Teens and Fake Christianity - good article from CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/27/almost.christian/index.html#fbid=U_0-ZhXyTsm&wom=true

Wisdom from John Piper

I've been reading Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper - a book I've been wanting to read for a long time. One of the great modern classics. It's basically about missions, but it's way much more than that, and it should be read by every Christian whether they're interested in missions or not. And pretty much if you're a Christian, and you're not interested in missions, you should wonder why.
The third edition of this book includes a new introduction written by Piper which addresses new changes in the world and also his challenge to prosperity preachers. The best part for me was when he addresses the difference between "come-see religion" and "go-tell religion." The OT was full of people who amassed wealth, yes. Abraham, Solomon, etc. But it was because the surrounding nations were to come and see the glory of God (i.e. Queen of Sheba). Now, the stage has changed. I love this:

"The pattern in the Old Testament is a come-see religion. There is a geographic center of the people of God. There is a physical temple, an earthly king, a political regime, an ethnic identity, an army to fight God's earthly battles, and a band of priests to make animal sacrifices for sins.
With the coming of Christ all of this changed. There is no geographic center for Christianity; Jesus has replaced the temple, the priests, and the sacrifices; there is no Christian political regime because Christ's kingdom is not of this world; and we do not fight earthly battles with chariots and horses or bombs and bullets, but spiritual ones with the word and the Spirit...
All of this supports the great change in mission. The New Testament does not present a come-see religion, but a go-tell religion (Matthew 28:18-20).... the implications of this are huge for the way we live and the way we think about money and lifestyle... this leads to a wartime lifestyle. That means we don't amass wealth to show how rich our God can make us. We work hard and seek a wartime austerity for the cause of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. We maximize giving to the war effort, not comforts at home. We raise our children with a view to helping them embrace the suffering that it will cost to finish the mission.
So if a prosperity preacher asks me about all the promises of wealth for faithful people in the Old Testament, my response is: Read your New Testament carefully and see if you see the same emphasis." - John Piper

The Money Answer Book by Dave Ramsey

“God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into the nest.” – J.G. Holland.
This is just one of the inspirational quotes in this little book by Dave Ramsey, one of the nation’s most famous voices in the area of personal finance. It’s an introduction to Dave’s basic teachings on how to get out of debt and live within your budget. It’s also full of answers to some of the frequently asked questions on the call-in radio program, “The Dave Ramsey Show.”
I would recommend this book to those who have not yet heard of Dave Ramsey and need a light introduction and inspiration to get started. For those who are serious about the nuts and bolts of doing money Dave’s way, you may want to check out Dave’s other books, The Total Money Makeover or Financial Peace Revisited.
My family is on Dave’s plan and we are now debt-free except our house and our money has been freed up to give into the Kingdom of God. It really works!

Great Quotations about Intelligent Design

"I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God." - Abraham Lincoln

"No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions." - Charles P. Steinmetz

"If a book be false in its facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute it. But for God's sake, let us freely hear both sides if we choose." - Thomas Jefferson

"Great thoughts come from the heart." - Marquis de Vauvenargues

"Curiosity is the thirst of the soul." - Samuel Johnson

"The visible order of the universe proclaims a supreme intelligence." - Jean Jacques-Rousseau

"Science brings men nearer to God." - Louis Pasteur

"Truth between candid minds can never do harm." - Thomas Jefferson

"The visible marks of extraordinary wisdom and power appear so plainly in all the works of creation that a rational creature, who will but seriously reflect on them, cannot miss the discovery of a Deity." - John Locke

"A house implies a builder, and a garment a weaver, and a door a carpenter, so does the existence of the Universe imply a Creator." - Marquis de Vauvenargues

"It is impossible for the creation of the universe without the agency of a Supreme Being." - George Washington

"From a knowledge of His work, we shall know Him." - Robert Boyle

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." - Galileo Galilei

"Of what I call God, and fools call Nature." - Robert Browning

"So irresistible are these evidences of an intelligent and powerful Agent that, of the infinite numbers of men who have exited thro' all the time, they have believed, in the the proportion of a million at least to Unit, in the hypothesis of an external pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of a self-existent Universe." - Thomas Jefferson

"Nature is the art of God." - Dante Alighieri

"The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator." - Louis Pasteur

The Vertical Self: How Biblical faith can help us discover who we are in an age of self-obsession by Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers is a new voice in Christianity who is confronting what is wrong with our culture with the truth of Jesus Christ. In his new book, The Vertical Self, Sayers illustrates the difference between the “horizontal self” (personal identity defined by culture) and the “vertical self” (personal identity as defined by God).

Sayers’ intentions are good and his underlying premise is correct: the culture of today, especially among young people, is too media-influenced. Too many young people are only trying to emulate celebrities or trying to be “cool”. However, I still feel that Sayers’ solution is missing the mark. His remedy is still to focus on ourselves, but to work on dealing with our desires and sins, using various techniques in order to make right what is wrong with you. I feel that is introducing these concepts (some even from other religions) as roads to holiness that Sayers has skirted around the idea that Jesus alone makes us righteous, not our own efforts.

I appreciate Sayers’ good start with this book, however, I would not recommend it to someone who did not understand the idea of God’s grace and how we find our true identity: by focusing on the Father and not on ourselves, by understanding we are sons and daughters and not servants trying to work to be holy.

Thomas Nelson Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

St. Patrick preached the good news!

From the Confession of St. Patrick:
"And there I wish to wait for His promise who surely never disappoints; as He promises in the Gospel: 'They will come from east and the west and they shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob' - thus we believe that the faithful will come from the entire world.
For that reason we ought to fish well and with diligent care, as the Lord commands and teaches, saying: 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'
This is why it was most necessary to spread our nets widely so that a great throng and multitude might be captured for God, and that there be clergy everywhere to baptize and teach a people who need and want so badly, as the Lord admonishes in the Gospel, saying: 'Go now and teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have taught you; and see, I am with you all days, even until the end of the world.' And again He says: 'Go out therefore to the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.' And again: 'This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the entire world for a testimony to all races of people, and then shall the end come.' And so, too, the Lord announces through the prophet, and says, 'And it shall come to pass, in the last days, says the Lord, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and our young man shall see visions, and you old ones shall dream dreams. And upon my manservants and maidservants I will pour our my Spirit, and thy, too, shall prophesy.'
Finally, in Hosea He says: 'I will call those who were not My people, My people; and those who have not received My mercy, they shall receive My mercy. And where before in the place where it was said, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called children of the living God.'
This, then, is how the people of Ireland, who had never had any knowledge of God, but until now had cults and worshiped idols and abominations, have lately been turned into a people of the Lord and are called the children of God."

A balanced response to Mark Driscoll...

Following is a great blog by Carolyn Custis James, author of "The Lost Women of the Bible." In it, she shares a link to a blog by Dr. Richard Beck, with his response to Mark Driscoll's efforts to masculinize the church. Very interesting. What do you think?
Carolyn's Reflections: Chickified or Macho Man?