only powerful, it’s also about power.

11.  My assumptions about my usefulness need chastening.

Here is #6—an important point for both those who think every private corrective conversation should instead be public and those who think every public corrective conversation should instead be private.

A lot of people have taken it upon themselves to be the “private conversation police.”  They want to enforce a new rule for public discourse: Talk privately with those with whom you disagree before you disagree publicly.  I think that’s well intended, but it’s quite problematic.  Again, Carson and Keller handle this very well.  I just want to add that this desire to require private conversations before public redress has two unintended and negative consequences.

First, it means that the first persons to speak have the controlling leverage in the conversation.  That’s not much of a problem unless the first one to speak speaks heresy or some false teaching.  In that case, everyone who would act to counter the falsehood is held hostage by the purveyor of falsehood!  That’s a very bad outcome.

Second, the vocal insistence on private conversation, or rather the suggestion that no such conversation is happening, can actually frustrate and undermine very real private efforts at unity, restoration, and correction.  It’s surprising how public comments (ironically, without first making private contact!) about perceived private failings actually complicate the very private efforts being called for.  It’s also interesting to note how many unrelated parties feel entitled to know what’s happening in private sessions.  They don’t seem to realize that asking for private matters to be disclosed publicly might actually hinder trust and communication.  As it is, these things don’t always work out.  So, it’s probably prudent to use that few moments of keyboarding to instead offer a few words of prayer and intercession.

Here’s a rule of thumb: If you have to speculate about whether this or that conversation is happening, you’re probably not close enough to the situation to be useful.  If you can’t pick up the phone and ask one of the parties, “What’s going on?” then you’re probably not positioned to help or insist on private communication.

Speculative and sometimes accusatory writing in public forums, in my opinion, actually do very little to help situations while doing a fair amount to complicate matters and frustrate people.  I’ve become a fan of the old rules of engagement: If a person speaks or publishes something for public consumption, that speech or publication is automatically fair game for public critique and correction.  It can be useful, courteous, and sometimes necessary to contact a person to be sure you’ve understood them correctly.  But public addresses are fair game for public redress.  This in no way releases us from all the biblical requirements for charity, grace, and the like.  But it does free us to respond where situations warrant.

On Matthew 18 with respect to blog conversations, see this editorial by D.A. Carson.

You can watch short video introductions to each session here, or find the list below:

Celebrity Pastor: Indecent Exposure?

Moderator: Ligon Duncan
Participants: Thabiti Anyabwile, Carl Trueman, C.J. Mahaney, David Platt

Contextualization: Lost in Translation?

Moderator: Mark Dever
Participants: Matt Chandler, Kevin DeYoung, Al Mohler, Thabiti Anyabwile

Preaching: Is There a Plan B?

Moderator: Al Mohler
Participants: Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, C.J. Mahaney

Complementarianism: Essential or Expendable?

Moderator: Ligon Duncan
Participants: Russell Moore, Greg Gilbert, John Piper

Inerrancy: Did God Really Say . . . ?

Moderator: Mark Dever
Participants: Simon Gathercole, Peter Williams, Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler, John Piper

Gay Marriage: Now What?

Moderator: Mark Dever
Participant: Al Mohler

You can listen to or watch all of the 2012 Desiring God Conference for Pastors here.

Dr. Moore sees Mammon worship as the root idol at play, and cautions Christians not to try to win at this game.

Here is his conclusion:

We don’t need a Christian foundation to compete with the merchants of death. We don’t need one more coalition with enough signatures to counter the threatened boycotts of the abortion rights peddlers. And we sure don’t need to sell bumper stickers with a line drawn through a pink ribbon.

What we need, first of all, are churches who recognize that this isn’t all that surprising. Mammon is a jealous god, and he’s armed to the teeth. We need to create the kind of counter-culture that constantly shines the light of Christ wherever these false gods exist in our own affections. And then we need to demonstrate what it means to believe that a person’s life consists in more than the abundance of his possessions.

Let’s stop highlighting how God “blesses” the millionaire who tithes. Let’s stop trumpeting the celebrity football players and beauty queens as evidence of God’s blessing. Let’s show that God has blessed us in a Christ who never had a successful career or a balanced bank account, but who was blessed by God with life, and with children that no one can number, from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language.

Planned Parenthood has won this one. They spent a lot of money, and they’ll make a lot of money. And they’ll do so off the shredded corpses of children and the raped consciences of women. If Jesus’ kingdom were of this world, we’d be fundraising to keep up with them.

