None But Christ

We sang this song at church on Sunday, and I am reminded of my sinful tendencies to run after so many things that ultimately do not satisfy. What empty pursuits I so earnestly seek! This is one of my favorite songs and unfortunately it is not available anywhere online to which I can link. That is because it is an old poem, whose author is unknown, or at least debated, and my friend wrote the music to go with it. I wish you could hear the tune, as it makes the words that much more meaningful, but you'll have to be content with the lyrics, unless you ask me to sing it for you . . .

O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.

Refrain:
Now none but Christ can satisfy,
No other name for me;
There's love, and life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee.

I sighed for rest and happiness,
I yearned for them, not Thee;
But while I passed my Saviour by,
His love laid hold on me.

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,
But ah! the waters failed!
E'en as I stooped to drink they'd fled,
And mocked me as I wailed.

The pleasures lost I sadly mourned,
But never wept for Thee,
Till grace the sightless eyes received,
Thy loveliness to see.

That last verse always gets to me. Praise God that he opened my eyes to His loveliness and keeps pursuing me even when I try to replace Him.

The Indwelling Rule of Law

Lately I have found myself contemplating why, in movies and TV shows, the characters usually do the right thing. I mean, they may not, and often do make wrong choices, but usually the moral of the story is a good one. The husband is wrong to choose his career over his family, the woman is wrong in lying to and cheating on her husband (unless it is for true love, of course). While rarely in real life do we apply the same standard to ourselves. The man who is involved in an adulterous affair while his wife is at home caring for their 4 kids usually justifies his sins. The mother who constantly screams at her children feels she must to get them to behave.

Which leads me to another contemplation I have had: why does the news media constantly call for those they cover to be above reproach? Two recent stories come to mind: a presidential candidate is publicly reprimanded for not reprimanding a supporter for using a not-so-nice word to describe an opponent; and when an over-the-road truck driver fails to realize that his blown tire has killed a man in an oncoming vehicle and continues to his next destination without stopping, he is branded as an unsafe driver. Two instances when I could clearly see the other side of the issue, but the media portrayed the stories as having one right way to handle each situation, and the ones involved in the story did not measure up to their ideal.

The answer isn't complex, but I found this paragraph in the first chapter of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity to be the most concise way to explain it:

I am . . . trying to call attention to a fact; the fact that this year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people. There may be all sorts of excuses for us. That time you were so unfair to the children was when you were very tired. That slightly shady business about the money - the one you have almost forgotten - came when you were very hard-up. And what you promised to do for old So-and-so and have never done - well, you never would have promised if you had known how frightfully busy you were going to be. And as for your behaviour to your wife (or husband) or sister (or brother) if I knew how irritating they could be, I would not wonder at it - and who the dickens am I, anyway? I am just the same. That is to say, I do not succeed in keeping the Law of Nature very well, and the moment anyone tells me I am not keeping it, there starts up in my mind a string of excuses as long as your arm. The question at the moment is not whether they are good excuses. The point is that they are one more proof of how deeply, whether we like it or not, we believe in the Law of Nature. If we do not believe in decent behaviour, why should we be so anxious to make excuses for not having behaved decently? The truth is, we believe in decency so much - we feel the Rule of Law pressing on us so - that we cannot bear to face that fact that we are breaking it, and consequently we try to shift the responsibility. For you notice that it is only for our bad behaviour that we find all these explanations. It is only our bad temper that we put down to being tired or worried or hungry; we put our good temper down to ourselves. (emphasis mine)

I guess Romans 1 is more concise (and inspired) but I appreciated Lewis' take on it. The fact of the matter is, without the gospel in one's life, no amount of "Rule of Law" or "Law of Nature" is enough to cause us to consistently do what is right. And only the cross gives us the ability to rightly perceive our sin and to not only make the right decisions, but to desire to make those decisions for the Glory of God. Another reason to rejoice and weep over the amazing grace we have received.

Idol Factories and the Debtor's Ethic

I was at my parent's house for most of last week, enjoying a more quiet visit than is typical when we do a "two day run." Dan had to stay back home and work, so it was just me and the kids. On the way home, after tiring of the music I had been listening to, I remembered that I finally downloaded the sermons from the NA conference back in May and I decided to listen to some again.

