HARMLESS THOUGHTS

image via the Commercial News Black Friday marks opening of new resale shop That's one of the headlines on today's edition of Danville's Commercial News (Newspaper).  Which resale shop is that?  Why would I be mentioning it?  Because it is talking about my wife's parents! The Commercial News article starts like this: COVINGTON, Ind. — Duane and Donna Lathrop have turned their hobby into a business with their new venture — Double D Resale — which opens on Black Friday. The resale shop is outfitted with furniture, appliances, home collectibles and other “what-nots” the couple has been accumulating through shopping trips to estate sales and auctions the past few months. “Our date night is at the auction,” Duane Lathrop said. (Read the rest by clicking here .) I've been on those "auction date nights" and I have to say, they can be fun.

One of these things is not like the others,  One of these things just doesn't belong,  Can you tell which thing is not like the others  By the time I finish my song?  Did you guess which thing was not like the others?  Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?  If you guessed this one is not like the others,  Then you're absolutely...right!

"It is sad to think how many go away from sermons with the word of grace in their ears, but not the work of grace in their hearts." ~Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary, pg. 1271

Reading The Reason for God by Timothy Keller and found a good quote already. Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts -- not only their own but their friends' and neighbors'.  It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them.  Only if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive.

Read this quote over at Tolle Lege : “Not content to create his own story, he creates, with an almost insolent prodigality, the whole world in which it is to move, with its own theology, myths, geography, history, palaeography, languages, and orders of beings– a world full of strange creatures beyond count. The names alone are a feast, whether redolent of quiet countryside (Michel Delving, South Farthing), tall and kingly (Boramir, Faramir, Elendil), loathsome like Smeagol, who is also Gollum, or frowning in the evil strength of Barad Dur or Gorgoroth; yet best of all (Lothlorien, Gilthoniel, Galadriel) when they embody that piercing, high elvish beauty of which no other prose writer has captured so much. Such a book has of course its predestined readers, even now more numerous and more critical than is always realised. To them a review need say little, except that here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart. They will k...

I just finished listening to the Christian Audio Version of What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert. It is an excellent little book that adequately deals with the question in the title... Which, I might add, is a question that needs to be asked. The book begins by showing the various responses that the author has encountered when asking the same question. To have clarity on this subject is essential. After enlightening us to our need to ask the question, Greg Gilbert does a great job of laying out the basic elements of the gospel message, while helping his readers do the same thing. He answers the question by looking to the scriptures and then shows the various examples of that same gospel message. Without sounding too deeply theological, he then goes through each element of the Gospel message and brings additional clarity to the subject. Although I had already read through this book, the audio version of this book was excellently performed bringing an even better understanding of the ...

I just got my new book, The Reason for God by Timothy Keller.  Even though I have heard lots of good things about this book and I have read several great reviews, the biggest draw to this book wasn't what I was hearing about the book from other readers.  Sure, everything that I was hearing about the book was like the icing on the cake of my desire to have the book, but it wasn't the cake itself.  The sponge of my "want" was the premise of the book, which can be found in the subtitle:  Belief in an age of Skepticism . You see, I am a Geometry teacher. I have been committed to this occupation long enough that it has finally become a part of me.  It factors into how I think and specifically, how I reason.  That is what much of Geometry is dedicated to, the study of reason.  It is taking those mathematical and algebraic principles (which should have been learned) from the first several years of schooling and putting them into practice in a three-dimensi...

This reminds me that it is OK to preach on certain topics...

John MacArthur does some decent exposure to the reality of the false teaching done by Joel Osteen.

I think that I will need this furniture set... From Dedon Collections

I wish I could remember which blog had these photos, couldn't find that blog, but re-found the pictures here .  They are behind the scenes shots from the making of The Empire Strikes Back. And my personal favorite...

I found this picture to be seriously interesting.  It increases my understanding for the great need of missionaries in Africa. [HT: 22 words ]

The work of the Holy Spirit [from Tolle Lege ] “This is the office and work of the Holy Spirit: to reveal through the Gospel what great and glorious things God has done for us through Christ, namely, that He has redeemed us from sin, death, and the devil’s power; that He has taken us into His grace and protection; and that He has given Himself utterly and entirely for us.” –Martin Luther

[HT: Challies.com ]