How Far Have We Fallen?

Need more reasons to attend church and learn to be a missional Christian? Driving down Route 23 tonight I witnessed a man openly relieving himself by the side of the road and a man on an electric wheelchair pulling a dog in a child's wagon through a carry out drive-thru. How far is Southern Ohio from this?

http://www.nbc10.com/news/14585860/detail.html

This and many other worthless stories can be found over at one of my favorite Chrisitan sites--Relevant magazine.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/

Village Idiots

There are only two movements within Christianity that are attracting young people ages 18-35. One is the new Reformed movement (kind of a younger, hipper Evangelical Calvinism) and the other is the Emerging Church movement with its most liberal wing led by an organization known as The Emergent Village. Check out the following links to learn about it. The first is the obligatory Wikipedia article and the second is a talk given by pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Driscoll is part of the New Reformed Movement but was a leader of the "emerging church" at one time (at one point, I considered myself part of it as well but we have both since repented). Oh, and as far as my thoughts on Emergent...be afraid...be very afraid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_Church

http://www.sebts.edu/chapel/chapelMessages.cfm?filter_sortdirection=DESC&filter_semesterid=0&Page=3

John Piper Rules!

Pastor-Scholar John Piper is a former professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary, the Senior Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota, the head of Desiring God Ministries and an award winning Christian author. The web page for Desiring God was already one of the best web sites on the net featuring an extensive archive of audio resources and articles by Piper but now many of his award winning books are online as well. Among the free titles available for download are "Desiring God", "What Jesus Demands from the World" and "Don't Waste Your Life."

They are all well worth reading although some of them, like "The Future of Justification," is tough going if your not familiar with the current state of Biblical studies.

Check them all out here: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/

A Golden Compass That Only Points South?

While I'm blogging about movies, I guess I might as well weigh in on The Golden Compass. The film, which is to be released in December, is an adaptation of author Phillip Pullman's novel of the same name. Pullman is an outspoken atheist (and a preacher's kid...what is it about them!) and his "Dark Materials" is a series of stories that the author has all but admitted are a secular humanist reaction to C.S. Lewis' pro-Christian children's books.

The novel The Golden Compass questions the validity of belief in God but the film's distributor, New Line Cinema, promises that these elements have been stripped from the movie's screenplay. One of the stars, Nicole Kidman, has also stated that she would not participate in an anti-Christian film as she is a practicing Catholic. Some evangelical leaders have asked their fellow Christians to take a "wait and see attitude."

Other Christian leaders, however, fear that, regardless of how the film is scripted, the movie will lead to increased sales of Pullman's books, which will not be redacted--this seems to me to be a well grounded concern. My son will not watch the film and the book will never set page in my home.

However, all of the controversy has generated buzz for the film which will undoubtedly lead to increased ticket sales. I'm not sure how to address the issue without "stirring the pot" but it is an unfortunate side-effect.

A Pro-Life, Pro-Family Chick Flick

The new film "Bella" has received standing ovations from test audiences and praise from men such as James Dobson because of its pro-life message. The movie is a tear-jerking "chick flick", so take your better half and a wad of tissues. Read more about it here.

http://www.bellathemovie.com/

Unborn In The USA

A documentary on abortion just released on DVD promises to be the first truly fair, even-handed treatment of the subject. "Unborn in the USA" can be ordered now (ask your video store to carry it or go the Netflix route like I do).

An interview with the filmmakers can be found at Christianity Today's Movie page. Link below.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/thompsonfell.html

Check it out.

Meet Pastor Tim Keller

To the left are videos featuring Pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Church in NYC. Pastor Keller has managed to help build a megachurch of largely single, unchurched young people in Manhattan. His insights are invaluable. I also encourage you to download a few of his sermons from Redeemer's web page. You can find the link to your left as well.

If you missed last month's video, "The Good Soldier" featuring Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church then you can easily find the video on Youtube.

God bless,