It will be a while before we know how many people lost their lives in yesterday’s disaster. The 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia killed over 230,000 people in 14 countries. Hopefully the death toll in Japan and elsewhere will not be as high. Nevertheless, the scope of the yesterday’s loss will no doubt be of disastrous proportions. The questions of theodicy that people had in 2004 will surface again as more news unfolds. In light of that, my mind has been on a discussion that John Piper had with an NPR reporter after the 2004 tsunami. This interview was tremendously helpful to me then. My hope and prayer is that…
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Pray for Victims of Quake and Tsunami
The scale of this disaster certainly rivals that of the great tsunami of 2004, and so does the horror of it. In 2004, the tsunami killed over 230,000 people in 14 different countries. We do not know how many lives were lost today, but the death toll will likely be staggering. We need to pray.
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Zondervan’s Break with Rob Bell
CNN reports on the reason that Zondervan broke with Rob Bell. According to the report, the President of Zondervan evaluated the book proposal for Love Wins and decided that it did not fit with their mission. From the report: “Love Wins” is Bell’s first book since his break from Zondervan, the Christian publisher based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that published Bell’s first four books and also publishes the New International Version of the Bible, one of the most popular translations of the Bible among evangelicals. Bell’s split from Zondervan came in part over this new book. “The break with Zondervan was amicable,” [Mark Tauber, senior vice president and publisher at…
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Rob Bell on “Good Morning America”
In case you missed it, here’s the segment from “Good Morning America” this morning about the controversy surrounding Rob Bell’s book (text article here). It includes remarks from Albert Mohler and Serene Jones. It even features a tweet posted by Josh Harris: “There’s nothing loving about preaching a false gospel.” Albert Mohler is of course faithful as ever in standing for the orthodox consensus. He says, “If indeed Rob Bell denies the existence of hell, this is a betrayal of biblical truth that has severe spiritual and evangelistic consequences… Jesus was himself very, very clear about the reality and threat of hell.” Serene Jones, President of Union Theological Seminary, gave…
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NY Times on Rob Bell Dust-up
The “Old Gray Lady” has a report on the controversy surrounding Rob Bell’s forthcoming book. Justin Taylor, Scot McKnight, John Piper, and Albert Mohler are quoted in the article. Erik Eckholm writes the story and has also had an opportunity to read the book. Eckholm says that Bell seems to be advocating universalism while not using the term. He writes, “Judging from an advance copy, the 200-page book is unlikely to assuage Mr. Bell’s critics. In an elliptical style, he throws out probing questions about traditional biblical interpretations, mixing real-life stories with scripture. “Much of the book is a sometimes obscure discussion of the meaning of heaven and hell that…
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Rejoicing in God’s Word
One of the signal moments of my seminary career occurred in a chapel service at Dallas Theological Seminary. A missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators shared her story of translating the Bible into the tongue of a remote tribal people who live halfway around the world. She described how her 20 years of labor culminated with a first ever translation of the Bible into the native language of an unreached people group.
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Jane Russell (1921-2011)
You have probably heard the news by now that Jane Russell—a legend of the silver screen—has passed away. What you may not have known (at least I didn’t) is that she was a professing Christian. Christianity Today has a fascinating interview with Ms. Russell from 2009 in which she discusses being a Christian in Hollywood, her gospel singing career, and her pro-life advocacy. She even shares a personal story about her own near death experience after having an abortion as a young woman. Here’s an excerpt:
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Another Afghan Christian Faces Execution
Another Afghan convert is facing possible execution for his Christian faith. His name is Shoaib Assadullah, and he is 23 years old. Michael Foust has done some excellent reporting on this story, and I hope and pray that it will help to focus attention on Shoaib’s case. Intense international scrutiny led to the release of Said Musa last week. Let’s pray that the same might happen for brother Shoaib. Michael Foust has printed a translation of the entire text of a letter that was smuggled out of Shoaib’s prison cell. I reprint that letter in full below. After you read the letter, please pray for Shoaib. Pray that he might…
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CNN interviews Justin Taylor
Taylor’s response to Rob Bell’s book has received a quarter of a million hits since Saturday, according to a report on CNN’s religion blog. Obviously, this is an unusually enormous response to a blog post. I think it speaks both to the influence of Taylor’s own blog, but also to the wide following that Rob Bell has—which is all the more reason that a pastoral response like Justin’s was needed. No one should relish controversy for controversy’s sake. But that is not what is happening here. On that note, if you haven’t done so yet, you need to read Kevin DeYoung’s follow-up piece on the Rob Bell brouhaha. He argues…
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Said Musa Has Been Released
International Christian Concern (ICC) is reporting that Said Musa has been released from his captivity in Kabul, Afghanistan. He had been imprisoned for converting to Christianity from Islam, a crime punishable by execution. Thankfully, aggressive international diplomacy behind the scenes paid-off, and I could not be more grateful to receive this news. Thank you, Lord, for answering our prayers. From the ICC report: