D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 1993.

More info:

• WTS Books | Amazon | Free PDF
• my brief review
• Matthew Hoskinson’s review

Take a moment to scan the subject index, and don’t be surprised if it makes you want to read the book.

I learned about it in mid-January when I received this update from The Master’s Seminary. Jay Underwood, one of their graduates, co-stars in the film.

More info:

• about
• trailer
• cast
• pics
• videos

Update: Justin Taylor recommends No Greater Love.

Some excerpts:

• Conservative evangelicals are different from Fundamentalists, but they are not new evangelicals.
• Conservative evangelicals have majored on the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God.
• Nevertheless, some Fundamentalists have managed to convince themselves that conservative evangelicals are the enemy.
• [Some fundamentalist leaders are] recognizing that the Fundamentalist label is no guarantee of doctrinal fidelity. They are aware that historic, mainstream Fundamentalism has more in common with conservative evangelicals than it does with many who wear the Fundamentalist label.
• Conservative evangelicals are not our enemies. They are not our opponents. Conservative evangelicals have proven themselves to be allies and even leaders in the defense of the faith.
• If we attack conservative evangelicals, then we attack the defense of the faith.

The version of this essay that appeared in my inbox this afternoon concludes with these two paragraphs:

If we believe that we must respond to conservative evangelicalism, then let us begin by addressing the areas in which they have exposed our weakness. Let us refocus our attention upon the exaltation of God. Let us exalt, apply, and defend the gospel in all its fullness. If we were more like what we ought to be, perhaps we would feel less threatened by those whose exploits attract the attention of our followers.

Whatever our differences, I thank God for John Piper. I thank God for Mark Dever. I thank God for John MacArthur. I thank God for D. A. Carson. I thank God for a coalition of Christian leaders who have directed our focus to the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God. May their defense of the biblical faith prosper.

Read the whole thing: PDF | HTML.

Update:

1. Dave Doran responds to Kevin Bauder.
2. Chris Anderson responds to both Bauder and Doran.
3. Dave Doran responds again.

That arresting analogy is the opening line to N. T. Wright’s The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture. (Incidentally, it’s not the best sandcastle. Watch D. A. Carson knock it over [pp. 45–62].)

If you haven’t watched the six fifteen-to-twenty-minute “Modern Parables,” that would be time well spent. You can watch them all for free online.

Here is an abridged version of my thoughts on these parable-films after I watched them in September 2008.

1. General Comments on the Modern Parables

Strengths

1. Thought-provoking. They encourage a consuming preoccupation with God’s word (i.e., meditation).
2. Parallel. They are based on common, everyday situations (i.e., typical people and events), which parallels Jesus’ parables.
3. Quality. They are professionally done. They are simple and executed well.
4. Variety. They are shot in different genres.
5. Endorsed by scholars. For example, Craig Blomberg, a parable-scholar, highly recommends them.

Qualifications

1. Unclear. Most of the application videos are surprisingly weak and unclear. Not recommended. (They don’t appear to be available for free online.)
2. Limitations. Turning parable-texts into these parable-films has some limitations and potential pitfalls. (1) It changes the genre in a way that does not adequately capture the text’s context. For example, not one of the parable-films adequately captures the immediate context of the parable, let alone the broader context of the section and book in which it occurs. (2) It could be abused as a crutch for exegesis and exposition or as something that is more exciting than the God-breathed text.
3. Missing the gospel. This is definitely not a stand-alone means of evangelism because the gospel is virtually absent in the films. Those who are biblically illiterate could radically misinterpret the films and completely miss the gospel. The videos are only supplementary illustrations to the text. (But they could be extraordinarily useful when used in the right context.)

2. Specific Comments on Each Parable

1. Hidden Treasure. Substituting oil for hidden treasure communicates more clearly in our culture. The acting is slapstick.
2. Samaritan. Sobering and convicting. It leaves some gaps in parallels with the biblical parable.
3. The Shrewd Manager. The biblical parable probably does not connect well with most people in our culture, but this video does.
4. The Widow and Judge. Slower pace and more artistic license than the previous ones.
5. The Sower. This isn’t exactly a story. This film is nowhere near as engaging as the others. Probably the least effective.
6. Prodigal Sons. By far the best film. Moving.

