Last week a suicide bomber attacked an Egyptian church and killed 22 people and injured 96 others. The bombing is said to be the worst attack on Christians in Egypt in at least a decade. The New York Times reports on the immediate aftermath: By Saturday evening, patches of blood were visible high on the front walls of the church, which was pockmarked with holes. Across the street, a mosque was also stained with blood. “There were bodies on the streets,” said Sherif Ibrahim, who saw the blast’s aftermath. “Hands, legs, stomachs. Girls, women and men.”
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Marvin Olasky on NIV 2011
Marvin Olasky editorializes in World magazine about the new NIV 2011. Although Zondervan does not reveal overall stats, its Bible market share is probably less than half what it was in 1997… I doubt that the new NIV will win back readers from other translations. For the record, blogger John Dyer found that 91 percent of the words in the new NIV, expected to hit bookstores in March, are unchanged from the old version. Most-removed words: “He,” “his,” or “him” 2,700 times, “man” or “men” 1,600 times, and “fathers,” “forefathers,” or “brothers” 500 times. Olasky concludes his article by saying that he is not a fan of the NIV 2011.…
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Don Miller’s 2011 Prediction
CNN’s Belief Blog asked 10 religious leaders and commentators to make a faith-based prediction about 2011. Don Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz, weighed-in with the following: “As religious tensions grow over the coming presidential election and domestic cultural issues involving perceived legislation of morality, the media will find more zealous Christians reacting to the issues of the day whose extreme positions will further divide the evangelical church into radical positions, and turn away seekers looking for a peaceful resolution to the churning in their own souls. In other words, the devil will play a trick on the church, and the church will, like sheep, lose their focus on…
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Memorizing Philippians
Timmy Brister has produced a wonderful resource to aid in scripture memorization. It’s a moleskin designed to aid the memorization of Philippians (the whole book!) in 2011. Today is the first day. Download it here, and get started!
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John Piper Returns
I am grateful to see that John Piper has returned to public ministry. He has posted a short essay on what the Lord has been doing in his life during his leave. Read it here. Welcome back, Pastor John!
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Interview with The Christian Post
Katherine Phan of The Christian Post interviewed me yesterday about reading the Bible through annually. Phan was particularly interested to know why I thought Christians should be reading their Bibles. You can read the article here.
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Open Letter to Derek Webb
Frank Turk has given two thorough critiques of Derek Webb’s recent interview with The Huffington Post: “Open Letter” and “Notes”. Turk’s engagement with Webb is not for the faint of heart. He’s pretty tough, though I think also very fair. His critiques and questions are along the lines of the ones I asked earlier this year (see here and here). To give you a sample of Turk’s take on this, I’ll highlight two items. First, Turk criticizes the ironic legalism of moral permisiveness. He writes, “The legalism of permissiveness” is merely license raised to a moral imperative.” This is an insight that you don’t want to miss. Make no mistake,…
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Read the Greek NT in One Year
Here’s a schedule for reading the New Testament over the course of a year. For the most part, it tracks pretty closely with Lee Irons’ excellent schedule for reading the Greek New Testament in a year. My plan, however, varies a little bit. Because John’s writing is simpler Greek, my schedule goes through John’s Gospel at a faster pace than Irons’. As a result, there are no readings scheduled at the end of the year from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve. These open dates at the end can be used as catch-up days. The schedule is given in two formats below. DOC – Read the Greek NT in a…
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My Plan for Reading the Bible This Year
In years past, my usual mode for reading the Bible through every year involved starting in Genesis and reading right through to Revelation. I estimated that about four chapters per day would get me through in under a year’s time. The method worked reasonably well, but it wasn’t without its problems. Sometimes I would miss a day (or days) and get behind, and I had no way to keep up with my progress. I needed a schedule so that I could keep myself accountable for finishing in a year.
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Derek Webb’s Interview at HuffPo
I thought about commenting on this interview, but I don’t think there’s anything to say that I haven’t already said (see here and here). Nevertheless, The Huffington Post is a large platform, and it’s noteworthy that Webb has taken his message there as well.