A Christmas Present from the Mainstream Media: Newsweek Takes a Desperate Swipe at the Integrity of the Bible (Part 1)   (Click here) December 24, 2014 It is not unusual for Newsweek, and other major media magazines, to publish critical opinions of Christianity and the Bible during major Christian holidays. I have lost count of how many March/April issues of such magazines have cast doubt on the resurrection, just in time for Easter. However, the recent Newsweek cover article by Kurt Eichenwald, entitled “ The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin ,” published intentionally (no doubt) on December 23rd, goes so far beyond the standard polemics, and is so egregiously mistaken about the Bible at so many places, that the magazine should seriously consider a public apology to Christians everywhere. Of course, this is not the first media article critiquing the Bible that has been short on the facts. However, what is stunning about this particular article is that Kurt Eichenwald ...

Advice for a New Elder by Garrett Kell  Posted on 9Marks (click here) Our church recently recognized a brother named Mark to serve as an elder. To welcome him, I reached out to a few dozen friends who serve as elders at other churches and asked them to send me advice they would give to a new elder. Here’s the summary of what they would say to a young man who is stepping in as a new overseer. 1. Pray. 1 Samuel 12:23 “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you . ..” Self-sufficiency will be your most persistent temptation. Trust in the Lord is cultivated through prayer. Pray for yourself. Pray for your family. Pray for the church. Pray with and for the other elders. Pray, and then pray some more. 2. Learn to listen. James 1:19 “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger . . .” This was by far the most often repeated advice you were given. As a new elder you will likely feel the pressure to “pr...

Five Things Pastors Need to Say to Their Children by Thom Rainer     Click here for website Posted on - December 15, 2014 Over a year ago, I wrote  a post at this blog on pastors’ children . According to the comments and the views, I obviously hit a nerve. Some of the comments came from pastors themselves. But a number of comments came from the children of pastors. Since that article, I have continued to receive comments from children who grew up in pastors’ homes. There is a consistent theme going through many of their perspectives and emotions. Many of them had very positive experiences; but many did not. Through hundreds of comments and conversations, I have been able to distill five things every child of a pastor would like to hear from their pastor/parent. Indeed, those who heard these five things consistently are those who have the healthiest attitudes toward the church today. You have the freedom to be a normal kid.  “I don’t place dif...

Click Here-  The Evangelical: Jesus saw scripture as unbreakable; so should we The Evangelical: Jesus saw scripture as unbreakable; so should we   Faith Explored At a time when the authority of the Bible is increasingly questioned, Andrew Wilson says we should follow Jesus’ example when reading the scriptures. Christianity is all about Jesus. As Christians, we always want our lives, our words and our beliefs to line up with what Jesus said and did. So when it comes to forming a view of scripture, the best place to start is not with contemporary culture, modernist foundations or the postmodern rejection of authority (although we have to think these things through eventually). The best place to start is with Jesus’ view of scripture. That’s what I’ve tried to do in  Unbreakable: What the Son of God  Said About the Word of God . The Gospels are full of stories in which...

Written by Joe Carter  (Taken from TGC) In retrospect, it appears we may have been too hard on  Noah . When  Darren Aronofsky’s movie  about a family and a flood was released in March, many of us thought it was going to be the worst big-budget Bible-based movie of 2014. But with two weeks to go before the deadline, Ridley Scott slipped in an entry that is even worse. Exodus: Gods and Kings   had the potential to be one of the greatest films of all time; instead it’s one of the worst movies of the year. Director Ridley Scott aspired to produce the next  Ten Commandments  (1956) and instead gave us a revisionist version of the story that is almost as lame as the justifiably forgotten  Wholly Moses!  (1980). In the future, this movie should be taught in film schools to show all the ways a movie based on a Bible story can go wrong. Here are a few of the lessons Scott's film can teach future generations of filmmakers about how to ruin a m...