The Rest of the Rest (10/8/11)

Church
Carl Trueman continues to give accurate analysis and criticism of the American evangelical church's tendency towards exalting mega-church pastors to celebrity status.  The point in many of his recent posts, this being one of them, is that, while not all mega-churches fall into this, most do what it takes to bring in the people and the money.  Consequently, things that entertain the church, shouldn't.  Topics that occupy space in church media, shouldn't.  And even many who lead these churches, shouldn't be [leaders of the church at all].  The people and the material that the church are desiring fall more under the category of entertaining, than evangelical - more comedy, than news about the Creator.  While I too understand there are exceptions to this,  I have not yet found an objectionable point in Trueman's writing on the subject.


Books
Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald Whitney is a decent book for those who are regular "Church-going" folks who don't tend to read a lot of Christian literature.  For those who read a lot, reading the table of contents may just be enough for you.  In this work, Whitney answers some very important and pointed questions such as, "Do you thirst for God?" "Are you more loving?" and "Are you sensitive to God's presence."  He looks to the classics for diagnosis and remedy, quoting multiple times in multiple chapters theologians like Spurgeon and Edwards.  Overall, I was dissatisfied with a particular shallowness of the book.  Whitney seldom addresses why people may not thirst or love or delight in God's presence.  More or less, the chapters explain the question, quote from theologians concerning it, and give practical ways to address it.

Technology
For all of you iPhone lovers (or coveters) out there, here is a great article by a guy who gave his iPhone up and has not looked back.  Most of us know the technology struggles that are becoming more and more common, if not down right aggravating.  The author was convicted by his continuous neglect of discipline and even people; but his continuing devotion to a little device - the iPhone.  I'm not trading in my iPhone after reading this, but I am more aware of certain ways the iPhone (and other phones like it) may cause me  and others around me to erroneously and irresponsibly rearrange our responsibilities.

And, no, I don't have any thoughts concerning Steve Jobs death other than that, from what I know, he died without Christ.  I am reminded every time I see a video or read an article about his contributions and accomplishments of the biblical irony of gaining (or changing) the world but losing one's soul (Mark 8:36).  Would that Apple never existed on earth if that meant Jobs would have known Christ in heaven.

Life and Gospel
There is a common word floating around that accurately characterizes my life right now - struggle.  In this video, Paul Tripp gets right to the point and purpose of disappointment, selfishness, and struggles in life.  Watch this.