This would be the 3rd time I listened to Piper's last message of the conference. I have been meaning to blog about it, but it is too full of truth to summarize here. Besides, it would take as much time for me to try to explain it to you as it would for you to listen to it yourself. He spoke on obedience that pleases the Lord and addressed perfectly the idea of future grace and the faulty logic of the debtor's ethic. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to listen to it. I will never sing the line, "Oh to grace, how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be!" the same way again.

Then I listened again to CJ Mahaney's first sermon on discerning your heart. He spoke eloquently, but simply on the topic of idols in our life. He quotes Calvin in saying that we are little "idol factories," capable of conquering one idol, only to be replaced by another. It calls on us to constantly scour our hearts to search for idols that threaten to destroy us. I cannot recommend a clearer, or more focused message on the topic.

On Saturday, after I returned home, we started a new Ladie's study on the book by Elyse Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart. The sermon was the perfect appetizer for a book full of the meat of the Word. Taking the short hour to listen to this sermon will be time well spent and your heart will be challenged and blessed.

I don't often recommend sermons to listen to. First of all, because I understand how hard it is for all of us "stay-at-home-moms!" But please listen to these two. Download them onto your iPod, or if you don't have one, and live close to me, give me a call and I will gladly watch your kids while you take a long walk and feed your soul. I mean it; I'm that passionate about these messages.

Why We Choose AWANA

About 2 weeks ago, Elijah started the AWANA program (specifically, Cubbies) at a church nearby. Our church does not offer AWANA, which never really affected me until I had a child old enough to participate. I have read varied opinions on AWANA clubs and others like it and their use of awards and such, and I can honestly admit that I see both sides of the debate. So here is our reasoning in allowing Elijah to attend (in no particular order):

First of all, I kinda like that it is at a different church. The church that holds the club does things a little different than we do, and I am sure that we disagree on some finer points of theology and practice. But I enjoy introducing our children to other believers who are unlike us. I want them to realize that Christians are similar in faith, but we may differ in how we apply our beliefs to our life. I desperately want them to understand that "our way" of doing things does not equal absolute truth and to be patient in trying to discern why other true believers may make decisions contrary to our own. And I like introducing my kids to other teachers and friends besides the ones they see every week at our church!

I like that AWANA Clubs stress the importance of memorizing Scripture. I am fully aware that at this point, Elijah is memorizing verses as an unbeliever. I know that if he continues in his unbelief, he is likely to become a pharisee. That fact alone terrifies me. I think I would rather have a child who openly rejects the grace of Christ than a child who rebels only in his heart and "looks" good on the outside. That is a dangerous place to live. But I also understand that it is Dan and I's responsibility to introduce our children to Christ, and I am obliged to all teachers who aid us in that endeavor.

We discussed this last night at our small group and I was explaining my belief that parents must constantly acknowledge that memorization does not equate to true, saving faith. I made the point that Elijah could win the Timothy Award, yet still reject Christ, and I hope we are always faithful to encourage our kids toward repentance, regardless of their awards in AWANA. One of the guys in our group said, "I won the Timothy Award." to which I replied, "Were you a believer at the time?" And he promptly answered, "Nope." My point exactly.

When, and if, our children come to Christ, which we pray fervently that they do, we hope those verses they memorized will be an aid to greater understanding of God's Word and an encouragement in their faith. After all, I remember verses I memorized before I fully embraced Christ, and they aid my walk today.

As to the charge about frivolity and "entertaining at church," I do concede that a lot of that takes place these days in fundamentalism and evangelicalism. This is a valid concern. I worry our kids will grow up expecting to be constantly entertained with silly song-and-dance shows and will develop the idea that church is not so much about God, but about me and how it can relate to my needs. I understand this argument.

My defense is rather simple. The tide of entertainment in church neither rises nor falls on the shoulders of AWANA. Once again, no program can replace solid teaching at home and, I believe, teaching at home will not be derailed by a once-a-week club that incorporates some fun activities. Balance is the key - and that saying is overused for a reason!

So there you have it, my friends. Those are just a few of the thoughts that jumped around in my head when we decided to utilize the AWANA club at the church nearby. I am convinced in my own mind, but completely open that others may be convinced differently. I think it is vital to our spiritual well-being to think these things through and come to a conclusion, and to fight the urge to just swim in the same direction that other Christian fish are swimming.

