Happy Reformation Day

Radical Reformation

"We were listeners to Zwingli's sermons and readers of his writings, but one day we took the Bible itself in hand and were taught better."

--Anabaptist Conrad Grebel

T-Shirts

they'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear

they'll know us by the way we point and stare

at anyone whose sin looks worse than ours

who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare

they’ll know us by our picket lines and signs

they’ll know us by the pride we hide behind

like anyone on earth is living right

and isn’t that why Jesus died

not to make us think we’re right

when love, love, love

is what we should be known for

love, love, love

it’s the how and it’s the why

we live and breathe and we die

they’ll know us by reasons we divide

and how we can’t seem to unify

because we’ve gotta sing songs a certain style

or we’ll walk right down that aisle

and just leave ‘em all behind

they’ll know us by the billboards that we make

just turning God’s words to cheap clichés

says “what part of murder don’t you understand?”

but we hate our fellow man

and point a finger at his grave

they'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear

they'll know us by the way we point and stare

telling ‘em their sins are worse than ours

thinking we can hide our scars

beneath these t-shirts that we wear

--Derek Webb

Famine

"Only 16 percent of Christians polled said they read the Bible daily."

-Gallup Poll 10/20/2000

Platt on the Prosperity Gospel

Check the PBS video here.

(Props: Patrick)

Rick Warren on Reading

During his talk at the Desiring God conference, Rick Warren encourages us to prioritize reading the old stuff. He says 25% of our reading should be from the first 1500 years of church history, 25% from the last 500 years, 25% from the last 100 years, and finally 25% from recent years. He owns 20,000 books (btw, he and his wife live of 9% of their income). Last year he read through the works of Jonathan Edwards (26 vols). This year he is plowing through Barth's Church Dogmatics. Impressive. Here is the video; this point is around the 25 minute mark.

Brooks Ritter - The Horse Fell Lame

Bible and Mission

The temporal movement of the biblical narrative runs all the way from creation to the eschatological future. It runs from the old to the new, constantly reconstructing the past in memory and constructing the future in expectation. Within this movement mission is movement into the new future of God. It is the movement of the people of God whose identity is found in the narrative of the past but also in their being turned by that narrative towards the coming of God's kingdom in the future."

--Richard Bauckham, Bible and Mission, 13.

CT on Mohler

Peep the new CT cover story on 'The Reformer,' Dr. Al Mohler.

Good Lookin' Out: For the Fame of God's Name

Justin Taylor and Sam Storms have put together a volume of essays in honor of John Piper that looks great. Here is the video of the presentation and table of contents.

Christian Identity

"The imitation of Christ in his life of suffering and service - not as an act of masochism for the sake of suppressing one's own life but as an act of love for the enhancement of others' life - is not an optional version of Christian identity. It is the very essence of Christian identity. It is the pattern by which every other claim about the spiritual life must be measured if it is to be considered Christian. It is what is learned from Jesus. It is what learning Jesus means."

-L.T. Johnson