Check out endorsements by D. A. Carson, Mark Dever, C. J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, Carl Trueman, and Justin Taylor.

A 5,000-piece puzzle of “Neuschwanstein and Surroundings”

I am not saying that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle of five thousand pieces and that all the five thousand pieces are provided, so that with time and thought the entire picture may be completed. Rather, I am suggesting that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle that provides five thousand pieces along with the assurance that these pieces all belong to the same puzzle, even though ninety-five thousand pieces (the relative figures are unimportant for my analogy) are missing. Most of the pieces that are provided, the instructions insist, fit together rather nicely; but there are a lot of gaping holes, a lot of edges that cry out to be completed, and some clusters of pieces that seem to be on their own. Nevertheless, the assurance that all of the pieces do belong to one puzzle is helpful, for that makes it possible to develop the systematic theology, even though the systematic theology is not going to be completed until we receive more pieces from the One who made it. And meanwhile, even some systematicians who believe that all the pieces belong to the same puzzle are not very adept puzzle players but sometimes force pieces into slots where they don’t really belong. The picture gets distorted somewhat, but it remains basically recognizable.

Introducing the New Testament: A Short Guide to Its History and Message. By D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo. Edited by Andrew David Naselli. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.

• This 160-page book abridges Carson and Moo’s 781-page An Introduction to the New Testament (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005).
• You can pre-order it from Amazon and WTS Books.
• WTS Books includes a PDF with some sample pages (including the TOC).

Peter T. O’Brien. The Letter to the Hebrews. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

Check out the 77-page PDF that samples the 600-page book.

From Carson’s preface (pp. xi–xii):

With his many years of service as scholar, missionary, and long-time lecturer at Moore Theological College, Peter O’Brien has earned a reputation that is well-nigh unique. It is the combination of virtues that is compelling: great care in handling the Scriptures, fairness in dealing with the views of others, a characteristic understatement combined with a passion for the centrality of the gospel, and, uniting all the rest, a gentleness of spirit that has captured the minds and hearts of colleagues, friends, and several decades of students. In the cutthroat world of scholarship it is difficult to find someone who will say a bad word about Peter O’Brien.

Among commentary readers Dr. O’Brien is doubtless best known for his commentaries on Paul’s prison epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. The volume on Ephesians, of course, is published in the Pillar series, and it has become one of the “standard” works on that letter, not least for those preparing to teach and preach the text. Here Dr. O’Brien branches outside the Pauline corpus. The most recent six years of his life have been devoted to Hebrews, a book not always easy to understand but demonstrably important for Christians who want to know how first-century believers read the old covenant Scriptures. Such inquiry is the first step in building up a profoundly biblical theology, a profoundly canonical theology. It would be difficult to find a more helpful guide than Dr. O’Brien, or a guide better endowed with his combination of competence and genial wisdom. It is a pleasure to commend this work by a dear friend.

Related: Cf. my review of the Pillar NT Commentary series.

D. A. Carson. Collected Writings on Scripture. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.

It reprints and slightly updates five essays and five reviews:

1. Approaching the Bible
2. Recent Developments in the Doctrine of Scripture
3. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: The Possibility of Systematic Theology
4. Redaction Criticism: On the Legitimacy and Illegitimacy of a Literary Tool
5. Is the Doctrine of Claritas Scripturae Still Relevant Today?
6. Three Books on the Bible: A Critical Review
7. Three More Books on the Bible: A Critical Review
8. Review of Jeffrey L. Sheler, Is the Bible True?
9. Review of Alan G. Padgett and Patrick R. Keifert, eds., But Is It All True?
10. Review of Roland Boer, Rescuing the Bible

How would you approach a congregation trapped in years of legalistic tradition?

The Shepherds’ Fellowship granted me permission to upload an MP3 of MacArthur’s 5-minute-and-20-second answer.

Here’s a summary. (It’s not a transcript, but it’s close. The headings are mine.)