More on "The Jesus Storybook Bible"

As if I haven't done enough to promote this Bible, here is one more reason to buy it! This article is an interview with Sally Lloyd-Jones and she gives the reader a glimpse into her reasons for writing the book, how she chose each story and how she views teaching children from the Bible. I loved reading it and thought you might like it, too.

Please go and read the entire article, but if you aren't motivated, hopefully this excerpt will drive you to it:


When I first saw that everything in the Old Testament, is pointing to a child—the one who is coming—it blew me away. Suddenly, here was a way to read the Bible without it leaving you condemned (I’ll never keep all the rules all the time) or in despair (how can I ever be as brave as Daniel? or David?).I found it so moving when I started to discover how the Old Testament is basically one long record of failure—the failure of God’s people time and time again to live rightly, to rescue themselves—and that the stories in the Old Testament are all getting us ready for the One who is coming. They are all signposts to the True Hero, the True King, the True Prince, the True Servant, the greater David, the greater Daniel. The Rescuer.

As a child, I thought the Bible was packed with rules you had to keep (or God wouldn’t love you) and heroes setting examples you had to follow (or God wouldn’t love you). I thought, in short, that the Bible was all about me and what I should (or shouldn’t) be doing. Until I read a Story.

It’s the Story running like a golden stream underneath all the other stories in the Bible: the story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them. Suddenly, I realized the Bible wasn’t about me and what I should be doing at all. It was about God and what he had done. And it changed everything.


So, throughout the mapping out of the book and writing the stories, I was resolute in my determination to avoid even a whiff of moralizing in terms of applying the stories. The absolute last thing I ever wanted to ask a child was: “And what can we learn from David about how God wants us to behave?” The story isn’t there to be an example for us to follow. If that were the point, Jesus would never needed to have come. We could have saved ourselves.

The story is there because it’s true and because it’s telling the bigger story—of the greater David who is coming. To do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves, to fight the battle we could never fight. To be the Hero we all need. To be our Rescuer.

I wanted children to know this Story—and to meet this wonderful Hero in the pages of this book. Because rules don’t change you. But a story can.

Controvery

I'm not writing this post just to stir up a controversial subject, but I would really like to know my reader's response. So please let me know what you think!

I've heard this sermon a lot: the whole topic of the "general will of God" and "specific will of God" for your life. General will is found in Scripture, specific will is unknown and should be sought out.

Here is my question: For those of us who would wear the label of a cessationist, how are you supposed to know the specific will of God for your life? I've heard answers of "feeling peace" and "Scripture will show you" but if I'm asking God's will for a job decision, how is Scripture supposed to answer that one? And more importantly, why do we trust a feeling of peace, but we wouldn't trust a dream or vision? Are we guilty of being overbearingly inconsistent with our theology? I can see why some would defect to the continualist's camp. They seem to be more consistent.

The reason I bring this up is because of a series of messages my own pastor has taught dealing with this exact topic. And I was visiting another church recently (out of town - not church shopping!) and heard the traditional, fundamentalist view of the will of God. I'm curious what you all believe. Should we be trusting our feelings to know God's will? Or is it possible that there isn't one perfect job (or college, or spouse . . . you fill in the blank), but that God works His sovereignty through our decisions and we aren't called to know a "specific will of God" for our lives.

Please let me know what you think. And if you are one of the guys who I know lurk here, I want to hear your input, too!

New Attitude, Session 2

Sunday morning started bright and early, although Laura and I skipped out on the community groups to eat a leisurely breakfast and work out. We arrived at the Convention Center early to get decent seats (which became like a game in the subsequent sessions) and looked forward to hearing the morning's speaker, Mark Dever.

Mark is the senior pastor at Capitol Hills Baptist Church and the author of "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church." I just recently became aware of his ministry through T4G and because I have some MBBC acquaintances who have interned at his church. I figured he would be good, but since I had never heard him speak, I didn't know what to expect.

What I got was about an hour of jam-packed practical advice on primary and secondary doctrine. Which do we separate over and which can we lovingly disagree on and still cooperate together? It was fascinating and informative, the session on which I took the most notes. There is no easy way to summarize everything he gave us, so I'll just give you the few things that affected me most.

