“Are you Christian?” (3 min)
In this “sermon jam” Paul Washer challenges his listeners to really examine their lives.
Why Christians should be
the most pessimistic and
least pessimistic people on Earth
One thing that sets Christianity apart from Islam and every other religion on earth is that it is entirely pessimistic about Man’s ability to please God.
But Christians shouldn’t be pessimistic about the state of the world. Yes, there are troubles, but God hasn’t let us fall into utter depravity and He also continues to shower blessings on an undeserving world such that here in the West we are richer than people 100 years ago could have ever imagined. So why then, does it always seem to us why this past year was a doozy, and this upcoming election is always the one that matters most? Turns out there are “7 laws of pessimism” – this is an entirely secular take, but one that Christians can read to take warning of how the temptation of ingratitude can so easily and sneakily come our way.
The myth of sexual experience
The world says it’s important for dating couples to test their “sexual compatibility” before they consider marrying. But the data says God’s ways are best – couples who were sexually inexperienced before marrying are more than twice as likely to be “very satisfied” compared with couples who were highly experienced.
Courage: the virtue that enables all others
If you were tempted, like me, to nitpick this title, then consider this question: is Love, without the courage to speak needed truth to a loved one who doesn’t want to hear it, really love? Or is it courage, that enables true love? In this article and accompanying podcast, Jonathon Van Maren speaks to a particularly courageous woman, and new Christian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Two collections of
Bible reading plans
It’s a new year, and, like many of you, that means I’m renewing my resolution to read through the Bible. And I’m looking to some good advice to:
- Pick a partner to read it with, to build up the positive peer pressure
- Don’t sweat it if I miss a day… or a week – just continue on with that day’s reading rather than trying to catch up.
- Engage with what I read – the point is to know God better, not mark ticks down.
Nancy Pearcey on biblical masculinity and the Cultural Mandate
Nancey Pearcey, author of The Toxic War on Masculinity, points to some pop culture ideas of what a man should be like – self-sufficient, isolationist, independent – and contrasts that with what the Bible says.
