• Timothy Dalrymple looks for ways to find spiritual life in a technological world.

Do you see the problem? The natural world is filled with “pointers” toward God, yet few of us work amidst the wonders of the natural world. More of us work amidst the wonders of technology, yet since we cannot see these things as pointers to God. Thus we are effectively cut off from God in our places of work. If we could sit in front of a computer and marvel at the work of God in fashioning a creation and creature for which such a computer is possible — then we would find ourselves surrounded by pointers to God.

• Just Spit It Out! Paul Helm takes N.T. Wright to task for beating around the bush.

The Bible – the Book of Proverbs and the New Testament in particular – has much to say about the ‘ethics of speech’. Those who currently stress the performative, speech-act character of language, should understand this. To speak is to act and so like all our actions, our speech has a moral texture.

• Ben  Witherington discusses evangelical sub-cultures.

Are these variegations a sign of weakness or strength in the Evangelical movement?   On the whole, the student of church history would have to say strength, because church mergers normally happen when denominations or groups are too weak to stand on their own any longer.  Growth, development, new movements  (say the Emerging Church movement) are all signs of diversity and usually of some sort of ferment, fervor, and development,  often a healthy sign.

• Jon Bloom pushes back on the idea that you should only do what your heart tells you.

If our hearts are compasses, they are like Jack Sparrow’s. If our hearts are guides, they are Gothels. They are not benevolent, they are pathologically selfish. If we only do what our hearts tell us we will pervert and impoverish every desire, every beauty, every person, every wonder and joy. We will try to consume them for self-glory and self-indulgence.

• Melisa Wiginton talks about Christian institutional leaders who ditch church: “Some of us are just phoning it in, putting in appearances, marking time until the church gets completely different.”

• Here are some free lectures on amillennialism from Monergism. (HT DeJuan Brown)

• Michael Barber has been discussing arguments for the Catholic practice of praying to saints, with posts on Do Catholics teach salvation by works and not grace?, Does the practice detract from Christ?, and Does the practice have any biblical justification? It sounds like he has a few more posts in mind, so follow along if you’re interested. (HT Stuart James)

• NPR takes a look at the science of what annoys us. And, there’s an interesting quiz in the sidebar to determine how annoying you are. So, how annoying are you? Huh? Huh? Tell me. Tell me now.

• For you LoTR fans, it’s now official: Orland Bloom will be in the Hobbit, reprising his role as Legolas.

• And, here’s a list of 10 Things You Ought To Know.

via Funstoo

• Timothy Dalrymple has an outstanding piece on Are Christian Movies Really So Bad? I have to admit that I was skeptical when I started reading, but he’s almost convinced me to give Christian movies another shot, even as he recognizes some continued shortcomings.

Ultimately, Christian films should go beyond the oppositional stage, in which they see themselves as the antidote to the poison of mainstream films and thus find their moral responsibility in presenting positive role models and messages of hope. More Christian films that portray dark nights of the soul, and struggles with God that endure for years, decades, even a lifetime, would be welcome.

• Yesterday, Tim Challies posted Letting Herself Go, responding to Rachel Held Evans on whether Christian women have to “stay beautiful” for their husbands.  Today, Evans responds with In Search of a Better Conversation about Biblical Womanhood (Part 1), lamenting an apparent failure to reflect adequately on what we mean by “biblical.”

At the root of the problem is the fact that we have grown accustomed to using the word “biblical” prescriptively (to mean, “what God wants”) rather than descriptively (to mean, “that which is found in the Bible”). We have forgotten that behind every claim to a biblical lifestyle or ideology lies a complex set of assumptions regarding interpretation and application.

• Peter Leithart reflects on Augustine and the “secular.”

my main beef is with theologies that implicitly or explicitly endorse secular order, in the sense of a bounded public space where religiously grounded moral norms and religiously founded rationality are ruled off limits.  I think secular political order is mainly a phenomenon of the past four centuries.

• Here’s a recent paper from Carl Trueman, “Is the Princeton View of Scripture an Enlightenment Innovation?” Warning: the link downloads the whole journal. (HT Justin Taylor)

• ThinkChristian reports on the new online textual criticism database being developed by the Center for New Testament Textual Criticsm:  ”Armed with this historical knowledge about the text of the New Testament, you can do one of two things: You can become a Bruce Metzger, or you can become a Bart Ehrman.”
• John Piper Interviews Rick Warren. According to Piper, “My aim in this interview is to bring out and clarify what Rick Warren believes about these biblical doctrines. In doing this my hope is that the thousands of pastors and lay people who look to Rick for inspiration and wisdom will see the profound place that doctrine has in his mind and heart.”

