The White Horse Inn discusses our culture’s move toward what they call “radical informality” and how this cultural movement has impacted the church.  Very interesting discussion.  While I am very pleased that people feel free to come to worship at HLPC in various styles of dress be it formal or informal (I would hate for someone to stay away due to lack of what they feel is proper clothing), this broadcast made me think wistfully about preaching in a robe to signify the dignity of the preaching of the Word.

You can listen to the broadcast HERE.  In the words of famous philosopher Gomer Pyle, “It makes ya think!”

God settles the solitary in a home; (Ps. 68:6 ESV). My crew took off for south Florida to witness a couple of high school graduations while I stayed home to mind the fort and keep the Bankson home safe for democracy (and feed our zoo of 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 gerbils, and 1 fish). Wow- they’ve been gone less than 24 hours and I’m already lonely. What a gift a family is. God has been very gracious to me in giving me mine. I’m grateful He has settled ME in a home. No wonder God draws on family imagery to describe the church. We need relationship. We need connection.

They’ll be back next Wednesday. Please pray for their safety on the highways. While I’ll admittedly enjoy watching my favorite DVD’s and playing the X-Box, it won’t replace my wife and boys. In all seriousness, this should spur me on to think of those who live alone all the time and of their need for encouragement.

I’ll just have to live with that Roy Orbison song in my head all week.

R.C. Sproul has written a fascinating review of There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind authored Antony Flew, the “notorious atheist” himself. Sproul gives us a helpful overview of Flew’s previous reasoning against God’s existence and then goes to show his movement toward theism as he deconstructs his own, and others, arguments for atheism. One senses that Flew is perhaps in process of coming to faith particularly as Sproul writes: Before the added appendices, Flew ends the body of the work itself with this statement: “Someday I may hear a Voice, that says, ‘Can you hear me now?’”

Interesting read.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

This will be flavoring my burgers on the grill today.  Good stuff.

My friend, Ed Eubanks, put me on to Biblememory.us .  This is a very helpful e-mail tool for Scripture memory. Check it out!

(HT:  Ed)

Rod Parsely, televangelist from Ohio, is following John Hagee’s footsteps in endorsing John McCain for president it seems. Here’s another “evangelical leader” (quotes are quite intentional) becoming a power player in American politics- or so they would think. It must be irresistible to be courted by a presidential campaign as they were. It must be irresistible to consider the potential invitations to the inaugural, the White House, and other presidential perks if your man wins.

As a pastor I find this both embarrassing and infuriating. When pastors take this step they diminish the place and role of the church and thus diminish the gospel message the church is to proclaim. Instead of fulfilling a prophetic role and standing above politics, they relegate the church to just another special interest group- in this case the evangelical vote.

God is not a Republican or a Democrat. He’s the Sovereign Lord of all the universe. As His church we stand for the gospel and Biblical truth but not for political parties. Should Christians be involved in leadership and politics? Absolutely. We need many more like William Wilberforce in our nation. But the Church should stay above the political fray and speak Biblical truth to the issues of our day regardless of party.

Just received my new Logos Bible software yesterday in the mail. Thanks to my student status with Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando (I’m working toward a D.Min) I was able to get a sizable discount. I received the “Original Languages” package which has more resources in Hebrew, Greek, and even Aramaic than I’ll ever use. Word studies along with verb parsing has never been easier!

Any other Logos users out there? I also looked into BibleWorks but couldn’t pass up the good price from Logos. Now, back to Habakkuk.

One of my favorite online podcasts is the radio program called “The White Horse Inn”. This roundtable discussion of Biblical and theological issues is hosted by Dr. Michael Scott Horton of Westminster Seminary in California. The show’s motto is “know what you believe and why.”

A live video taping is now available online as well. That sounds like an oxymoron- a taping of a live broadcast?  Regardless, you can view it HERE. I recommend it!

(HT: Kim Riddlebarger)

Frederica Mathewes-Green makes an interesting point regarding Prince Caspian. She argues in this piece on National Review Online that the movie is actually better than the book and then lists 10 movies that were improvements on the books on which they were based.

As a HUGE fan of C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia, that’s an emotionally difficult leap for me to make but I must say, Mathewes-Green makes some good points. She even argues that The Lord of the Rings trilogy makes for better films than books. Again, that’s a high hurdle but I do remember how the trilogy became much more ponderous in the second two books of the series so I can see where she’s coming from.

Anyway, give her piece a read give me some of your reaction.

Just got home a while ago from seeing Prince Caspian with the family. Here’s my $0.02.

Overall, a good movie and entertaining. Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis and one of the movie’s producers said in an interview that he thought that Caspian was not as good a book as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe but made for a better movie. I thought that was an interesting comment.

This movie departed markedly from the book. I realize that turning books into film is not an easy task and that changes have to be made. In fact, some of the changes actually made some sense and added to the drama and message of the film so I wasn’t too frustrated. However, at one point in the film the question is asked why it’s taking Aslan so long to help and the comment is made that perhaps he is testing them to see if they’re worthy (something to that effect). That comment was the departure that bothered me most.

I give it a B+ as a book adaptation and an A- as a film.