The Gospel Coalition

You might walk into a bear.

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Seven links for your weekend reading:

1. Build Your Digital Library at $2.00 per Commentary (Amazing deal!)

2. Why Americans Are Becoming More Pro-Life

3. What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are Pro-Choice

4. CNN: "The Demise of Guys" - How Video Games and Porn Are Ruining a Generation

5. Young Evangelicals Still at War? A Review of A Faith of Our Own

6. Southern Presbyterians Lose Third of Members, But Amicably

7. He...

Anticipation fills the air. The game is about to begin. Suddenly, a voice booms from the stadium speakers and a hush falls over thousands of people. It's time for the National Anthem. Some stand with hand over heart while others salute the rippling flag. Before the whistle blows and the spectators cheer, everyone pauses for a moment to listen. It reminds us who we are. No matter which team we cheer on to victory, we're Americans, and our enthusiasm for the game is set against the backdrop of devotion to our country.

Imagine people protesting the singing of the Anthem before the game, saying it is boring, ritualistic, and meaningless. "I mean no disrespect," one says, "but aren't there better ways to show our patriotism than by singing the National Anthem before...

7 Ways to Get to Christ in the Old Testament:

You see Jesus himself is the great theme and story of the Bible; all other stories point to him! I want to share seven ways to get to Christ from the Old Testament. Hopefully these will help you avoid the mistake that I (and others) have made as you study the scriptures.

Catacomb Christianity and Cathedral Christianity:

The catacombs, of course, are the legacy of a tiny persecuted band of believers, meeting in their graveyards to escape the all-seeing eye of imperial Rome. The cathedrals represent a very different turn in church history: a church that not only could grow in size but could, in fact, outgrow and outlast the Empire itself. The catacombs represent simplicity and earthiness; the cathedrals transcendence and wonder.

We need both, somehow.

HHS Doesn't Speak for Me, Or Many Women:

Tens of thousands of thoughtful women

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Sarah Lanier's Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot - And Cold - Climate Cultures (McDougal Publishing, 2000) is a helpful little book for anyone involved in cross-cultural ministry. A seasoned missionary, Lanier recounts many stories that help provide insight into the reasons why people react in distinct ways in different cultures. The book describes some of the differences between what Lanier calls "hot-climate" and "cold-climate" cultures.

Here is an example: cold-climate cultures are task driven while warm-climate cultures are relationship driven. We in the West tend to think about getting something done and getting it done on time. Those in warm climate cultures consider the entire event.

• In some places it is offensive to arrive to dinner on time (because it makes it seem like you are only arriving for the task and not the relationship).


• In other places it is offensive to arrive to dinner late (because

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Your Greatest Contribution:

Have you ever considered that your greatest contribution to the cause of Christ just might be the time you spend in intercessory prayer for your children and others we consider to be part of this "next generation"?

What a Comedian Taught Me About Parenting:

Some parents are permissive and lazy. Others are over-bearing kill-joys. Sadly, many of us manage to be both. I say: keep them safe, keep them away from sin, give them the gospel, and let the good times roll. Hey, I wouldn't mind being five again. So why make the five year-old miserable because she likes being five too. Kids are kids. And we'd be better and happier parents with better and happier kids if we allowed that sometimes the joy in their silly, childlike hearts is worth more than the paint on our precious parent-like walls.

Too Catholic to Be Catholic:

My

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Ever used the phrase "Already / Not Yet" to describe the timing of God's kingdom? If so, you're indebted to George Eldon Ladd, longtime professor at Fuller Seminary and one of the most influential evangelical scholars of the 1900's.

Ladd broke through the sterile debates about whether the kingdom of God was a present, spiritual reality or a future, earthly reality. He popularized a view of the kingdom as having two dimensions: "already/not yet." Ladd was also one of the first solid evangelical scholars to go outside the fundamentalist camp in order to interact with liberal scholars in the academy, men like Rudolph Bultmann.

For a biographical overview of Ladd's life and work, I suggest A Place at the Table: George Eldon Ladd and the Rehabilitation of Evangelical Scholarship in America...

If Christ is Lord, Everything Matters:

What then does it mean to live in the light of eternity? It begins with recognising that the "all" in the statement above refers to the whole of created reality. This is where the root of the problem often lies, for many Christians have a narrow view of creation that does not go beyond the physical stuff that we can see and touch. But creation includes the whole of our creaturely existence, the norms and laws and structures that God has woven into the fabric of reality that guide and give shape to our life on this earth.

The Gospel is Offensive. Nothing Else Should Be.

Pastors, continue to preach the unfiltered gospel. Run the risk of offending people with their sin and shocking them with the unending love of Jesus. But equip your people to set the table in such a way

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I'm on vacation this week with the family and have chosen some older posts to re-run. Here's a thought-provoking quote from Tim Keller:

"If you don't trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct your thinking, how could you ever have a personal relationship with God? In any truly personal relationship, the other person has to be able to contradict you.

"For example, if a wife is not allowed to contradict her husband, they won't have an intimate relationship. Remember the (two!) movies The Stepford Wives? The husbands of Stepford, Connecticut, decide to have their wives turned into robots who never cross the wills of their husbands. A Stepford wife was wonderfully compliant and beautiful, but no one would describe such a marriage as intimate or personal.

"Now, what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will?...

Jefferson Bethke: 10 Things You Have to Do if You Want the Next Generation to Listen

I've noticed the biggest thing my generation wants is just someone who tells it how it is. They just want someone who lays it all out there and has firm convictions about what they believe. My generation just wants authenticity.

Ronald Reagan's answer to a boy who asked for federal funds to clean his room

Ed Stetzer's daughter is home from the hospital. But those in the southeast ought to be on the look-out for tick-borne illnesses, as this story in The Tennessean shows.

"“Everyone has heard of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but I had no idea how serious this was," Stetzer said. "You are having conversations about mortality rates and everything else. We've been pretty worn out, but right now we're just relieved."

Dunn said it is not

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