But what we have is greater than that. We have a word that tells a pregnant young woman that we believe her Down Syndrome baby is a gift, not a health care burden. And we can offer the kind of gospel that cleanses the conscience and offers what outlasts money and power: life and that to the uttermost.

Let’s work to legally protect women and children. And let’s grieve that old Mammon has won the day, again. But let’s not grieve like the pagans who have no hope. When it comes to the struggle for life, the color of victory isn’t pink like a ribbon. It’s red like a cross.

Read the whole thing.

Controversy customarily generates its share of purple prose. It is very easy to read everything an opponent says as negatively as possible. . . . Such debate tends to generate polarities—and God knows that sometimes what we most need are clear-sighted polarities. Some of these polarities, however, quickly take on the flavor of party spirit and predictable responses, without any powerful effort to encourage a meeting of minds, even where we end up in disagreement.

But controversy can also provide a teaching moment, not least because the interest of many people is focused on the disputed issues. It is hard to deny that such a moment has arrived. We would like to offer some theological reflections on six conceptual pairings. We have learned over the past few decades that clear thought about the six pairings we are about to comment on is not easy. Others may be able to improve upon our musings, or even correct them. Still, we hope that the following theological reflections will clarify at least a few issues for some people.

The six pairings of reflections are as follows:

1. Persons and Manifestations
2. Biblicism One and Biblicism Two
3. Prosperity Gospel and Empowerment
4. Love and Truth
5. Racism and Playing the Race Card
6. Private and Public

They conclude:

The purpose of this post is not to provide a re-hash of recent events, still less to assign blame. It is to provide some theological and pastoral reflection on the interlocking issues with which we have been wrestling.

Read the whole thing here.

As Denny Burk notes, “He had some serious and prophetic words about the humanity of the unborn. He even spoke about having a biblical view of sexuality. All of this with the President sitting just a few feet away. This was a courageous talk delivered with winsomeness and joy.”

Thabiti Anyabwile, “Will Your Gospel Transform a Terrorist?” (1 Tim. 1:12-17)

David Platt, “Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions”

Kevin DeYoung, “Spirit-Powered, Gospel-Driven, Faith-Fueled Effort” (1 Cor. 15:10)

Mark Dever, “False Conversions: The Suicide of the Church”

Ligon Duncan, “The Underestimated God: God’s Ruthless, Compassionate Grace in the Pursuit of His Own Glory and His Ministers’ Joy (1 Kings 19)

Matt Chandler, “The Fulfillment of the Gospel” (Rev 21 & 22)

John Piper, “Glory, Majesty, Dominion, and Authority Keep Us Safe for Everlasting Joy: Reflections on God’s Keeping Power through 32 Years of Ministry” (Jude 1:24-25)

Al Mohler, “The Power of the Articulated Gospel” (Romans 10)

C.J. Mahaney, “The Sustaining Power of the Gospel” (2 Corinthians 4)

As Dane Ortlund points out, Dr. Bayer is the author of the notes on Mark for the ESV Study Bible, the author of a commentary on Mark (in German), and the author of a forthcoming book on christology and discipleship in Mark.

“There are many expositions of 1 Corinthians 13, the Love Chapter, but not many where at every point the preacher shows how God’s love in Christ Jesus is the very best exposition and truest embodiment of love. Unpacking the love chapter through this prism, Phil Ryken lends great clarity to Paul’s meditation on love and shows how such love drives us back to renewed adoration of Christ. Reflecting on how Christ, by his life and death, makes 1 Corinthians 13 leap from the page drives home the frequent lovelessness of our own lives, strips bare all notions of love that are little more than sentimental twaddle, and provides a concrete robustness to love that is part and parcel of trusting and following Christ.”
—D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“Jesus said, ‘By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ But what does it mean to love others? By looking at the love of Jesus in the light of 1 Corinthians 13, Phil Ryken gives us the Biblical answer. Loving the Way Jesus Loves is surely one of the most heart searching books I have ever read. This book is must reading for all who want to grow in Christian love.”
—Jerry Bridges, author, The Pursuit of Holiness

“As usual, Phil Ryken hides his deep scholarship behind readable prose. But the footnotes reveal that he draws on some of the most penetrating scholarly treatments of St Paul’s text. He combines all that with pastoral experience and insight. The result is a masterful, accessible exposition of this great chapter.”
—Timothy J. Keller, Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City; bestselling author, The Reason for God

You can read 20 pages or so of the book online for free.