He defined the 3 things that are primary: (I copied this from Tim Challies - he had better notes than I!)

We must agree upon three things in order to put our trust in God and be saved. God, the Bible and the gospel. We have to believe in the one true God—that He is one, that He is triune, that He is uncreated, that He is morally perfect and that He is the one we are called to believe in. There are theologians today who speak of “anonymous Christians,” of people who believe in no God or in another God. But the Bible does not support this. We have to believe that the Bible is how we know the truth of God. How do we know what God is like? Because He has revealed Himself in Scripture. We must believe the gospel. The good news is that Jesus Christ became incarnate. Without this understanding we couldn’t uphold the truth of God’s triune nature. We also confess his substitutionary death on the cross, of His resurrection and His impending return. We are made right with God by faith alone, by trusting in this Jesus. Someone who does not believe in this gospel is not a Christian. Calling yourself doesn’t make you that, so even though many people consider themselves Christians and call themselves by Christ’s name, they cannot be truly saved unless they believe this.

He gave a 4 fold test for any issue:

1. How clear is it in Scripture?

2. How clear do other's think it is?

3. How near is it to the Gospel?

4. What would the effects be doctrinally and practically of allowing disagreements to occur? (this is where our conscience can play a role.)

*Some of the Scripture he used included: I Cor. 14:1-5, Acts 15:36-41, and Rom. 14:22

He then took 4 test cases to hold to the test: the Millennium, prayers for the dead, egalitarianism and complementarianism and cooperation in evangelism.

The one that made me think the most was the debate about egalitarianism and complementarianism (woman's roles in church). He explained why he (and T4G) doesn't separate over baptism, even though he is a Baptist, and why they do over egalitarianism. His answer was simple and profound. We have over 5 centuries of paedo baptists who have done great work for the Kingdom, and have taught us great things about God and our faith, all the while being faithful to Scripture. Unfortunately we only have about 50 years of egalitarianism and in that short time the movements that champion this stand have done much to undermine Scripture.

That explanation made a lot of sense to me, as did Mark's whole session. It was a blessing to hear him.

Knowing God

Well, it took me over a year, but I finally finished reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Long thought of as a classic in Christian literature, we embarked on reading and studying it one chapter at a time in our small group. We were interrupted once with a church-wide study (Peacemaking - excellent, but for another post) and just finished it last week.

The book is 22 chapters long, and each chapter stands well on it's own, although they do build on each other. We found they were independant enough that newcomers to the group were not lost picking up in the middle of the book, which is great for the ever-changing dynamic of small groups!

I cannot adequately explain what this book has meant to me in one post, so I hope to post some of the more meaningful passages in the future. Suffice it to say that the author insists that knowing God should be more than an intellectual pursuit, and each chapter revealed something unique to meditate on about God and that drove me to worship Him more. The book is worth it's weight in gold just for that.

I can't stress enough that if you don't own this book, buy it now! It is one you will want to have in your library and is perfect for reading through from cover to cover more than once, as well as refering back to parts of it when needed.

I will quote from the last chapter, since it is most fresh in my mind, concerning Christ's death and the gift of faith:

pg. 265

"The apostolic writers present the death of Christ as the ground and warrant of God's offer of forgiveness, and that we enter into forgiveness through repentance and faith in Christ, will not be disputed. But does this mean that, as a loaded gun is only potentially explosive, and an act of pulling the trigger is needed to make it go off, so Christ's death achieved only a possibility of salvation, needing an exercise of faith on our part to trigger it off and make it actual?

"If so, then it is not strictly Christ's death that saves us at all, any more than it is loading the gun that makes it fire: strictly speaking, we save ourselves by our faith, and for all we know, Christ's death might not have saved anyone, since it might have been the case that nobody believed the gospel. But that is not how the New Testament sees it. The New Testament views is that the death of Christ has actually saved "us all" - all, that is to say, whom God foreknew, and has called and justified, and will in due course glorify. For our faith, which from the human point of view is the means of salvation, is from God's point of view part of the salvation, and is as directly and completely God's gift to us as is the pardon and peace of which faith lays hold."

I will quote some more in the following weeks . . .

