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No fiction writer could have imagined the following exchange I recently heard, and I’m thinking about making it my bio:
“Why do you want to keep a moldy Spice Girl?”
“Because that’s what I do.”
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Worldview Guide for the Aeneid
3 of 5 stars to Worldview Guide for the Aeneid by Louis Markos
Great introduction to the Aeneid especially if you know nothing about it, written from (and how the epic fits into) a Christian worldview.
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Desire for Communion as Disciples
It is exciting to welcome five new communicants to the Lord’s Table this morning. These young men were baptized based on their profession of faith last Sunday evening, and we are eager to welcome them as much as they’ve looked forward to participating. When I asked each one why he wanted to be baptized, one answer was shared more than others. They all wanted to be baptized in obedience to Christ.
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Confession 201
Almost six years ago I did a series of exhortations called Confession 101. There are multiple basic truths about confession that most Christians aren’t trained in. Confession and repentance are a crucial part of the believers’ life, not just at the beginning when one becomes a believer.
This exhortation is a 200 level lesson, and I’ve got another one for next week. These aren’t graduate level, but they do seem to require a little more maturity.
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On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
5 of 5 stars to On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson
I’m sure there was a day when I would not have enjoyed this book at all. TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY! I thought the names were playful and many of the footnotes were fun (I’ve always wondered how to make booger gruel) and I care about what happens to the Igibys. I’d start rereading it tomorrow if there weren’t three more books in the Saga.
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The Theban Trilogy
3 of 5 stars to Oedipus the King / Oedipus at Colonus / Antigone by Sophocles
Sometimes in Greek tragedy you lose, and sometimes you lose big. Spoiler: Oedipus loses BIG.
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The Last Battle
5 of 5 stars to The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
2019: I had to do it, I’m now giving 5 of 5 stars. I reread it because I’m talking about it at our upcoming Fiction Festival, and enjoyed it more than ever. 2018: (4 of 5 stars) There is one page in this book that is the worst. The rest of it creates the right kind of longing to fight, and if necessary die, for Aslan.
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The Bacchae and Other Plays
3 of 5 stars to The Bacchae and Other Plays by Euripides
2015: We only read The Bacchae (not the “and Other Plays”) but I quite enjoyed it. My pleasure wasn’t in the idolatry, or the madness, or the savagery, but rather the opportunity to celebrate how the Triune God of the Bible is so much more glorious than Dionysius and how He provides true, everlasting joy. Our Lord gives rather than takes, He shares His glory rather than hoards it, He gives wine to gladden hearts rather than deaden hearts, and He forgives the repentant rather than punish all without mercy.
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You Who? Why You Matter and How to Deal with It
5 of 5 stars to You Who? Why You Matter and How to Deal with It by Rachel Jankovic
How could I not give 5 of 5 stars to a book dedicated to my wife?! To Morgan, a faithful lighthouse on that higher rock.
It is, though, in light of the dedication, sort of ironic that Rachel has an entire chapter against personality tests, while Mo enjoys them, and I’d say uses the insights she gets from them with great wisdom and charity.
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It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work
3 of 5 stars to It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
I liked 37signals from the start. I’ve used Backpack and Highrise and Basecamp, now their primary product and the company’s name. This book had some quite reasonable recommendations for not letting work become god (my words, not theirs). For more, see my wife’s helpful review.
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The Last Days of Socrates
2 of 5 stars to The Last Days of Socrates by Plato. I didn’t get to finish reading this in Omnibus I, but I was leading the discussion for Omnibus Tenebras a few weeks ago so I figured I should, you know, make it all the way through. I was…unimpressed, and increasingly annoyed by Socrates.
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Fiction Up and Fiction In
I mentioned in my previous post that our next Raggant Fiction Festival is coming up in a couple weeks, March 23rd to be precise. This year’s theme revolves around The Chronicles of Narnia and other things Lewisian, and you can get tickets through March 18th. A ticket gets you a great lunch, some other goodies, and opportunity to hear the following talks:
Leila Bowers – Sleuthing Stories: How Narnia Teaches Us To Slay Sneaky DragonsBekah Merkle – The Nobility of the Common: American Aristocracy in NarniaJonathan Sarr – What is Bacchus Doing in Narnia?
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Why I Hate Fiction
Or, Why I’ve Repented from Hating Fiction
What follows are never before published notes from my talk at the very first Raggant Fiction Festival in 2015. If you’re interested in more, not only can you check out three years’ worth of talks at the above link, you could register for this year’s festival that’s happening on March 23!
It’s Not Business, It’s Personal Mine will be a personal talk and there are a few reasons for it.
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Comfort from the Dead-raiser
We’re going to be talking about resurrection in church for the next couple months leading up to Resurrection Sunday, and, for that matter, we’re going to be talking about it forever in the resurrection. In the meantime, prior to our resurrection, God’s Word reminds us that when we think about God we should think about His resurrection power. In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul wrote about his afflictions and then about the comfort God gave him in his afflictions.
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How Easily We Forget
It can be discouraging to realize that most new content is only old content. Very rarely does someone have a brand new idea, a completely new story idea, or a never-before-found life hack. Solomon wrote a long time ago that there is nothing new under the sun, things are just repackaged. Whether it’s investment strategies, or weight loss/exercise plans, or, even as Christians, how to live godly lives in the present age, most of the time what we get are reminders.
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“The emphasis on LABOR [in 1 Corinthians 15:10] reminds us that difficulty and cost in Christian work, far from suggesting an absence of GOD’S GRACE, presupposes the gift of such grace to prosecute the work through all obstacles.”
—Anthony Thiselton
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When Receivers Are Received
Call it “internal grammar.” Describe it as consistent, or use an expression such as turn about is fair play, or what goes around comes around.
Paul told the Corinthians that if they didn’t accept his instructions as coming from the Lord then the Lord would not accept them when they came before Him. “If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized” (1 Corinthians 14:38, ESV) “If anyone ignores this, they themselves will be ignored” (NIV).
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They Don’t Need a Sticker
Many men are decent at fixing things around the house [full disclosure: I am not one of them]. Some, of course, are not only inclined to building and repairing and maintaining stuff, they thrive at it. They are good with their hands, have a mechanical mind. They don’t need a sticker on the windshield to tell them that the 3,000 mile oil change is coming up, they smell it in the exhaust.
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Sunday Well Spent
Last August while in the UK I saw this sign on a sandwich board on the sidewalk outside a restaurant.
First, Scoff & Banter is a perfect name. Second, “a Sunday well spent” involves more than a good pot roast. Get with God’s people and worship Him.
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Good Things from Three Persons
The most explicitly Trinitarian benediction in the Bible comes in the final verse of 2 Corinthians.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)
All three Persons are referred to, even if we would tend to want to mention the Father first. Paul attributes something different from each Person, not because any of these gifts can be separated from God’s Triune nature, but most likely because Paul had already attached these particular blessings to a particular Person previously in the letter.