Category: Culture

What makes young Calvinists tick: Collin Hansen interview with The White Horse Inn

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A Journalists Journey With New Calvinists
Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey With New Calvinists

Collin Hansen, editor at large for Christianity Today and author of Young, Restless, and Reformed: A Journalists Journey With New Calvinists,  was interviewed recently by Michael Horton at The White Horse Inn. From the book’s blurb:

From places like John Piper’s den, Al Mohler’s office, and Jonathan Edwards’s college, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen investigates what makes today’s young Calvinists tick.

Church-growth strategies and charismatic worship have fueled the bulk of evangelical growth in America for decades. While baby boomers have flocked to churches that did not look or sound like church, it seems these churches do not so broadly capture the passions of today?s twenty-something evangelicals. In fact, a desire for transcendence and tradition among young evangelicals has contributed to a Reformed resurgence.

For nearly two years, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen visited the chief schools, churches, and conferences of this growing movement. He sought to describe its members and ask its leading pastors and theologians about the causes and implications of the Calvinist resurgence. The result, Young, Restless, Reformed, shows common threads in their diverse testimonies and suggests what tomorrow’s church might look like when these young evangelicals become pastors or professors.

You can order the book or download the first chapter at Monergismbooks.com

HT: Justin Taylor, whom I am grateful for among many young, restless, reformed men.

A Twilight book review: Obsessive love

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Tim Challies has written a helpful review of Twilight.
Tim Challies has written a helpful review of "Twilight."

Like many parents, I imagine, I was left clueless about the whole “Twilight” phenomenon. I was not aware of the books until only recently, and now there is a very popular movie in theaters. Thankfully, one of my most trusted book reviewers, Tim Challies, took some time to read “Twilight” and share his thoughts. For the most part, Challies thought the book (his wife read the rest of the series and will share her thoughts later) was well-written. What I found helpful as a parent were his thoughts about the relationship between the boy and girl:

While the love between the two of them is meant to be real, it also has a strange, unearthly quality to it. It also has an obsessive, idolatrous quality. Perhaps this is true of any love story, but I wonder whether girls are well-served by reading of a young woman who is so utterly consumed with her boyfriend that she seeks and desires and thinks of nothing else. She lies, she disobeys her parents, she does whatever is necessary to be with him. She is convinced that in this boy she will find her all-in-all. All she desires—to the point of wanting him to drink her blood so she, too, can be a vampire—is to be with him forever. She would rather be undead eternally than live without him.

At this point, with the movie out and the books having been around for awhile, it may be too late to consider if you’ve already jumped in. (An admission: My preteen son read the book and devoured it. When pressed, he said he was disappointed because he thought it would be something else.) Still, I would proceed cautiously if I had a young daughter who wanted to read it. Go here to read the full review by Challies. It’s very helpful for the very least in that it gives good discussion points you can have with children about what life values were displayed.

What are they teaching kids these days? Humane killing?

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Wesley J. Smith posted this at Secondhand Smoke, to his credit. Smith got a little hot at the end, but his righteous anger is definitely justified when you consider the outrageous philosophy the administration at Princeton gives support to by their elevation of Peter Singer to an endowed bioethics chair.

Singer is an Australian philosopher who holds views that are, to say the least, appalling. From a 1999 article in the New York Times, Singer said: ”I do not think it is always wrong to kill an innocent human being. Simply killing an infant is never equivalent to killing a person.”

This was nearly 10 years ago, so why the fuss now? Well, because we are constantly facing issues in our society about the weak and defenseless in our society. What was outrageous in 1999 is now a fuzzy memory to some. Worse, people like Singer are now revered professors at treasured institutions, teaching young minds things that were criminal in years past. Those people are leaving those institutions and voting on critical issues. It matters.

Four reasons why premarital sex isn’t worth it

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What would you tell a young man who said he wanted to have sex with his girlfriend? What would you tell the young woman? Pastor John Piper gives four answers (and a fifth, for the girl) in the Ask Pastor John podcast from Desiring God.

Click on the image to see the video
Click on the image to see the video

How to convert to digital TV

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Here is a helpful commercial from our government on how to convert your TV set to digital when the digital conversion occurs next February:

Click on the image to view the commercial.
Click on the image to view the commercial.

Killing to spare the child?

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Wesley J. Smith, who blogs at Secondhand Smoke, has recently resumed creating podcasts. You should be sure to check them out. He is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and has lent much wisdom to the debate about the value of human life.

This podcast, which he produced in 2007, talks about eugenic embryo screening, the idea that babies are screened before birth to identify — and sadly — eliminate those who have undesirable traits. How far will it go? You be surprised.

Click on the image to hear the podcast.
Click on the image to hear the podcast.

Mark Richt lives his faith

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Thanks to Justin Taylor for posting this. I would echo Justin’s comments that it is an awesome thing when a public person like Georgia football coach Mark Richt so openly expresses his faith. I am not a Georgia football fan, but I am a huge fan of Mark and Katharyn Richt. God is good. Click on the image to view the video.

Georgia head football coach Mark Richt talked about his adopted children and his faith on ESPN GameDay recently.
Georgia head football coach Mark Richt talked about his adopted children and his faith on ESPN GameDay recently.

What is so appalling about Sarah Palin?

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I have read more than once, from various sides of the political spectrum, how appalling John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate was. Perhaps they may have reasons, although I will point out that any serious student of presidential history will see that Sarah Palin is no less experienced than many people who served capably as president of this country. But appalling? Here is video of what kind of character Sarah Palin has and the nerve she has touched for one segment of our society.

I guess I can’t really understand that hatred that is being directed toward this woman. Perhaps it’s easier for people to direct that hatred toward her rather than come right out and say it’s Down syndrome people they really hate. Or, rather, would not want to see live in the first place. That is what is appalling.

Hitchens-Turek debate: Does God exist?

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Christopher Hitchens and Frank Turek debated at Virginia Commonwealth University on the topic: Does God Exist? The video is below. Click on the image to view it.

Does God exist? recently at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Speaker and columnist Frank Turek debated noted atheist Christopher Hitchens on the subject: Does God exist? recently at Virginia Commonwealth University.