1. Love them by not needlessly offending them.

• Advice. “I would not attack legalism. I would not preach on Christian liberty. I would not assault their consciences either by flaunting liberty on a personal level.”
• Scriptural principle. “I think there is a very important principle that comes at the end of 1 Corinthians 10 . . . . Do you offend the non-believer, or do you offend your weaker brother? The answer in that text is you offend the non-believer, and the message that the non-believer gets is that you love one another. . . . You defer always to the weaker brother.”
• Definition of legalism. “In many cases when you’re talking about legalism, you’re not talking really about works-salvation. You’re talking, I assume, about an approach to the Christian life that is needlessly restrictive and narrow and artificially constructed around certain behaviors that aren’t even biblical issues.”
• Application. “What you need to do is to understand that’s where they are, and you want to demonstrate love to them because that’s how people know that Christ has changed your life, because you are demonstrably sacrificial and loving to those people who maybe think differently than you do.”

2. Understand that convictions—whether right or wrong—inform the conscience.

• “You also have to understand that the conscience is a mechanism given by God to everyone. It is a device. It is a mechanism by which we are excused or accused, right (Romans 2)? It is informed by our convictions. Conscience is informed by conviction.”
• Illustration. “I suppose no one has a more highly informed and aggressive conscience than a Muslim terrorist, right? They do what they do with passion to the point of their own suicide, believing that they’re gonna end up with seventy-two virgins on pillows in the next life. Their conscience frees them to do what they do because it is informed by a set of convictions that have been drummed into them.”

3. Slowly re-educate their conscience by exalting Jesus.

• Challenge. “When it comes into the Christian realm, you have a dilemma between re-informing them [and] at the same time that you don’t train them to ignore their conscience or after they’re re-informed, they’re gonna be used to doing what their conscience tells them. That’s why Paul is so clear on that at the end of Romans. . . . You can’t train people to ignore conscience. You have to take the long-term approach to re-inform the conscience.”
• First step. “I would suggest that the first way to do that is to move people off the rules they live by on to the person of Jesus Christ, and just preach the glories of Christ. Get in a Gospel and stay there until those people have been liberated from rules to love for Christ, until they have been literally swept away in awe and wonder over their affections for Jesus Christ. Rather than try to instruct them on the biblical disciplines, which again is just another set of rules, let them be lost in wonder, love, and praise over the person of Christ, and you watch those things begin to disappear.”

Related: “Free Shepherds’ Conference Downloads“

It’s the book’s third edition. The first was in 1993.

• If you’re already on Grace to You’s mailing list, then you’ll have an opportunity to request your free copy shortly.
• If not, sign up here. The deal expires February 17.

It’s based on five sermons that Carson preached in December 2008:

1. The Ironies of the Cross (Matthew 27:27–51a)
2. The Center of the Whole Bible (Romans 3:21–26)
3. The Strange Triumph of a Slaughtered Lamb (Revelation 12)
4. A Miracle Full of Surprises (John 11:1–53)
5. Doubting the Resurrection of Jesus (John 20:24–31)

Have you had a chance to use the Olive Tree Bible app at all? Any thoughts on comparisons with the Logos app?

I replied,

I haven’t used the various Olive Tree apps because my understanding is that Logos can do everything they can and more (esp. if you use Logos 4) for free. I may be wrong on that.

Well, I was wrong on that—at least for now.

1. What is Olive Tree Bible software?

Here’s how it describes itself:

Olive Tree Bible Software provides mobile Bible versions and study tools for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm OS, Pocket PC, Smartphone and Symbian cell phones. We currently offer over 500 mobile resources including over 100 translations of the Bible as well as commentaries, dictionaries, devotionals, eBooks, and Strong’s numbering system. The Bible is offered in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Chinese and many others. Original Hebrew and Greek texts are also available. Additionally, we provide online web and cell phone (WAP) Bible search engines.

2. What does Olive Tree Bible software offer for the iPhone and iPod Touch?

1. Bibles. Hebrew, Greek, LXX, ESV, NIV, NASB, NET, NLT, The Message, and more.
2. Study Bibles. ESVSB, NET notes, NIVSB, NLTSB, and more.
3. Bible study tools and academic resources. Bible Knowledge Commentary, MacArthur NT Commentary series, ISBE, Grudem’s Systematic Theology, and much more.
4. Devotional resources. Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and more (including many by Andrew Murray, a prominent proponent of Keswick theology).
5. eBooks. Charles Spurgeon, John Piper, John MacArthur, and more.
6. Free items

