Excellent Article on Eric Liddell

Eric Liddell is a modern day hero of mine who was both a world class runner and a committed missionary. Liddell is most well-known because of the movie Chariots of Fire. The film, which won best picture in 1981, tells part of the story of Liddell's life (along with that of fellow British sprinter Harold Abrahams). However, Chariots leaves out a great deal about Liddell. Albert Mohler recently wrote an excellent article entitled "God Made Me for China" — Eric Liddell Beyond Olympic Glory that discusses much more of Liddell's life, including his impact in Japanese controlled China during World War II. I highly encourage you to read it.

Linking: "The Future of American Education in One Disturbing Video That Shows What is Happening to Our Kids"

This video is both scary and accurate.

We have arrived in Orwell's 1984. The Thought Police are alive and well.

Linking: "The Celebrity Pastor Factory"

Skye Jethani has written a bold article entitled The Celebrity Pastor Factory. The author discusses the way in which publishing companies have an unhealthy influence on the rise of certain pastors to positions of celebrity within the church.

The money quote:

In summary, the rise and fall of any celebrity pastor is merely a symptom of an underlying malady within American evangelicalism. Why are there now so many celebrity pastors? Because they generate a lot of revenue for the Evangelical Industrial Complex. Why do these pastors fall with such regularity? Because the Evangelical Industrial Complex uses a business standard rather than a biblical standard when deciding which leaders to promote.

Throughout the piece the author explains how what he refers to as the Evangelical Industrial Complex drives the growing trend that is celebrity pastors. At the conclusion of the article he offers three suggestions for what we can do about this mess.

I encourage you to read Jethani's post. He has a perspective on this subject that I had not previously read.

(HT: Challies)

Linking: "Three Ways Christians Can Be Like Jesus Amidst a More Polarized Culture"

Ed Stetzer has written an excellent article entitled Three Ways Christians Can Be Like Jesus Amidst a More Polarized Culture. The author discusses research data that shows the increasing polarization of America. He then asks and answers the question, "How do we, as Christians, live in this new polarized reality?" His answer focuses on living like Jesus Christ. I encourage you to read it.

Linking: Doubling Up At Church – Filling Our Week With Extra Programs Because Sunday Isn’t Meeting Our Spiritual Needs

A few years ago Kathleen Ward wrote an excellent, short post that happens to have a long title: Doubling Up At Church – Filling Our Week With Extra Programs Because Sunday Isn’t Meeting Our Spiritual Needs. I highly encourage you to read it.

Kathleen points out that many churches are becoming increasingly busy because the folks desire community but aren't getting it on Sundays. The shape of the Sunday ceremony, pews and all, keeps the body from truly being together. This in turn forces increased meetings during the week just to be able to fellowship.

The Sunday form is the problem.

Linking: Is the Reformation Over?

Does justification by faith alone matter anymore? Is the Reformation over?

R.C. Sproul provides excellent answers to these questions as he deals with the critical topic of justification. Sproul is correct in saying that justification by faith alone is a core attribute of the biblical gospel. He points out how the Roman Catholic Church has steadfastly rejected the notion that faith is enough for salvation. Please read the post. It is relatively short and worth your time.


(HT: Arthur)

Thank You, Arthur Sido, for Writing This Important Blog Post

Arthur Sido has penned a critical post entitled Pitting Jesus Against The Bible. He addresses the growing segment within Christianity that claims to follow Jesus but not scripture. This, of course, allows these folks to create a Jesus of their own making and liking. It is delusional.

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about this specific topic. I even began piecing together a blog post about it. However, Arthur beat me to the punch. And he did an excellent job of it. I highly encourage you to visit his blog and read the post. It is a well-written rejection of the fairly modern idea that Christians can somehow know Jesus while ignoring much of the written revelation about Him.

Linking: "Contemporary Church Worship: A Liturgy of Entertainment?"

Read some excellent thoughts from Jeff Clarke on both the problem of church entertainment and the benefits of a superior way of gathering. He discusses these in his post entitled "Contemporary Church Worship: A Liturgy of Entertainment?"