• James McGrath offers a helpful introduction to biblioblogs.

• Amazon releases a list of The Most Well-Read Cities in the U.S. Portland made the list, but it’s much lower than I would have expected. Apparently we’re too busy drinking coffee.

• And, here’s a list of the Top 10 Finalists in the 2011 Illusion of the Year Contest.

• Are we all victims of data overload? (HT Tim Challies)

After weeks of survey research, it turns out–the bounty and abundance of web data is out of control. As Google’s Eric Schmidt has been quoted, from the beginning of time to 2003, we created 5 Exabytes of data. We’re now creating that every two days–and it’s accelerating. Think of it like Moore’s law–for content. But unlike increased processor power, massive growth in unfiltered and un-contextualized content isn’t a boon. It’s a data deluge that’s drowning us all.

• Inside Higher Ed discusses the importance digital literacy in higher education, arguing tat both faculty and students need training for how to use technology well and wisely.

And don’t be surprised if a course on information literacy raises profound questions about (at least) undergraduate pedagogy (because it tends to have the greatest degree of passive learning). Challenging that paradigm might be the real obstacle to the use of technology that innovative educators face in our halls of academe, because the genuinely transformative potential that technology has on teaching and learning scares the pants off of personality types invested in incumbent methods and power models threatened by these new modalities. Remember: technology transfigures us, but that does not mean we always like what we see.

• I’m Still Progressive, But You’re Still a Bad Person. Or, why a progressive Christian still believes in depravity.

• GetReligion discusses the recent study finding that born-again Christians have smaller brains that mainline Christians. (HT ThinkChristian)

• NYT has an article on twin girls that share a brain, and possibly a mind.

• Ben Witherington and Peter Leithart recently had a fascinating exchange on Constantine and Just War theory. Here’s a nice roundup of all the posts in that exchange. (HT @GodRocket)

• A British university causes a stir with its plans to monitor student attendance via wifi.

• And, here’s a flowchart for answering the question, Does That Person You’re Talking to Really Want to Hear about Your Dream?

• Tim Keller warns leaders about Speaking with Contempt.

It is natural, when under criticism, to shield your heart from pain by belittling the critics in your mind. “You stupid idiots.” Even if you don’t speak outwardly to people like Moses did, you do so inwardly.

• Alan Jacobs comments on the idea of getting A Bachelor’s Degree in Atheism. (HT Trevin Wax)

Certainly this phenomenon has not been sufficiently studied. Secularization—a long-term decline in religious belief, at least in the form we know it in the West—doesn’t have a clear precedent in human history. And if scholars give sociological, political and cultural explanations for the presence of religious belief, should we not expect them to treat belief’s absence in the same way?

• National Geographic has an interesting article on the Göbekli Tepe in Turkey.

We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization.

• Near Emmaus has been having an interesting discussion on the relationship between Hip Hop and Calvinism. And, Nick Norelli offers some good comments as well.

• New pyramids have been discovered. The BBC reports on 17 lost pyramids that have been discovered through satellite imaging, along with a number of other ancient ruins.

• Calvin’s Institutes for $0.99. (HT Tim Challies)

• Here are 8 Ways to Fix Glee

• Here’s an interesting article on copyright and internet images, focusing specifically on the woman who took that amazing picture of the space shuttle taking off through a cloud.

• And, here’s the Best homeless sign guy ever. If you’re going to hold a sign for a living, you should at least do it well.

X Muppets

• The BBC reports on India’s unwanted girls. (HT Tim Challies)

India’s 2011 census shows a serious decline in the number of girls under the age of seven – activists fear eight million female foetuses may have been aborted in the past decade

• John Johnson reflects on how to balance hope and healing.

We are not so consistent with our eschatology.  Our hope is in heaven, but sometimes our prayers would suggest otherwise.  It’s not to say we should not pursue wellness and health.  I pray fervently for people in my church who are hurting.  But if we are not careful, we can become obsessed with present healing and miss the bigger story.  In a strange sense, we can sometimes be too pro-life, life that is about the here and now and not the here after.

• Derek Ouellette discusses Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? (Spoiler alert: he says “yes”).

I learned from Henri Blocher’s book In The Beginning to read the opening chapters of Genesis in a literary, rather than a literal, way. I learned from John Walton’s book The Lost World of Genesis One that those same chapters have nothing to say about how God created the universe, how old the universe is or how science fits in. In short, the bible does not address the age of the earth nor does it tell us how God created it.

• If you haven’t already heard, Harold Camping now says that judgment did come on May 21, but it was invisible. Don’t worry, though, the final judgment day will still be here on October 21.

