Peter Jensen – Three Strategies to Soften the Offense of the Cross

This quote was taken from Albert Mohler’s blog.

[T]he contemporary church uses three strategies to soften the offence caused by the cross. The first is to cloud the whole thing with mystery. We are permitted to say that Jesus died for us but we are not permitted to say what this means and how it relates to sin and wrath and judgment. Second, is to offer some other explanation for the cross than what the Bible itself says. We are told that the cross occurred solely to demonstrate the solidarity of God with us in our suffering. Third, is to ignore the cross altogether and find the centre of Jesus’ mission in the incarnation or even worse in his present friendship for us, sung about in endless trivial songs.The wrath of God is as real as your sin. The only thing which can satisfy the wrath of God is a satisfaction paid for your sin provided by God himself. Jesus has done this by dying for you on the cross, saving you ‘from the wrath to come’. Whether we like it or not, that is the heart of the gospel. Turn the wrath of God into something else, or ignore it, and you will not have Christianity, but some other religious look-alike. That is our choice. – Dr. Peter Jensen

Well said!

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For the kids: Men O’ War

HT: Rebelution

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Guitar Lesson: Wildwood Flower

I just discovered BluegrassGuitar.com. They have a concise tutorial of the techniques used to play Wildwood Flower, a Bluegrass classic by the Carter Family. You will be required to install a plug-in to view the tablature, but it is worth it.

If you like that, you might also want to put this in your Netflix queue.

Or download the original song from archive.org.

Would you guess one of my favorite movies is “O Brother, Where Art Thou?“

God knows why faith is thriving – SFGate.com

Dinesh D’Souze has an interesting article over at sfgate.com in response to some of the new books out by guys like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.

The Rev. Ron Carlson, a popular author and lecturer, sometimes presents his audience with two stories and asks them whether it matters which one is true.

In the secular account, “You are the descendant of a tiny cell of primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and are going nowhere.”

In the Christian view, by contrast, “You are the special creation of a good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and affection that He gave the life of His only son that you might spend eternity with him.”

Now imagine two groups of people — let’s call them the Secular Tribe and the Religious Tribe — who subscribe to one of these two views. Which of the two is more likely to survive, prosper and multiply?

Related Links:
Albert Mohler – Dawkins and the God Delusion Revisted
Albert Mohler Radio – Sam Harris author of “A Letter To A Christian Nation”
John Piper – Meditations After a Monday at Barnes & Noble
NPR Interview – Sam Harris
NPR Interview – Richard Dawkins
Dawkins Outclassed On Irish Radio
Stand To Reason – Christianity’s Real Record

Dawkins on the Colbert Report

Sam Harris – Idea City 05

Response Ad to Michael J. Fox

Related Links:
Deceptive Ad
Life Training Institute Blog
Stand To Reason on Michael J. Fox video.

Who Is David Wells?

I really had no idea who David Wells was until this year. Wells spoke last month at the national conference for Desiring God ministries. I recently listened to an informative interview with him. The interview covers his background (he lived with John Stott for 6 years in the 60’s), his influences, and the thesis of each of his four major books. Take notes if you want to keep things straight, it covers a lot of ground.

9 Marks Interview with David Wells

My interest in Wells was peaked when I watched the promotional videos for the conference. I recommend you listen to the 9 Marks interview first then watch the videos.

Desiring God 2006 National Conference Promotional Videos

This is a link to his most recent book (some really good comments here, read the one by Doug Groothius)

Amazon.com – Above All Earthly Powers by David Wells

Just because I can never resist cramming in one more resource, if you do get to listen to the 9 Marks interview with Wells and you like it, then you will probably also really like this interview with Carl Trueman.

9 Marks Interview with Carl Trueman

I am going to have to go through it again sometime just to write down the huge list of authors that he recommends reading.

Real Men Of Genius – Mr. Texas Guy

Well the Cowboys are about to lose another big one, but hey Romo had a few good drives. Budweiser has a series of commercials called “Real Men Of Genius”, some are pretty funny. Well now they have Mr. Texas Guy. This is really funny, click the link to listen.

Mr. Way Too Proud of Texas Guy

Dr. Phil – The Great School Debate

I wish I could say this article about an upcoming Dr. Phil show was shocking (provided the analysis correlates to what airs) but it is not. This type of sensationalist distortion is pretty typical of the main stream media. I also see that Dr. Phil’s wife, Robin McGraw, is a speaker at the Women of Faith Conference. The bio reads…

Robin accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior as a young girl. She lives her life each and every day with a deep and abiding faith in God. The values and principles she learned growing up in a loving and Christian home in Duncan, Oklahoma creates the foundation of how she lives her life today. She and her husband, Dr. Phil, made the commitment early on in their relationship to be God centered in their marriage and in their roles as parents. Prayer, worship and fellowship are important aspects of the McGraw’s lives.

I hope the show isn’t as bad as the article makes out, if so one has to question its commitment to truth. I found the reviews of Robin’s book interesting, it isn’t going to make my wish-list.

Other home-school links of interest…

• Al Mohler Radio Show “Protecting Parents’ Right To Educate Their Children“
• NPR Fresh Air – “Patrick Henry College’s Michael Farris“
  Michael Farris is the co-founder of Home School Legal Defense Association and the president of Patrick Henry College, the first university in America for Christian home-schooled children. The school, located in Purcellville, Va., grooms its students for leadership.
• World Net Daily – German Woman Arrested for Homeschooling
• Journal of College Admission – Homeschoolers On To College: What The Research Shows (this article paints a more realistic analysis of homeschooling and its results).

The Cows Are In The Corn

This got me laughing pretty hard.
The Cows Are in The Corn

Wilberforce on Prayer

“This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours! I suspect I have been allotting habitually too little time to religious exercises, as private devotion and religious meditation, Scripture-reading, etc. Hence I am lean and cold and hard. I had better allot two hours or an hour and a half daily. I have been keeping too late hours, and hence have had but a hurried half hour in a morning to myself. Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul will grow lean. But all may be done through prayer — almighty prayer, I am ready to say — and why not? For that it is almighty is only through the gracious ordination of the God of love and truth. O then, pray, pray, pray!” – William Wilberforce

You may also enjoy reading “Power Through Prayer” by E.M. Bounds.