Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 399

Three Things You Can Do When You're Reading a Bad Book

Given the amount of reading I do, I am extremely thankful that I end up reading mostly really good books. There are always a few that leave me with a bit of a "meh" feeling, but by and large there aren't too many that have made me regret ever having read them.

Still, there are some that are just so awful that I don't know quite what to do with them. And after I'm done, I find myself in an even more precarious predicament—I don't want them on my bookshelf, nor do I want to give them away, lest ...

Around the Interweb

Why Do We Love C.S. Lewis and Hate Rob Bell?

C. Michael Patton offers this insightful article:

First of all, no one hates Rob Bell (or at least they should not). But, speaking for myself, I am very comfortable handing out C.S. Lewis books by the dozens while I don't keep a stock of Bell books on hand. There is not a book that Lewis wrote that I don't encourage people to read and grow from. Even A Grief Observed, where Lewis attempts to retain his faith in God, questioning everything, in the...

Updated: Christmas Shopping for the Bible Guy (and Gal)!

With Christmas shopping underway (possibly), now's a good time to consider the book lovers in your life—and a number of folks have stepped up to the plate to help you out!

WTS Books has a great selection of Christmas gift ideas including a whole pile of books priced under $10 each and a few standout titles, including:

King's Cross by Tim Keller ($14.27);
Valley of Vision (Gift Leather Edition) by Arthur G. Bennett ($20.80); and
Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian ($11.39)

Christmas Shopping for the Bible Guy (and Gal)!

With Christmas shopping underway (possibly), now's a good time to consider the book lovers in your life—and two organizations have stepped up to the plate to help you out!

First up, Cruciform Press is offering an excellent Christmas sale, with three different options:

1. Print Sale: Buy five or more print books (any mix of Cruciform's available titles) and get each title for the subscription price of $6.49 each!

2. eBook Bundle #1: Get Cruciform's first seven titles for $25 (available in mobi...

A Holy Despair in Ourselves is the Ground of True Hope

A holy despair in ourselves is the ground of true hope. In God the fatherless find mercy (Hos. 14:3); if men were more fatherless, they should feel more God's fatherly affection from heaven, for the God who dwells in the highest heavens dwells likewise in the lowest soul (Isa. 57:15). Christ's sheep are weak sheep, and lacking in something or other; he therefore applies himself to the necessities of every sheep. He seeks that which was lost, and brings again that which was driven out of the...

How Do You Become Poor in Spirit?

How does one therefore become `poor in spirit'? The answer is that you do not look at yourself or begin by trying to do things to yourself. That was the whole error of monasticism. Those poor men in their desire to do this said, `I must go out of society, I must scarify my flesh and suffer hardship, I must mutilate my body.' No, no, the more you do that the more conscious will you be of yourself, and the less `poor in spirit'. The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God. Read this...

Inerrancy, Inspiration and the Character of God

A few days ago, we started digging into this question of inerrancy—the idea that the Bible is completely and totally truthful in all that it says. This doctrine is one of the most critical, but is tied to a larger issue, one of authority.

If the Bible truly is inerrant, then it's authority over how we think and live cannot be questioned (even if we are uncertain as to how we should interpret some of what it says). But why would it have such total authority—where does this authority come from? ...

Once a Man has the Love of Christ in His Heart…

The secret of the early Christians, the early Protestants, Puritans and Methodists was that they were taught about the love of Christ, and they became filled with a knowledge of it.

Once a man has the love of Christ in his heart, you need not train him to witness; he will do it. He will know the power, the constraint, the motive; everything is already there. It is a plain lie to suggest that people who regard this knowledge of the love of Christ as the supreme thing are useless, unhealthy...

Awaiting a Savior: Review Round-up 3

It's been a few weeks since I last gave an update on Awaiting a Savior. Since the last update, I wrapped a month-long interview series on The Cross Current Radio, got to answer a bunch of questions for my friend Daniel Darling and had my mind blown by some really cool stuff that's been happening just in terms of reaction to the book (sadly, I can't really talk about most of that). However, the reviews I've seen come in over the last few weeks have been fantastic!

God's been very kind in...

5 Ways to Get Attention in the Christian Blogosphere

One of the common concerns I've seen come up again and again about blogging (and Twitter… and Facebook…) is that it's inherently selfish. Well, while I think that critique is a tad overstated, there's no denying that blogging certainly can stroke our egos.

No one said that pride was logical.

Or intelligent.

There's a sense in which we all (even introverted weirdos like me) love attention—and on the internet, it's surprisingly easy to get it. Now, the best way to get people to pay attention to...