• Carl Trueman wrestles with the challenge of preaching Judges 19, calling it “perhaps the most harrowing and difficult I have ever been called to speak on.”

• CNN has an interesting piece on America as the no-vacation nation: “Americans maximize their… [happiness] by working, and Europeans maximize their [happiness] through leisure.”

• Joe Carter comments on a study that found that cultured men are happier. Apparently men who like going to art museums and ballets, are happier than those who don’t. If that’s true, then I really have only one choice – be satisfied with unhappiness.

• And, here’s a list of 10 Commencement Speakers You Wish You’d Had. Unless you graduated from Wester Seminary, of course. Michael Lawrence did a great job.

• Goforth’s Jounral has been celebrating Portland, and in a recent article Aaron Smith explains why he loves the myth and reality of Portland. .

I’m just coming to learn that the reality of life in Portland is somewhere in-between the myth and the ordinary. And that is why I love Portland. There is room for most everyone in this town. You don’t have to eat vegan cheese and drink organic coffee to belong. Portland is a weird place, but you can still own a car and buy clothes from target.

• Thom Rainer offers A Postcript on a Failed Prophecy. Unlike other posts I’ve seen on the subject, this isn’t really a reflection on the May 21 debacle. Instead, it’s a word to non-Christians on the fact that Christians often say and do stupid things.

I pray that we Christians will act and speak more like Christ. But perhaps these past few days of media blitz about Camping and his false claims caused you to think and begin to ask some questions. Maybe you’ve decided to look beyond the silliness that we Christians sometimes demonstrate. You are looking beyond falsehood and searching for truth.

• And, on the same note, apparently Camping is “flabbergasted” that the world didn’t end.

“It has been a really tough weekend,” Camping said Sunday, after emerging from his Alameda, California home for the first time to talk to a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle. ”I’m looking for answers … But now I have nothing else to say,” he said, adding that he would make a full statement today.

• Mike Bird discusses Amyraldian Anglicans.

There is a wonderful tradition of Amyraldian Anglicans who imbibed Calvinism with a Catholic spirit.  J.C. Ryle, John Newton, and Charles Simeon are the main examples.  Another one in that tradition is D.B. Knox.

• Andy Naselli points out an interesting book arguing that Mark Driscoll is a Fundamentalist in Everything but Name.

Driscoll does not claim to be a fundamentalist, and many who today willingly accept the label of fundamentalist would not claim him as their sectarian brother. Nonetheless, Driscoll is a fundamentalist in everything but name, and shares virtually all his doctrinal positions and attitudes with any other fundamentalist.

• A couple of studies have come out recently addressing the question Is College Worth It?

• Roger Olson explains why he still can’t give up on the label “evangelical.”

• And, from the Guardian, here’s How to Spot a Psychopath. I’m not going to tell you how many of these characteristics I exhibit.

Mariachi Gollum (via 22 Words)

• Roger Olson asked, “Does God always do the ‘wisest’ thing?” arguing that God has libertarian free will. And, Michael Patton has now responded, arguing that God’s will is bound by his nature.

Therefore, when we ask if God is a “prisoner” to his wisdom (or any one of his attributes), it is like asking “Is God a prisoner to who he is?” The answer is an unqualified “yes.” If he is not, then all of Christianity is in jeopardy and our salvation is contingent upon God’s submission to outside principles such as wisdom and faithfulness. But God is wisdom. God is faithful. His very nature defines these concepts. God could no more act unwise or unfaithful then he could cease to be God. God is who he is, eternally and immutably (unchangeably).

• Russell Moore explains why he does not believe in a pretribulational rapture.

Just because these arguments for a pretribulational rapture are not conclusive, this does not mean that the second coming could not come in two stages, one of them being before the tribulation. The Bible nowhere precludes a pretribulational rapture, and God has in times past fulfilled in stages prophetic events (such as the coming of the Messiah, after all). I certainly hope I am wrong about the timing of the rapture and will gladly concede this point to my pretrib friends while flying through the atmosphere.

• Matthew Paul Turner discusses why Christians feel like they have to respond to atheists.

All of this begs the question: Why do Christians respond? Do we feel like we have to respond? Is it because somebody has asked us to respond? But sometimes a response doesn’t make sense.

• Paul Helm discusses the claim that most early Christians were universalists. (HT Justin Taylor)

The trouble with these claims that we have been examining, vague and insubstantial as they appear, is that once they get into print that fact alone provides credibility to the view, at least to some minds. But printer’s ink is no substitute for evidence. Another reminder of the importance of primary sources, and the danger that what may count as ‘scholarship’ may in fact be nothing other than the retailing of opinions that no-one ever takes the trouble to check.

