The Rest of the Rest (9/10/11)

Remembering 9/11:
Truth-Telling in a Time of Tradgedy, from Dr. Mohler, reminds us of the tragedy that blindsided us ten years ago.  Dr. Mohler wrote: We know that the world will never be the same after this. We do not want to exaggerate, but exaggeration seems almost impossible. There are no words adequate to convey the horror, the grief, the outrage, or the sense of disbelief...This is a crucial test for the Christian church. We must measure our words carefully. We must think biblically and seek a proper perspective into which we can put all of this. This is not easy, but authentic ministry often comes down to saying what you know to be true when people are desperate to hear it and no one seems to know where else to look.  (Thanks Mr. Morgan for sending this our way.)

Gospel:
This is a great post by Tullian Tchividjian on how the Gospel sets us free to not be okay.  In a world where success and "being okay" is our ultimate goal, Tullian brings a powerful [contrary] word.  It is okay not to be okay.  The text actually comes from his book Jesus+Nothing=Everything.  This is well worth the time it takes to read it.  I would highly suggest that we all gain a deep understanding of the message so that we can communicate it to those in our immediate contexts.

Social Issues:
Tim Keller discusses how African American churches, as well as other minority communities have a lot more to lose from desegregation than white churches.  Very interesting perspective.

Books:
The book Gospel-Centered Family: Becoming the Parents God Wants You To Be, by Ed Moll and Tim Chester, is a decent read.  If you have read other books on gospel-centered parenting like Shepherding Your Child's Heart, this book will not really give you any new information.  After the first chapter or so, I began to skim.  For the price, however, it is a good, manageable resource to hand out to families who have never been introduced to such material.

Escape From Reason, by Francis Schaeffer, for me, was extremely informative, relevant and thought provoking.  He discusses how rationalistic autonomy, that he argues, began with Aquinas, has affected culture from the Renaissance to modern times.  Schaeffer has such a deep grasp of the gospel that he could identify (and even predict) the effects of fallenness in culture.  One thread-like concept that runs throughout the entire book is that, when reason becomes detached from God, it immediately tries to "eat up" grace.  When we seek autonomy we find to place in our lives for divinity.  Get this book.

Defeating Darwinism, by Phillip Johnson, approaches the subject of Darwinian Evolution in a very interesting way.  It is as if he is trying to communicate to both the academy and the lay person.  In a very presuppositional way, he exposes the unavoidable faith commitments of the Darwinian worldview.  In a word, this book seeks to (and succeeds!) demote Darwinism from fact based to faith based.  Once we see it clearly, we can expose its intrinsic flaws.

Interesting:

Martin Bashir interviews Tim Keller.  A great interview!