It is a brave act of valour to contemn death; but where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live.~ Sir Thomas Browne, in Religio Medici, section xliv

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Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.Be not a slave of words.In books lies the soul of the whole past time; the articulate, audible voice of the past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream. That there should one Man die ignorant who had capacity for Knowledge, this I call tragedy. If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it.

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I noticed that our friend John Hagee underwent major open-heart surgery.  We should all wish Hagee well, and pray for his recovery.  But it might also be worth noting that Hagee's surgery raises a question or two about someone who practices "Divine healing" and who then tells people who are not healed that they either don't have enough faith, or that they have unconfessed sin their lives.  When Hagee discovers that he has heart disease, it is interesting that he doesn't rush to Oral Roberts or Benny Hinn, he goes to the hospital.  Hmmm . . .  Click here: Evangelis... [read more]

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I believe that the current economic crisis is a result of G-R-E-E-D. In the movie "Wall Street," the character Gordon Gekko famously declares that "greed is good." But the Bible teaches that greed is a sin, and sin destroys. I believe that our free market economy is fundamentally good, but greed within this system is destroying our economy.Consider Al Mohler's widom:No one has explained basic economics as well as Adam Smith did in his 1776 classic, The Wealth of Nations. As the great Scottish thinker explained, an economy is based upon the transfer of goods and services from one individ... [read more]

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"One of the lessons I learned from the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is that our first ancestors chose to be human rather than to live forever.  They chose a sense of morality, a `knowledge of good and evil,' rather than immortality.  They spurned the Tree of Life, which would have given them eternal life, in favor of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which gave them a conscience.  As compensation, God gave humans, who now shared with Him the ability to know good from evil, the gift of His own divine power to create new life.  We cheat deat... [read more]

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Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum, written in 1992, states:“The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved 25 June last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion… This catechism is given to them that it may be a sure and authentic referen... [read more]

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  Here's the link to this past Friday's Academy lecture, "These Things Were Foretold" (Part 2).  I'm continuing my series "Amillennialism 101."  In this lecture I deal with prophecies regarding the future restoration of Israel, and what is known as "prophetic perspective."Here' the link.  http://links.christreformed.org/realaudio/A20081003-Amillenialism.mp3

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Here's the audio of the sixth sermon in my current series on the Book of James.http://links.christreformed.org/realaudio/KR20081005-James.mp3

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Last Spring, Richard Carrier was banging his tip cup to drum up donations for a book On the Historicity of Jesus Christ:http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2008/04/calling-all-benefactors.htmlLet’s review some of the highlights:The book I propose would take the approach of arguing first and foremost for a logical historical method that all reasonable people could agree on, which would allow any objective investigator to ascertain whether Jesus probably did or didn't exist, simply by plugging in the facts known to them.“Objective investigation”? “A logical historical method that all r... [read more]

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Joe Thorn interviews Ed Stetzer about church planting and the gospel in the suburban context. Here is one of their exchanges:What are some common mistakes churches in the suburbs make? I think there are probably several. First, they assume that nice shiny clean people have nice shiny clean lives. When you work in an urban context, you can sometimes see the sin and trouble with greater ease. It is better hidden in the suburbs. Thus, we think that people need sermons on how to improve their lives. They don’t. They need messages on how to be transformed by the gospel. Second, the suburbs are... [read more]

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“When I ws a lad of thirteen, I had a sudden insight that solved for me the puzzle of religious belief. The answer I had found to my question was: fear of death. People accept religious teachings because it assuages their fear of dying…Because we human beings re able to think about our future, have long memories, and form deep bonds of affection without comrades and family members, facing the fact of death is more difficult than for any other animal species. Nearly all of us fear death. But because our culture is permeated by a religiously grounded belief in an afterlife, loss of faith ... [read more]

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Dr. Raymond Ortlund Jr., pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, TN, gave the 2008 Mullins Lectures at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:“Power in Preaching: Decide” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)“Power in Preaching: Desire” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-5)“Power in Preaching: Delight” (2 Corinthians 12:1-10)HT: Said at Southern

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Peter Suderman reviews Bill Maher's new film, Religulous. An excerpt:For Maher, the problem with being both smart and funny is that the two often come into conflict; Religulous isn't a stupid movie by any means, and Maher shows himself in possession of a greater understanding of religion -- especially its historical particulars -- than most of those whom he encounters. Yet for all his bluster, he seems to lack confidence in the power of his own knowledge, for whenever smart and funny collide, funny wins out.That's not to say he lands no blows. Indeed, Maher employs a well honed rhetorical s... [read more]

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Click here.Guard that which has been entrusted to us.

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And attacks the MSM for their bias. He does an excellent job, he makes a very good case for why Biden can go on hundreds of interviews but Palin cannot (the MSM ignores his gaffes but focus on Palin's --...

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*Sigh* This is the response of the left to a strong, capable woman who happens to be attractive, reduce her to an object that can be manipulated. Typical! The Hustler founder has made an X-rated movie using an adult-film actress...

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"His [Maher's] two most delightful guests, oddly enough, are priests stationed in the Vatican. Between them, they cheerfully dismiss wide swaths of what are widely thought to be Catholic teachings, including the existence of Hell. One of these priests almost dissolves in laughter as he mentions various beliefs that I, as a child, solemnly absorbed in Catholic schools."http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081002/REVIEWS/810020306

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Watching Catholic laymen defend Catholicism is like watching a dutiful butler put his drunken master to bed. The butler is so loyal and conscientious while his master is such a rowdy, boorish lout. The discrepancy is striking. The butler is discrete while the master is indiscrete. The butler tries to protect his master’s reputation. Wipe the vomit from his lips. Undress him and tuck him into bed. Why is it that some subordinates continue to defend their “betters” when their “betters” are so much worse than the subordinates who defend them? They act as though they can’t survive w... [read more]

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Evidently, it's a new form of branding and advertising the dealer's candidate:One of three types of heroin allegedly sold by five people busted by authorities Wednesday night was called OBAMA with an imprint of the presidential candidate on packets, said...

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It's about time the Republicans put out an ad laying the blame for this mess where it belongs. The American public blames them and they need to get out there and demonstrate who's really at fault. (via)...

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Matt and I finished up our Venezuelan Workshop last night. The whole thing consisted of six sessions over two afternoons and evenings through a translator. Each session lasted about an hour.  Working for the kingdom of God is a strange thing. The church where the conference was held on a street lined with car repair shops. There you are in a exposed-flourescent-bulbs room with rows of plastic chairs and a freeway just outside the window. You're speaking through a translator to 60 or so people who look like they're paying attention, but you don't know what's really translating. Even i... [read more]

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Well, at this point everyone and their mother has weighed in about the Veep debate last night in St. Louis. I don't have anything particularly special to add to what's already been said.Even so, that ain't stop me from sharing my general impression of the debate, i.e., blabbing away with my big ol' mouth about it! Of course, everyone knows the focus was almost entirely on Palin, for better or for worse. Everyone was at the edge of their seats, anxious to see how she'd do. America tuned in to see her either crash and burn big time or salvage something of herself. To either make it or break i... [read more]

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Palin said that the reason that she didn't answer questions that Couric posed was because she was with Couric because she wasn't asking questions that Palin thought the public wanted the VP candidate to answer. She's right, Couric wasted our...

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You've got to love her spirit and her common sense. When I heard that McCain was pulling out of Michigan, I thought it was a missed opportunity to put Palin on the air there and let her connect with the...

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