Oprah's Gospel

My post on Oprah's "secret" gospel has generated some great comments. If you haven't read them, stop over to the original post and do so!

I promised to post about what I got from the short 10 minutes that I watched all about the "secret" and I will deliver!

One of the panel "experts" was detailing the idea that we are all made of energy and the principle of like attracting like. He said something to the effect of (in other words, not an exact quote here) "The more energy we put out to something, the bigger it gets. So if you are constantly focused on all your problems then they will only get bigger."

What a great example of our thoughts about God! The more we learn about Him, the more we dwell on Him and meditate on His Word, the bigger He gets in our life! Now, I don't believe He gets any bigger in reality, but in our estimation of Him. And that is worship, to attribute to God the glory that He possesses and the glory He deserves from us.

Unfortunately, I don't think that is what the panel experts were thinking about!

All this talk of positive thinking, Oprah's secret and Joel Osteen led me to a great article written by John Piper about the deciet in prosperity preaching. Go and read it here to be challenged and blessed.

The Gospel According to Oprah

I sat down to feed Allison the other day and found that my usual 4pm show was a rerun, so I started flipping through the channels. I had honestly forgotten that Oprah was on at that time, since I quit the show over a year ago. Even though I enjoy the “makeover” shows and there are some topics that are fun to watch, I found myself being bombarded with humanistic ideas and morals. It wasn’t worth my time or Godly mental health to watch any longer.

But there I was, stuck in a chair and longing to watch something, so I indulged myself and tuned in, hoping for one of those shows that wouldn’t make me shout at the television. I wasn’t so lucky. On the show was a panel of “experts” (basically all motivational speakers) who had contributed to a new DVD entitled “The Secret.” The secret to a happy life, to financial freedom, to the body you’ve always wanted, etc. . . . What was the “secret”? To quote Oprah’s website, and Rhonda, the marketer, er, I mean, discoverer of the “secret”. . .

“The Secret [is] the law of attraction, which is the principle that ‘like attracts like.’ Rhonda calls it ‘the most powerful law in the universe,’ and says it is working all the time. ‘What we do is we attract into our lives the things we want, and that is based on what we're thinking and feeling,’ Rhonda says. The principle explains that we create our own circumstances by the choices we make in life. And the choices we make are fueled by our thoughts—which means our thoughts are the most powerful things we have here on earth.”

That’s it. Now to give Oprah some credit, she pointedly informed us all that she has known the “secret” for years, but just didn’t know it was a “secret.” She’s been telling us all this for years, and I can attest to that, having turned my mind to mush after watching too many hours of her gospel in the past.

And that is exactly what it is – her gospel. And not only hers, although one could argue that she is the biggest voice of it. It really isn’t that different than what Joel Osteen preaches. God wants to bless you, He wants you to have “Your Best Life Now” and all that is missing is us claiming it! Think it is true, act as though it is becoming truth to you in this very moment and it will happen. And as the best false prophets do, there is enough of a nugget of truth in what they speak that it makes it easier to believe. After all, Osteen is a preacher and uses Bible verses to back up his message and Oprah is very religious herself. And then they douse their speeches with true-life stories of those who have obeyed their commands and who are living gloriously happy lives now. The panel was filled with stories of heartbreak, depression, bankruptcy and financial burdens. But now, now they have conquered it all - and you can too!

I tolerated 10 minutes of it before I was so upset I had to change the channel. Back to the Food Network, where you never go wrong, even if it is a rerun. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since, although, and I mourn the thought that millions are accepting this religion and even expecting God to “help those who help themselves.”

The question remains, what if I do all that I can to make my dreams come true, what if I only think good and positive thoughts and I still feel empty? They never address that issue. What if I make my millions and others look up to and adore me, but there is still a void all the adoration fails to fill? Am I just failing in their “system?” Do I just need to think more positive thoughts? But what does this do for me for eternity? It never addresses how I can get my “Best Life Later!”

It never even stops to think that maybe I am not the center of my universe. Maybe the world doesn’t revolve around me. Maybe getting my felt needs fulfilled are not what will really make me happy. Maybe, just maybe, my suffering here on earth is meant to take my eyes off of myself. It never addresses those ideas.