3. How does Olive Tree Bible software for the iPhone and iPod Touch compare to the Logos Bible Software app?

Pros

1. Its basic layout is easier to use than Logos. It’s very intuitive. Split-screen reading is very nice, for example, if you want to have a Bible  on the top half and a lexicon, study Bible, or commentary on the bottom half.
2. It’s customizable. You can easily choose your preferred settings for fonts, colors, split windows, pop-up windows, and scrolling methods.
3. It has offline access, so it doesn’t require an Internet connection. (Logos recently added basic offline support in their latest version.)
4. Like Logos, it offers good Bible versions and other resources.
5. Like Logos, the basic platform is free.
6. Like Logos, it offers many free resources. Many are by John Piper.
7. The Hebrew and Greek Bibles are morphologically tagged and searchable. Logos has parsing with glosses for Hebrew using their Andersen-Forbes Hebrew text and for Greek with their UBS4 text with Swanson’s morphology. Logos also has morphologically tagged Greek and Hebrew tied to English Bibles with reverse interlinears (e.g., if you click on a word in the ESV, it looks up the underlying Greek word). But Logos does not yet have the ability to do morphological searches like Olive Tree does now.
8. Personal notes are accessible by verse in any Bible version across your library and synced to your desktop with Evernote. Logos does not have notes yet.

Cons

1. Its products are expensive. For example, the NASB is $24; the ESVSB is $34.95; Grudem’s Systematic Theology is $39.96; NA27 with morphology and UBS dictionary is $60; BHS with morphology and BDB lexicon is $70; and LXX with parsing and LEH lexicon is $75.  Logos gives you free access to the content you already own, so there is no need to repurchase anything. Logos also offers several products for free, including Bibles (ESV, NIV, NLT, NKJV).
2. Its resources are relatively limited: over 500 resources. Logos offers over 10,000 resources, and currently about 3,000 of these are available on the iPhone (and the number is growing quickly as Logos secures rights and converts titles).
3. Its product is more focused than Logos. Olive Tree’s sole product is Bible software for mobile phones; Logos has focused primarily on Bible software for computers and has just recently branched out to the iPhone and other mobile devices. Logos has the advantage here because it’s an electronic package that includes both computers and cell phones. The huge advantage for Logos users is that they don’t repurchase any content. A smaller advantage is that Logos 4 and the iPhone sync with each other, remembering things such as your last location in book, reading plans, favorites, and preferred resources.

Conclusions

1. The Olive Tree app is currently better than the Logos app for most things you would use biblical resources on your iPhone for: reading the Bible and very basic Bible study.
2. The Olive Tree app is probably a better choice for people who don’t use Logos 4.
3. The Logos app is a better choice for people who use Logos 4.

Disclosure of Material Connection (in compliance with Federal Trade Commission guidelines):  I received these mobile Bible study resources as free review copies from Olive Tree Bible Software.  I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions I have expressed are my own.  The Olive Tree BibleReader program is available for free on OliveTree.com and iTunes.

My 3GS model is 16 GB and weighs 4.8 ounces. That means that the little phone I keep in my pocket holds eight times as much space as the laptop I used from college through my first PhD (1998–2006).

If you have an iPhone (or iPod Touch), these resources may help you use the tool more efficiently.

1. iPhone Apps

The iPhone comes with several apps already installed, and over 100,000 apps are available through the iTunes Store.

Here’s a screen-shot of my apps as they appear iTunes (click on the image to enlarge):

• Cf. Phil Gons’s list of the main iPhone apps that he uses on his iPod Touch.
• My favorite apps include Logos Bible Software (more info), Google Mobile App, Dragon Dictation, Red Laser ($1.99), Dropbox, and Mint.com Personal Finance.
• There are many other useful apps that I’ve chosen not to use for various reasons (e.g., PIM, news, sports).

Here are some practices I’ve found to be helpful:

1. Organize your apps. (It’s easier to do this in iTunes than on your iPhone.) Arrange your apps in a logical order on your iPhone screens. I put my most frequently used apps on the first screen and then group the rest by categories (e.g., weather).
2. Delete apps you won’t use. Don’t simply delete them from the screen on your iPhone but delete them from iTunes: select Applications > right-click an app > delete. (Navigate to “Applications” listed on the left pane under “Library”—not the “Applications” tab for your iPhone, which appears under “Devices.”)

