While reading Kottke I was directed to a link noting the 10 greatest Biblical massacres.
While far from the largest number, I must admit that #10 made my day: Elisha sent two bears to kill 42 children for making fun of his bald head. 2 Kings 2:22-24
To The Members of Jasper’s First Baptist Church [original pdf]
We wanted to thank you for your kindness and faithfulness shown over the last 26 years.
When our father Conrad accepted God’s call to Jasper, we were 3-years-old and 18-months-old, respectively. Now 29 and 27-years-old, it’s amazing to look back and realize that there wasn’t an area of life you did not positively affect. You were the first church family we knew, and God could not have selected a better group of individuals to instill our Christian foundation.
You have treated us as your own sons, grandsons, and brothers. Not a day went by where your hospitality and friendship was not shown in countless ways. There is no way for us to thank you enough, much less return the favor; we can only assure you that we will attempt carry out the Great Commission in the same manner as yourselves.
Jeremiah 29:11 reads, “For I know the plans I have for you,†declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.†God has big plans for Jasper’s First Baptist Church. We know that you will continue to provide the same encouragement and support to future church leaders that you have so graciously provided to our father over the last 3 decades.
It is with the utmost sincerity that we say it will be difficult to love another church family as much as we have loved you. While Jasper’s First Baptist Church is no longer our church home, it will always be our home church.
God Bless,
Landon & Aaron Howell
“For the Christian, ‘truth’ is not primarily about logical propositions or statements, but about an encounter with the living God himself, and the consequent struggle to try and put into words that greater realityâ€
- Alister McGrath
A decent piece from NPR. It’s NPR, so take it with a grain of salt.
I’ll be honest: belonging to a God that, at the snap of a finger can create widespread destruction is kinda cool.
If you find yourself at home this evening, our church is doing a live broadcast online.
It’s vivid, overly descriptive, and (quite frankly) a little over-the-top. It’s worth the time, nonetheless.
Our pastor and his wife wrote a great piece on John Piper’s leave of absence. One item in particular is my favorite:
2. It allows the church and ministry to not be idols (1 Tim. 3:5).
Mark Driscoll and Adrian Warnock talk about the resurrection from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.
A good conversation between Adrian Warnock and my pastor Mark Driscoll on the Resurrection of Jesus.
The primary point: A Christian is one won who believes in the resurrection, and lives with the implications of that.
I would highly recommend picking up Driscoll’s new book Doctrine. However, if you enjoy video more, the Doctrine series sermons are here for free.
You know that moment when you realize that you’ve been singing a song wrong your entire life? How about a song you sang practically every Sunday in church since you were 3-years-old? That happened to me over the weekend when I challenged Jasper friend John Byars to complete the following chorus which the members of Jasper’s First Baptist Church sang at the end of each service for the better part of 3 decades.
- I’m so glad I’m a part of the Family of God,
I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His Blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I’m part of the family,
The Family of God
That part in bold? I’ve always said ‘hands’. Makes sense, right? I thought so, too.
For all of you SoCal readers, our pastor Mark Driscoll will be in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theater on February 13th teaching on a Biblical view of sex, dating, and marriage.
“Religion exists, in part, precisely because humans aren’t at home amid these cruel rhythms. We stand half inside the natural world and half outside it. We’re beasts with self-consciousness, predators with ethics, mortal creatures who yearn for immortality.”
– Ross Douthat, OP ED NY TIMES Dec 21, 2009
Merry Christmas.
Hard to believe another year has come and gone, and Christmas Every Day comes to a close.
Hope you enjoy the next 24 hours. Create some memories, eat too much, and if you wake up tomorrow morning with coal in your stocking… you probably deserve it.
Luke 2:1-20 (King James Version)
1And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.2(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Mark Driscoll is now blogging over at the Washington Post. His first blog post from Wednesday:
Q: What makes the best ‘case for God’ to a skeptic or non-believer, an open-minded seeker, and to a person of faith and Why?
Answer
Jesus.Christianity is not first and foremost about a sacred place to pilgrimage to, a philosophical system to ponder, a moral code to live, a religious tradition to honor, or an impersonal god to experience. Rather, Christianity is about a person who claimed to be the only God and said he would prove his unprecedented claim by living without sin, dying for sinners, and conquering death through resurrection.
So, as Christians, our aim is not to convince people of some god in general, but to introduce them to Jesus in particular.
I usually don’t post videos like this, but since it’s rooted in fact, I’ll post away.
Nightline is doing a series on the 10 Commandments, one segment featuring Chick-fil-A.
Does Cathy ever go into a mall on Sunday, and see a dark, shuttered Chick fil-A, and see all the other stores open, and think, maybe?
No, never.
“I think, isn’t that incredible, isn’t that neat?” Cathy said. “That we can be closed on Sunday? We’re generating more business in six days than all these other tenants are generating in seven? And we can be with our family.”
At the age of 14 I was truly convinced that no other Christian rapper could write and preform a song this good.
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My college roommate is moving to Costa Rica & Spain to be a missionary. (Insert crappy “suffering for Jesus” joke right here.) But seriously, he’s doing it with two children, each under the age of 4.
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