Thankfully Scripture does. I end my thoughts with the wisdom of a man who had everything a heart could desire. This is what he says on the matter. Too bad Oprah won't give his side of the story any airtime . . .

Ecclesiastes 1
1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
5The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
6The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north;around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full;to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
8All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it;the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
10Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"?It has been already in the ages before us.
11There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembranceof later things yet to be among those who come after.

*Check back soon for one good thing I did learn from Oprah’s panel and for a great refutation of this false gospel.

Blessed

How often have you described yourself as "blessed" or described America as "blessed by God"? How often do we pray God's "blessing"on so-and-so? This is a topic that came up in church yesterday, and the discussion blew my mind. It was one of those moments that made me take everything I believed about a topic and throw it out the window and start to look at what the Bible really teaches about being blessed and how I have (once again) been guilty of forming my theology from what I think instead of what the Bible says.

Let me quote some Scripture first:
Ephesians 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (emphasis mine)

Do you see what it says? We are blessed, past tense. We have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing that we need for life and godliness. So why do we pray for someone to be blessed more? They already have all the blessings they need!

I believe it is because we think possessions are blessings. Or peace and comfort. Ponder the starving believers in South Africa, or the persecuted church in China. We think we're blessed compared to them. We aren't suffering persecution or wondering where we will get our next meal. But does this mean we are more "blessed" than they are? Does God love us more than them?

Actually, we are blessed with the same spiritual blessings. My money and ease of life perpetually tempts me to trust myself or my husband's career instead of trusting God. Their lack of money perpetually tempts them to question "Where are you, God?" Really, which is more sinful?

In fact, our growth group leader was sharing about a book he read on the persecuted church in China (I wish I could tell you the name, I will if I find out!). It seems that the true church in China consistently prays for the American church. They perceive us to be infatuated with money and possessions and wonder how it is we can claim the name of Christ while loving our money. So we pray that they might have an easier life and they pray that we wouldn't have such an easy life. Ironic, isn't it?

Stop and take a moment to thank God for giving us all spiritual blessings and then stop and think next time before you pray that someone would be "blessed." Dwell on how blessed we are in Christ, instead of in our possessions.

Particular Redemption

I have been following a debate on particular redemption on the Fundamentally Reformed blog lately. The doctrine summarized is the L in TULIP. Basically it states that Christ's death was limited for the elect and that His blood pays for the sins of them only. The debate has been very informative. I will admit that I don't understand all of the ramifications of the doctrine, and I am not the best apologist for it. But I do believe that Jesus came to redeem His people and that His death accomplished it (John 10:11). I believe that His death absorbed all the wrath of God, so that there is no more fear of punishment for the people of God (I John 2:2).
That being said, there is a valid argument that Wayne Grudem discusses in his Systemactic Theology book concerning the doctrine. It causes me to question the vehemence that some use when debating the doctrine. I quote him here:

"Scripture itself never singles this out as a doctrine of major importance, nor does it once make it the subject of any explicit theological discussion….In fact, this is really a question that probes into the inner counsels of the Trinity and does so in an area in which there is very little direct scriptural testimony—a fact which should cause us to be cautious…."

If you want to read a more in-depth discussion, I encourage you to read Bob's post on Fundamentally Reformed.
Wherever you fall in the discussion, I firmly believe that it is our responsibility as Christians to be informed, and to debate with the spirit of charity. I hope the debate encourages you to search out the Scriptures to determine what you believe. Be a good Berean and don't just listen to what others have to say, but discover God's truths for yourself!

A Challenge to Women

I emailed this link to some friends some time ago, and was reminded of it by my sister-in-law this week. I went back to read it, this time printed it out, and decided it was worth linking to here. It is titled, "A Challenge to Women" written by John Piper, and it has been an encouragement to me when I feel like I don't have an "important" role in life, other than mixing up some chocolate milk for my oldest. I encourage you to read it and maybe print it out for yourself!

Forgiven

I've been thinking about forgiveness a lot lately and this article does an excellent job at portraying how foolish we act when God's forgiveness is not only available, but beyond our human comprehension. It is well worth it to read.

Must read

Ok, my first official post is a link! This article exactly articulates the frustrations many feel having been reared in some fundamental circles. The first in the two part series is here and the second is worth reading, also.