Linking: The Imminent Decline of Contemporary Worship Music

I have no interest in the ongoing evangelical "worship wars." However, the older I get the more I prefer the great hymns of the faith to modern praise and worship choruses. While the hymns generally have both beautiful tunes and theological depth, the choruses seem designed to whip the audience into some sort of warm fuzzy through repetition. This difference does not always hold true; I'm speaking in generalities. Churches ought to sing a variety of songs of differing styles, all with sound theology.

The church would do well to reconsider its current love affair with praise and worship choruses. Frankly, it may just be the latest fad. Twenty years from now most of today's popular choruses will be long forgotten.

About a year ago T. David Gordon wrote an interesting piece entitled The Imminent Decline of Contemporary Worship Music: Eight Reasons. Gordon offers some solid insights into why modern worship music is already fading. While I don't agree with some of his views on church life, I do believe this article is worth reading.

Speaking of music, a few years ago I wrote a post named (not too creatively) My Top Ten Favorite Hymns. While I do not know whether or not all the links still function correctly, the hymns I've listed remain my favorites.

Linking: "We're All Sadists Now"

In his essay We're All Sadists Now Carl Trueman makes the case that the Marquis DeSade is the most influential thinker of our time. Now that is a frightening thought.

Linking: "America and Uniracial Christianity"

We've all experienced it: American churches are one-race dominated. They tend to be white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. Few churches I have ever been to have had a true mix of cultures and races.

Peter J. Leithart discusses the problematic single race issue in his excellent piece entitled America and Uniracial Christianity.

Linking: Why is Religious Freedom at Risk?

Ryan T. Anderson asks and answers the above question with some good thoughts.

Linking: The Single Most Practical Advice for Christians

Great article here.

Linking: The Coming of the Age of Gibberish

Carl Trueman nails it with this excellent article.

Excellent

This.

Linking: 12 Reasons America Doesn’t Win Its Wars

I don't link too often to articles that mostly focus on politics, but this one is too good to pass by without sharing:

12 Reasons America Doesn’t Win Its Wars

(Thanks to Arthur Sido for pointing this out.)

Linking: A Ridiculous Post and a Reasoned Response

Click here to read a recent ridiculous and dangerous post that promotes many of the false assumptions about church that hinder vibrant life in Christ.

Click here to read a reasoned, measured, and biblical response to the above nonsense.

(Thanks to Arthur for pointing these out).

Linking: "Textual Criticism and Bible Translation"

Most everyone who reads this blog also enjoys reading the bible. This is because through scriptural content we can grow closer to Christ.

Many of us do not know much about the original language texts that our English translations stem from. We should both know about and care about this issue. While we do not need to be experts in textual criticism, we ought to at least know what it is about. E. Ray Clendenen has written a short, helpful piece entitled "Textual Criticism and Bible Translation" that recently appeared on Tim Challies' blog. I encourage you to read it. Although it is a sponsored post for the HCSB translation, you can simply ignore that aspect of it.

Linking: "Atheism’s Foundation for Morality Is Built on Culture’s Shifting Sands"

Randy Alcorn has written an excellent piece entitled "Atheism’s Foundation for Morality Is Built on Culture’s Shifting Sands." It is short, well-reasoned, and to the point. Alcorn shows that atheists have no concrete basis for their moral decision making.

On Linking

I rarely know well in advance what my work schedule will be at JCB. Some weeks we work forty hours, but others more like seventy. This makes it difficult to blog regularly.

Like many of you, many times I see excellent blog articles throughout the week. While I might not be able to blog, I can still point out these good reads by linking to them. While I've done this numerous times before, my frequency of doing this going forward will probably be increasing (while my own writing dips a bit in number).

My posts that simply link to others will start with the word "Linking." Not very original I admit, but at least you'll know what's going on.

Today I'm linking to two different interesting posts. First, Benjamin Corey has penned an excellent piece entitled 5 Reasons Why So Many Christians Are Feeling Burned Out Right Now.

Second, thanks to Arthur Sido for pointing out this interesting post from the Gospel Coalition of all places: Why Aren't Calvinists Pacifists?

I will by no means agree with all the posts I link to; rather, my intent is to point out thought-provoking pieces.