Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 379
April 9, 2012
Links I Like
C. Michael Patton:
We have dozens that sprang to life over the next few hundred years: The Gospel of Peter, The Acts of John,The Acts of Paul, and The Apocalypse of Peter, The Gospel of Judas, and The Infancy Gospel of James are just a few that we could name. We even have a Gospel of Mary. Why? Well, who was more credible than the mother of Christ?! The common characteristic of all of these works is that they attempted to solidify their testimony...
April 8, 2012
Let Me Climb Up Near to Thee
My dear Lord, I can but tell Thee that Thou knowest I long for nothing but Thyself, nothing but holiness, nothing but union with Thy will. Thou hast given me these desires, and thou alone canst give me the thing desired.
My soul longs for communion with Thee, for mortification of indwelling corruption, especially spiritual pride. How precious it is to have a tender sense and clear apprehension of the mystery of godliness, of true holiness! What a blessedness to be like Thee as much as it is...
April 7, 2012
Links I Like (Weekend Edition)
Timothy Paul Jones:
If such critics have rightly reconstructed history, Good Friday was not good, and Resurrection Sunday was no triumph.
Jesus died, his corpse remained on the cross, and the resurrection was nothing more than a series of hallucinations and fabrications.
So what really happened to the body of Jesus?
Is there any historical foundation for believing that the body of Jesus was entombed in the way that the New Testament Gospels...
As the Lord our Savior Rose, So all His Followers Must Rise
The grotto of Gethsemane, where it is believed that Jesus was arrested following Judas' betrayal. Photo by Gary Hardman
Jesus rose, and as the Lord our Savior rose, so all his followers must rise. Die I must—this body must be a carnival for worms; it must be eaten by those tiny cannibals; peradventure it shall be scattered from one portion of the earth to another; the constituent particles of this my frame will enter into plants, from plants pass into animals, and thus be carried into far...
April 6, 2012
Dying For Those Who Hate Him
On the cross, we see the greatest act of love ever demonstrated, its effects reverberating down through history and permanently altering the lives of those who believe. The importance of the cross will never diminish. In heaven, Scripture tells us, the majestic beings around the throne of God worship by saying, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" (Revelation 5:12) When the love of God is extolled, both in...
Links I Like
David Mathis:
Murder and rebellion. Rebellion is the precise thing the leaders and the people are charging Jesus with when they say he is "misleading the people" (verse 14) and "saying that he himself is Christ, a king" (verse 2). And murder is an offense that makes it clear that Barabbas not only deserves to be in prison, but he deserves death. Genesis 9:6 taught, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." Barabbas is...
April 5, 2012
Don't Build Prayer into Your Life, Build Your Life Around Prayer
We all know that prayer is supposed to be a regular part of our lives, but how do we cultivate a greater, more robust prayer life? On this matter, I can think of no better example than Martin Luther. Luther spent years developing his prayer life; he saw prayer as the "daily business of a Christian." In 1535, Luther's barber, Peter, asked him for advice on how to pray. Luther, who had spent many years preparing resources to train pastors, parents and children in prayer, promptly wrote him a...
Links I Like
John Starke:
Book GiveawayThe problem is that we tend not to follow Lewis and Chesterton all the way. In other words, we adopt their sarcasm and wit but not the spirituality of their aims. They guided readers toward the place where wisdom could be found, introducing them to a kingdom that stands on firmer ground. We thrive on exposing the fool. We hold the doctrine of J. Gresham Machen but carry the tone of H. L. Mencken.
Over on Goodreads (the social network...
April 4, 2012
The Backlist: The Top Ten Posts on Blogging Theologically
Let's take a trip back in time to see the top ten posts in March:Everyday Theology: God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle (July 2009)Everyday Theology: God helps those who help themselves (July 2009)John Piper on Mark Driscoll & John MacArthur (May 2009)The Dos and Don'ts of Book Reviews (or at least how I do them) (January 2011)Book Review: Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll (December 2011) (April 2010)Book Review: Love Wins by Rob Bell (March 2011)3 Reasons...
Faithfulness is Obedience and Obedience is Success
Here's a passage I've been continuing to chew on from Matt Chandler's new book, The Explicit Gospel:
One of the things we don't preach well is that ministry that looks fruitless is constantly happening in the Scriptures. We don't do conferences on that. There aren't too many books written about how you can toil away all your life and be unbelievably faithful to God and see little fruit this side of heaven. And yet God sees things differently. We always have to be a little bit wary of the idea...
