Christopher Hitchens has died.
The irony is, if he was right, he will never know. If we are wrong, we will never know.
If we are right, he is now very unhappy.
May God comfort and strengthen his family and friends. And may God have mercy on his soul.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The Night Before Christmas
The first time I listened to the lyrics of my new favorite Christmas song, it took my breath away. It so captures the beauty of Christmas because it encapsulates our need for Christ.
Brandon Heath's The Night Before Christmas*:
Or buy it on Amazon.
*written by Luke Brown, Chuck Butler, & Regie Hamm
Brandon Heath's The Night Before Christmas*:
Empty manger, perfect stranger, about to be bornListen to the whole thing from YouTube:
Into darkness, sadness, desperate madness, creation so torn
We were so lost on earth, no peace, no worth, no way to escape
In fear, no faith, no hope, no grace, and no light
But that was the night before Christmas
Or buy it on Amazon.
*written by Luke Brown, Chuck Butler, & Regie Hamm
Friday, December 9, 2011
Cheap Books
Logos Bible Software has a lot of packages that include electronic versions of popular print books. However, reading on the computer isn't a lot of fun — certainly not reading a whole book.
But they now have iPhone/iPad and Android apps plus a website that allows you to access a lot of the books you buy, making it possible to read your Libronix books just like a Kindle book.
Rejoice Christian Software is selling the Norman Geisler package for $25. You get 12 titles including Come Let Us Reason, the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, and When Skeptics Ask. I think this package would be a good investment for any Christian.
To get this package for the sale price of $25, you must use this link.
By the way, I am not getting a commission or anything. I just think this is a useful resource for you.
But they now have iPhone/iPad and Android apps plus a website that allows you to access a lot of the books you buy, making it possible to read your Libronix books just like a Kindle book.
Rejoice Christian Software is selling the Norman Geisler package for $25. You get 12 titles including Come Let Us Reason, the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, and When Skeptics Ask. I think this package would be a good investment for any Christian.
To get this package for the sale price of $25, you must use this link.
By the way, I am not getting a commission or anything. I just think this is a useful resource for you.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Review: The Book of Man
Boys in our society do not know how to become men. That claim has been made many times in the last ten years, and I think there's a lot of truth to it, so I accepted a review copy of Bill Bennett's The Book of Man.
The book offers 500+ pages of readings intended to "explore and explain ... what a man should be, how he should live, and the things to which he should aspire" (xix). Covering war, work, play, politics, family, and "prayer and reflection," this book quotes material as varied as politicians' speeches, classics like Two Years Before the Mast and Homer, and the Bible as well as profiling noteworthy men — some famous, some not.
The problem is that Bennett paints a picture of an American man, but not necessarily a Christian one.
My complaint is twofold. First, the order of the presentation places the wrong emphasis on pretty much everything. The list of topics above is the order used in the book. War comes first, and family comes after everything but God, who gets last place. A message is sent by that presentation, and it's not the way I'd want my son to look at life.
The second complaint is that a man's relationship with God is described as "Man in Prayer and Reflection," and that sums up the material in the section well. It's not "a man needs to have a strong relationship with God." The emphasis is not on knowing the Bible or following Christ. It is, "a man should pray regularly." And material on the importance of prayer shares space with "Man in ... Reflection."
A man should spend time in reflection. He should know what he believes and why, and he should examine himself and his world and test what he sees against the standard he knows. But this standard is not presented as the word of God in this book.
One other problem with the book is the choice of the material. Some of it really shines — some of the most sublime passages in the English language are reprinted here. But some of it is really opaque; the reader comes away wondering what the point of that passage was. And these two are intermingled freely and, in the latter chapters, sometimes outnumber the sublime. Given that the intended audience is not known for it's reading habits, I think some editing (rearranging if not removing lesser material from this 500+ page book) would serve the purpose of the book well.
Please don't misunderstand me. This not a bad book. There is wonderful material here. But I was hoping to find a book I could drop in the hands of the nephew I see once a year or give a foster child who's leaving my house. This is not that book. This book will require someone looking over the boy's shoulder. For a son, that's not a problem. For any other boy, it's not something we can assume.
I would give this work 3 out of 5 stars — definitely worth reading, but very flawed.
The book offers 500+ pages of readings intended to "explore and explain ... what a man should be, how he should live, and the things to which he should aspire" (xix). Covering war, work, play, politics, family, and "prayer and reflection," this book quotes material as varied as politicians' speeches, classics like Two Years Before the Mast and Homer, and the Bible as well as profiling noteworthy men — some famous, some not.
The problem is that Bennett paints a picture of an American man, but not necessarily a Christian one.
My complaint is twofold. First, the order of the presentation places the wrong emphasis on pretty much everything. The list of topics above is the order used in the book. War comes first, and family comes after everything but God, who gets last place. A message is sent by that presentation, and it's not the way I'd want my son to look at life.
The second complaint is that a man's relationship with God is described as "Man in Prayer and Reflection," and that sums up the material in the section well. It's not "a man needs to have a strong relationship with God." The emphasis is not on knowing the Bible or following Christ. It is, "a man should pray regularly." And material on the importance of prayer shares space with "Man in ... Reflection."
A man should spend time in reflection. He should know what he believes and why, and he should examine himself and his world and test what he sees against the standard he knows. But this standard is not presented as the word of God in this book.
One other problem with the book is the choice of the material. Some of it really shines — some of the most sublime passages in the English language are reprinted here. But some of it is really opaque; the reader comes away wondering what the point of that passage was. And these two are intermingled freely and, in the latter chapters, sometimes outnumber the sublime. Given that the intended audience is not known for it's reading habits, I think some editing (rearranging if not removing lesser material from this 500+ page book) would serve the purpose of the book well.
Please don't misunderstand me. This not a bad book. There is wonderful material here. But I was hoping to find a book I could drop in the hands of the nephew I see once a year or give a foster child who's leaving my house. This is not that book. This book will require someone looking over the boy's shoulder. For a son, that's not a problem. For any other boy, it's not something we can assume.
I would give this work 3 out of 5 stars — definitely worth reading, but very flawed.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Free eBooks
Some books are newly free for the Kindle* (or the free Kindle apps):
The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul — His book rarely stay free long, and this is one every believer should read. Get it while it's free!
The Strategy of Satan by Warren Wiersbe — It's a preorder; I know nothing else about this book, but the description says it looks as Satan's attacks and defeating them by obeying God's truth.
10 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren Wiersbe — A shortened ,but free, version of his "50 People ...".
*On a related note, I got a Kindle Fire, and I have to say it's really neat — and about the cheapest tablet you're going to find.
The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul — His book rarely stay free long, and this is one every believer should read. Get it while it's free!
The Strategy of Satan by Warren Wiersbe — It's a preorder; I know nothing else about this book, but the description says it looks as Satan's attacks and defeating them by obeying God's truth.
10 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren Wiersbe — A shortened ,but free, version of his "50 People ...".
*On a related note, I got a Kindle Fire, and I have to say it's really neat — and about the cheapest tablet you're going to find.
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