| Sean 的个人资料Tablet of the Heart日志列表网络 |  工具  帮助 |
|
1月27日 Coming Out of Pornography This video is an excellent reflection on the impact pornography is having on men in our culture. In all likelihood, it is affecting someone you know. It is worth watching and sharing with other men. Link: Somebody's Daughter - A Path Out of Pornography Piper to Obama: Be Courageous In light of my last blog entry I felt that I needed to post this video. Piper balances his love for life with his joy at seeing an African American voted as president. He calls Obama to courage in doing right: The text of the talk is available on Justin Taylor's webpage. What I Learned in Worshipping with our Black Brothers and Sisters Last Sunday, our church joined with Shiloh Old Site Baptist Church in downtown Fredericksburg, a historic African American church which has been around since 1803. It was pure joy to worship together in unity with brothers and sisters that have been too long and too frequently separated in location and in spirit. I am thankful for the visionary ministry of Pastor Doug Kittredge and Pastor Lawrence Davies coming together for these things. The excitement of Obama's inauguration was evident in the service. One woman who attended the inauguration spoke of the unity she feels that exists now in our country. She said at the inauguration she felt new love and unity trickling down among all people despite their background. I learned through her word that Obama's inauguration is a new day to so many African Americans because it shows that they truly have a place in our American system. For me, as a white person, I see it in reverse. I think the inauguration of Obama is a sign that whites like me have already worked through and are continuing to work through racial prejudices that have stood for a very long time. His election is a huge marker in the change of thinking in whites. There is a way to go in our nation so that nobody will vote for a person based on the color of his skin, but on character and policy, but Obama's inauguration is a huge marker for what has already happened. The narrowing of America's racial divide deserves our praises to God. My concerns about Obama's policies still continue. I post many things because I think many Christians have been convinced that he is "moderate" or "open" to biblical values. The evidence this far is that he is not. I want to show that. I don't think he wants to "listen" about some vital parts of our American nation. Some of his first public decisions rip at the moral fabric of our nation, as his second public decision was for public funding of abortions. I rejoice for some parts of his elections but weep in others. I pray for him, my family prays for him, we want the best for him and from him. 1月24日 The Bible"Belief in the Bible, the fruit of deep meditation, has served me as the guide of my moral and literary life. I have found it a capital safely invested, and richly productive of interest." - German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity." - Immanuel Kant "[The Bible] has God for its author, salvation for its its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter." - John Locke 1月21日 Obama's Agenda President Barak Obama posted his agenda online. The slant against life and free speech is not a surprise in significant moral areas: he continues to support abortion on demand, harvesting human embryo's for stem cells, and plans to push hate crimes legislation. 1月16日 Audio: DA Carson on the Web If you like quality audio sermons and teaching, DA Carson, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has had hundreds of his talks put on the web. They are worth listening to. Link to sermons. 1月9日 A Video only a Seminary Student or Pastor would likeOkay this video is big-time cheesy ... but I like cheese ... and I am a nerd ... and I think this is fun ... Don't say I didn't warn you. Prayer: Pay Attention! No Multi-tasking allowed here! From Martin Luthers book "A Simple Way to Pray (... for Master Peter the Barber)" (convicting): [In prayer, many mix prayer and business] by the thoughts in their hearts. They jump from one thing to another in their thoughts and when it is all over they do not know what they have done or what they talked about. They start with Laudate and right away they are in a fool's paradise. It seems to me that if someone could see what arises as prayer from a cold and unattentive heart he would conclude that he had never seen a more ridiculous kind of buffoonery. But, praise God, it is now clear to me that a person who forgets what he has said has not prayed well. In a good prayer one fully remembers every word and thought from the beginning to the end of the prayer. So, a good and attentive barber keeps his thoughts, attention, and eyes on the razor and hair and does not forget how far he has gotten with his shaving or cutting. If he wants to engage in too much conversation or let his mind wander or look somewhere else he is likely to cut his customer's mouth, nose, or even his throat. Thus if anything is to be done well, it requires the full attention of all one's senses and members, as the proverb says, "Pluribus intentus, minor est ad singula sensus"-"He who thinks of many things, thinks of nothing and does nothing right." How much more does prayer call for concentration and singleness of heart if it is to be a good prayer! The "Amen" at the EndFrom Martin Luthers book "A Simple Way to Pray (... for Master Peter the Barber)": Finally, mark this, that you must always speak the Amen firmly. Never doubt that God in his mercy will surely hear you and say "yes" to your prayers. Never think that you are kneeling or standing alone, rather think that the whole of Christendom, all devout Christians, are standing there beside you and you are standing among them in a common, united petition which God cannot disdain. Do not leave your prayer without having said or thought, "Very well, God has heard my prayer; this I know as a certainty and a truth." That is what Amen means. 1月2日 History of the Church in IraqPhilip Jenkins wrote a fascinating and informative article for Christianity Today on the history of the church in Iraq. With sadness he concludes the article with these words, "What we are seeing [in Iraq] is the death of one of the world's greatest
Christian enterprises. Certainly, its glory days were far behind it." Read it here: Recovering Church History: Exile from Babylon The Iraqi Christian community, now nearly gone, was the church's center for a millennium. |
|
|