2. iPhone Filtering and Accountability

The iPhone is completely unfiltered. I’m too weak to use a phone like that, so I considered several filtering options.

1. X3watch (free app). This is what I’ve been using without a glitch. It’s not an Internet-filter, but it weekly emails my wife and two accountability partners a list of sites I visited that may contain questionable material.
2. Safe Eyes Mobile ($19.99 app). I tried this first because my family already uses Safe Eyes on our computers, but I was really disappointed. Even after several email exchanges with the Safe Eyes customer support team, I couldn’t successfully or easily access two of the primary sites I use the browser for: Gmail and Google Reader. I hope this app improves.
3. iNet SafetyBubble ($19.99 app). I didn’t try this.
4. Mobicip Safe Browser ($4.99 app). I didn’t try this.
5. Covenant Eyes (free app). Although it’s “free,” it requires an account with Covenant Eyes, which costs $8 per month merely to email out a list of sites you visited. This would be ideal if you already use Covenant Eyes on your computer(s).
6. OpenDNS (free but not an app). This is merely a partial solution because it applies only when your iPhone or iPod Touch is connected to the Internet via your home Wi-Fi Network. OpenDNS can block sites at the router level, so it automatically blocks sites regardless of whether you’re connected via desktop, laptop, or iPod Touch. It is not tied to a particular browser.

There is not a way to use Safari, Apple’s Internet-browser for the iPhone, in a filtered way. The only option is to disable Safari (and ask another person to type in the restrictions password) and then use a different browser that can be filtered or monitored. (Options 1–5 above include their own browser as an alternative to Safari.) Unfortunately, not using Safari means that you may lose a small degree of functionality (e.g., I haven’t been able to get the Amazon Kindle App to work).

Related: See my co-authored post on accountability and other posts on purity.

3. Other iPhone Suggestions

Here are some other options I’ve found to be helpful:

1. Use Google Sync (instructions) if you use Gmail and Google Calendar and if you organize your contacts in Gmail.
2. If you use Gmail, set the home page of your non-Safari Internet browser to Gmail. That way you can use its features more easily (e.g., labels, archive, stars), which is important if you maintain an organized inbox. While logged in to Gmail, you can quickly tab over to other Google programs like Google Calendar, Google Reader, and Google Tasks. Unfortunately, I’m not able to use some of the Google Apps because I’ve disabled Safari. This is probably my biggest drawback of disabling Safari because otherwise my top three apps would be Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Reader. I’ve synced the iPhone’s built-in email and calendar with Gmail and Google Calendar, so sometimes it’s quicker to use those even though they lack some functionality.
3. Use a case. If your phone breaks, it may cost you $600 to replace it. I use an Otterbox Impact Case for good protection and grip. Some of my friends use Slider Case, CaseCrown, and InvisibleSHIELD.
4. Increase your battery life by turning off push notifications (among other things). Or if you value battery-depleting features, consider purchasing a Kensington Battery Pack and Charger.
5. Create your own ringtones. You can assign them as custom ringtones for selected contacts, and you can also use them as the alarm for timers and alarm clocks.
6. If you have a Google Voice number, don’t use the iPhone’s voice mail but instead forward all messages to your Google Voice inbox. Then when people leave you a message, you’ll get a transcript of it in your email inbox, where you can also opt to listen to the audio. You can also check your Google Voice mail from any phone or directly check your Google Voice inbox online.
7. Use Voice Control. Press and hold the home button for a few seconds to activate it. This feature works accurately for me when I speak directly into the speakers at the bottom of the phone (located next to where you plug in the charger).
8. Use screen-capture by holding down the home button and quickly pressing the top sleep-button (or vice versa). It will snap a pic and automatically add it in your photos.

Feedback

I’d warmly welcome feedback on these iPhone (and iPod Touch) resources, especially since I’m an inexperienced user.

1. What are your favorite apps? What apps (other than games) would you recommend?
2. Do you have any other suggestions or helpful comments re filtering?
3. Do you have any other suggestions?

(Jenni and I are currently listening to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy [1, 2, 3] in which the “One Ring to rule them all” is prominent.)