1) From Last to First: Advice from an Outgoing Seminary Student to Incoming Ones
“Second, understand that there are millions of Christians, many of whom are being persecuted, in other parts of the world who would gladly give much to be able to take these classes and sit under your professors. God in his great providence has allowed you to be here, so take advantage of this opportunity.”
Mmph.
2) What Will Be the Cost to the Church?
“For months now the question has been in front of me. It has been there in the document I open every day, the document that contains a list of articles to write, and questions to explore. “What will be the cost to the church if young men continue to give themselves to pornography?” What do we, as Christians, stand to lose if so many of our young men continue to spend their teens and twenties in the pursuit of pornographic pleasure?”
“He does not criticize or downplay the presence of sexual desire and the longing to find sexual fulfillment. Rather, he admits it, celebrates it, and shows that to direct that energy toward adultery, fornication or pornography is to completely misuse it. His solution is simple: Put your sexual desire to the best use of all. “Rejoice in the wife of your youth…be intoxicated always in her love.” Donald Spence-Jones interprets this way: ‘The teacher, by a bold figure, describes the entire fascination which the husband is to allow the wife to exercise over him.'”
This is a great follow-up to article 2.
3) Ligon Duncan is New Chancellor at RTS
“The RTS Board of Trustees has elected Dr. J. Ligon Duncan, III, as chancellor and CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary. Duncan is currently the John E. Richards professor of systematic and historical theology at RTS in Jackson, Miss., and the senior minister of historic First Presbyterian Church (1837), where he has served for the past 17 years. He is the president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and served as President of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals from 2004-2012. Click here to visit the RTS chancellor Web page.”
As a current RTS student, this causes me to be super excited.
4) Why You Can Trust Your Bible
“It’s common to see the argument that the Scriptures we have today aren’t the same as what was written by the apostles in the first century. Such arguments attempt to portray the Bible as unreliable and therefore irrelevant. As we will see, however, these challenges do not stand up to scrutiny.”
This article might be better titled “Why You Can Trust Your New Testament”, but it is still a good article none the less.
5) Cigar Smoke and Mirrors and Transformation
“Surely it is time to become realistic. It is time to drop the cultural elitism that poses as significant Christian transformation of culture but only really panders to nothing more than middle class tastes and hobbies. It is time to look again at the New Testament’s teaching on the church as a sojourning people where here we have no lasting home. The psalms of lament teach us that it is only when we have realistic horizons of expectation will we be able to stand firm against what is coming. If we do not understand that now, we are going to be sorely disappointed in the near future.”
6) Five Commitments to Those Struggling with Same-Sex Attraction in our Midst
“One of the difficult things–among many difficult things–related to homosexuality is how to speak of the issue in a way that addresses all the nuances people need to hear. As I’ve written before, there are various groups that may be listening when we speak about homosexuality, and the group we think we are addressing usually dictates how we speak. There is time for toughness and a time for tears, a time for defense and a time for letting down our defenses, a time for rallying the troops and a time for putting up our hands to show that we come in peace.”
Good tips here.
7) Ex-Mormon Shares Secrets from the LDS
“I began to feel like somebody was pulling back the curtain in Oz..”
As I’ve discussed before, this story has all the signs of a good cult.
8) School has Become Too Hostile for Boys
Time reports that in the name of zero-tolerance, boys are struggling. I’d argue this has to do with the general feminization of our culture, as well.
Watch this video. Just…do it.
