Made me cry.

(HT: Andrew Sullivan)

(HT: Abraham Piper)

Yes, they really do have “early church fathers” on their list of false teachers. Why? Because they were Catholic. Oh, and Charles Spurgeon was “ecumenical.” Doesn’t the word just reek of brimstone?

That said, I am now going to exercise discernment and end the post before I really speak my mind.

If you want an easy way to keep up with the blog to know when our next post finally does appear, I’d recommend using something like Google Reader. Abraham Piper explains how it works here.

Jared Wilson’s has 5 Gut Checks for Pastors.

Leonard Pitts writes about our destructive love of stuff.

There have been a couple excellent posts related to Bishop N.T. Wright lately. First, Tony Kummer writes about how he has no right to write off Tom Wright. Then, Darryl Dash links to a great quote from Bishop Wright dealing with the issue of pastors being scholars.

Zach Nielsen links to a Collin Hansen article discussing prolonged adolescence.

Brother Maynard has written one of the most thoughtful reflections on just war and pacifism that I’ve ever read.

The Resurgence offers six ways to engage culture.

Sometimes I find that stories of children grasping basic truths somehow helps in my own understanding of those same concepts. This was certainly the case when I read Erika Haub’s recent post about her daughter, Mercy.

Ben Witherington offers an interesting critique of Calvinism.

Denis Haack talks about feeling pain and feeling alive.

Jamie Arpin-Ricci has a provocative (in a good way) post about the death of a Wal-mart employee who was trampled by shoppers this past Friday. The quote that’s going to haunt me is, “The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in the wardrobe is the garment of the one who is naked; the shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.”

David Wayne talks about superficiality being the foundation for meaningful friendships. Abraham Piper had a similar post recently.

The First Five Centuries

A Millenium of Decline and Hope

One of the Church’s Greatest Resurrection

The Reformation Was Personal

Consolidation, Expansion & Revival

In the American Church

Abraham Piper asks if we give time too much credence in selecting a spouse. (Eric, who normally shares theological articles or political stuff in his google reader, decided this was share-worthy. I agree.)

I’m looking forward to reading Scot McKnight’s new book over Christmas break, but I thought this review from Trevin Wax was helpful.

Denis Haack has a post that starts as a movie review of sorts before turning into a discussion on lying and ending with this money quote: “Church potlucks are an occasion for lying, I think. We ask one another “How are you doing?” and reply, as expected in this social ritual, “Great.” Sometimes that isn’t really true—the truth would be to say, “I’m not doing well, actually, but you aren’t a safe person to explain that to.” The real brokenness here is probably not the social ritual response which hides the truth but the breakdown of trust that sadly infects us so deeply.”

Sean Michael Lucas, a professor at Eric’s seminary, discusses hyperbole and the elections.

Thank you, Vitamin Z.

As long as we’re linking to Z, if you’re a college football fan, you’ll love this.

The Myhres in Uganda have a really moving post about one of the children they treated.

Bill Kinnon writes about politics and deferred hope.

It’s funny because it’s true.