Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Digital World
Does digital communication cost us something? Beyond the price of the latest iPhone, what are we paying when we opt for more convenient ways of communicating? And if we could see these costs before our eyes and weigh them in advance, would we still knowingly pay them? I recently read Cal Newport’s newest book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Newport discusses the impact of technology on people’s personal...
Recommended Books (Autumn 2019)
As the cold North Wind begins to blow into our communities, we wrap up our last outdoor chores for the year and seek shelter inside as summer winds to an end. The extra hours inside provide a great time for reading individually and as a family. Listed below are several recommended books that we have particularly enjoyed over the past few months. We hope you will find something useful for your future reading. Please be sure to share...
What Working in a Hospital Has Taught Me About God
Edward Mote wrote just one hymn in his lifetime: “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less.” Many sing this song in our churches today without ever reading about how the hymn came to be. Mote became a Christian as a young adult and soon started writing about his understanding of salvation. Later in the week of his conversion, Mote went to visit a friend whose wife was sick and dying. Not knowing how to comfort these friends in their grief,...
Free Will Baptists and the “Mind-body Problem”
Who are we? Who are you? Who am I? These questions of identity rank among Leroy Forlines’s “inescapable questions of life.”[1] And as Forlines notes, these inquiries are not the result of mere curiosity; they are instead our entire beings’ profound cry for answers.[2] Understanding who we are, both in body and in soul, is essential to understanding our purposes and perceptions in and of the world. Much of the foundation of our lives...
How We Get Our English Bible: A Review
by Jacob Riggs How We Get Our English Bible: Understanding About Different VersionsRobert E. PicirilliRandall House, 2019ISBN: 9781614841050 Near the end of my reading this book I told my wife, “Next to God’s Word, this may be the most important book for every Free Will Baptist to read.” I said that, and still believe it, for three reasons: (1) some Free Will Baptist’s who are KJV-only (in the National Association of Free Will...
Sing About Jesus, Not About You: Rejecting Self-centered Church Music
In a previous essay, I discussed the increasing individualistic approach to music in our modern society. Now I want to focus on how this trend has affected our church music, both on the level of individual songs and on the level of our approach to church music in general. An examination of lyrics, style, and setting can inform us of how we should sing and how we have missed the mark. Lyrics Perhaps the most basic element of our church...
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