• According to scientists, billion of planets may be drifting alone in space.

• A new record: an embryo has been born after being frozen for 20 years.

• Here are 7 Vital Online Church Planter Resources

• If you’re looking for some fun weekend projects, The Ultimate MacGyver Recipe Book Rounds Up All of Mac’s Clever Hacks

• And, here’s a list of  9 Trends in the Next TV Season.

• Roland Boer argues that ideas are not as important as we think. (Kind of ironic given that what he’s presenting is an idea. But still worth reading.) HT Jim West

the unchallenged assumption is that if we can change the ideas of others who read these texts, we can thereby influence their actions in a way that would benefit our human, animal, and earthly society. The key to change is a change in attitudes; assume one and nearly all will change their attitudes and act accordingly.

• Mack Stiles presents the Nine Marks of a Healthy Parachurch Ministry.

The standard cliché for parachurch is that it’s not the church, but an arm of the church. Yet historically, that arm has shown a tendency to develop a mind of its own and crawl away from the body, which creates a mess. Given the grand scope and size of many parachurch ministries, those which go wayward can propagate error for years: missionary organizations become gyms, heretical seminaries pump out heretical pastors, and service organizations produce long-term confusion between the gospel and social action.

• And, here’s one for all us coffee lovers: coffee may be making us healthier.

Coffee is officially off the vice list as new studies show health benefits for ailments ranging from cancer to Parkinson’s disease.

• Steve Holmes critiques some comments Mark Driscoll recently made regarding congregational government and missional church. (On a similar note, check out the latest post at Resurgence on Are Multi-site Churches Biblical?)

The most astonishing and worrying thing about the comments is that they are entirely pragmatic. Faced with the question of the most appropriate mode of church government, Driscoll’s response is not to turn to the Bible, or to think theologically about what God calls the local church to be, but to ask what works (where ‘works’ is defined as adding numbers to one particular local congregation, with no consideration of the edification of the saints, the transformation of society, or the wider mission of the church).

• Thom Rainer speaks to pastors everywhere with You Are My Pastor. (On a similar note, check out Brian Croft’s Can a pastor still be fruitful if he did not speak at the Gospel Coalition?)

You are my pastor. You are not perfect. You get frustrated like everyone else. You don’t always say exactly what you should say. You do indeed make some mistakes. On that reality you readily agree.

But your imperfections are often magnified in the light of your leadership role. When you please one congregant, you often displease another. You can’t make everyone happy, and you hear criticisms more times than most of us could endure.

• Daniel Kirk reflects on election in Romans 9-11 in response to Roger Olson’s claim that traditional Calvinism makes God a moral monster.

I wish Paul had said that it was Israel’s own fault, that it was their own free will that caused them to reject Jesus, but that God would overcome that in the end.

But he didn’t.

And so we are left with the God who elects, who works mysterious purposes, and who ultimately claims that in all these things He is fulfilling his promises to Israel.

• National Geographic has a powerful piece on The Secret World of Child Brides.

The people who work full-time trying to prevent child marriage, and to improve women’s lives in societies of rigid tradition, are the first to smack down the impertinent notion that anything about this endeavor is simple. Forced early marriage thrives to this day in many regions of the world—arranged by parents for their own children, often in defiance of national laws, and understood by whole communities as an appropriate way for a young woman to grow up when the alternatives, especially if they carry a risk of her losing her virginity to someone besides her husband, are unacceptable.

• Rachel Held Evans offers some interesting thoughts on How to follow Jesus.without being Shane Clairborne.

• Justin Taylor points out that the audio for all the Gospel Coalition workshops is now available.

• James Tucker begins a weekly series on textual criticism.

• And, here’s a list of 7 Disturbing Books That Someone Probably Made You Read (interestingly the Bible didn’t make the list, though it would certainly seem to fit the criteria for many people)

• Christianity Today describes The Road to Gay Ordination in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.

It didn’t happen overnight. The new schism over gay ordination is the culmination of three decades of evangelicals battling the progressive tide, arguing that biblical authority is on the line.

reports from recent iPad pilot programs at schools across the country have been positive, and some colleges have even begun distributing tablets to all of their students. As we wrap up the first post-iPad school year, do we know enough to make the “fad, fail, magical” call? I think so.

• Seth Godin describes The Future of the Library (HT Tim Challies)

Wouldn’t you want to live and work and pay taxes in a town that had a library like that? The vibe of the best Brooklyn coffee shop combined with a passionate raconteur of information? There are one thousand things that could be done in a place like this, all built around one mission: take the world of data, combine it with the people in this community and create value.