Daniel Darling's Blog, page 38

Sanctity of Life Sunday Resources

This Sunday, January 15th, many churches around the country are acknowledging Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Some churches are doing this the following week on January 22nd. This is a good time for the people of God to stand up for the unique dignity of human life, from conception to natural death.

If you are planning these services, we have some resources that might be helpful:

Here is a bulletin insert/handout I wrote, published by ERLC.
Here is a small group study guide I wrote, published by Lifeway’s Gospel Project

Leader guide
Personal study guide


Here is a great video explaining the concept of the imago dei, produced by ERLC.
Here is a terrific video by Focus on the Family

Also, don’t forget to register (if you haven’t already) for the Evangelicals for Life Conference, January 26-28th in Washington, D.C.

The Way Home: James K. A. Smith

How do our habits form our desires? The author of You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit[image error] joins us to discuss the role of routines and rhythms, even those cultural liturgies we may not recognize. James K. A. Smith is a professor of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the widely respected author of several books, including his popular Cultural Liturgies series. He’s also the editor of Comment magazine and a frequent speaker at conferences around the country.

Show Notes

Twitter: @james_ka_smith
Website: jameskasmith.com
Book: You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit [image error]

Editor Series: How writing changed Marvin Olasky’s life

This year I’m starting an occasional series of interviews with editors. I’ve had the privilege of knowing, writing for, and learning from many fantastic editors in my writing career. In my view, good writers are good because they have good editors. Today I interview Marvin Olasky.

I’ve been reading World Magazine for almost two decades and have been reading Marvin Olasky’s work at least that long. Marvin is the editor-in-chief of World. He is the distinguished chair of journalism and public policy at Patrick Henry college. Marvin has also trained and mentored hundreds of journalists.

Dan Darling: Let’s talk about your calling. Has writing and editing been a lifetime pursuit or something you picked up late in life? And if so, what first interested in you in words?

Marvin Olasky: My lifelong internal call has been to be a second baseman on the Boston Red Sox. I haven’t received an external call, though, which makes sense since my 6th grade baseball coach cut me from the team.

My fallback since high school has been writing and editing, in part because it was the only thing I was good at, in part because when my high school had a fire I could go behind the scenes with my press pass.

What first interested me in words was letters: As a very small child I received the applause of aunts and uncles for being able to recite the alphabet backwards. Later, what interested me more than words was events: Nabbing a front row seat at the circus.

As a Communist in my early 20s I thought words had revolutionary power. When I became a Christian at age 26 I realized they had evangelistic power. But I still don’t know whether my primary motive in writing is to glorify God, as it should be, or to go to interesting places, meet interesting people, and be good at something. God can use those selfish motives also.

DD: We live in an age when anyone can be published instantly via social media, personal blogs, book reviews, etc. Explain, then the value, of a good editor? 

MO: Good writing comes from good rewriting.

Some excellent writers develop a good internal editor and can self-edit, so most of the time they only need someone to look over their work and fix typos. They also need an honest person to probe them about thought-o’s, assumptions they’ve made or implications they haven’t thought of.

Most writers don’t have a good internal editor, so they need structural as well as line-by-line help. They especially need someone who will tell them what will move readers and what readers will skip.

People often think online writing is easier because the space constraints of a printed page aren’t a concern, but actually online writing should be more concise: Readers aren’t committed to continuing to read the same way they are when they’ve purchased a book or a magazine. 

DD: Is there a distinctly “Christian” way you do your work? In other words, does your personal theology affect the practice of writing and editing? 

MO: Yes, Christianity heavily influences what I write about, how I approach the subject, and how I think about writing as partly self-expression but primarily a service to readers. That’s also true regarding editing: As a fallen and sinful person I err often, but I’m very conscious of the question, “Does this glorify God?” Sub-questions are then: Does this help people to approach a problem biblically? Does it introduce them to some interesting person, place, or thing that will help them to see the wonder of God’s creation?

DD: When you are making decisions about content to publish, how are you evaluating the writer, the piece, and the publication?

MO: The most important evaluation is of writers: Biblically grounded? Trustworthy? Then the piece: Does it move? Good description, good action, specific detail, human interest, low on the ladder of abstraction? Then the publication: World covers a little of almost everything, but we want to go deep on seven: Life issues, Education, Arts, Poverty-fighting, Family issues, Origins (intelligent design), and Religious liberty. For an acronym: LEAP FORward.

DD: Who are some of the formative writing influences that have shaped the way you go about your work?   

MO: From the Bible: Genesis, I and II Kings, Daniel, Acts, Romans (Clear worldview, tight writing, action.)

People: Jacqueline Wollan, high school journalism teacher. Carl Kaufmann, extraordinary speechwriter for Du Pont Company executives. (I was the inexperienced underling.) Susan Olasky (my wife and best editor).

Authors: Whittaker Chambers, Leo Tolstoy

Columnists: Thomas Sowell, Peggy Noonan.

DD: What is one piece of advice you would like to give aspiring writers as they seek to get published? 

MO: Don’t write about yourself, write about the fascinating world exterior to you, and keep trying to get published even if you get turn-downs: “If you don’t run, you can’t win.” (Chariots of Fire).

The Way Home featuring Trillia Newbell

In this 100th episode, Trillia shares her compelling story of race, conversion to Christianity, and pro-life activism.

Trillia Newbell is our director of community outreach, but more than that she is a gifted author, an inspirational speaker and Bible teacher and one of the most encouraging people I know.

We are going to talk to Trillia about her life story, growing up as a black woman in the South, her conversion to Christianity in college, what changed her views on the pro-life issue, her interracial marriage, and her new book, Enjoy[image error] on what it means to truly enjoy the good gifts from God.

Show Notes

Twitter: @trillianewbell
Website: trillianewbell.com
Book: Enjoy: Finding the Freedom to Delight Daily in God’s Good Gifts [image error]

James K. A. Smith on the importance of the dinner table

I’m reading through James K. A. Smith’s excellent new book, You Are What You Love. I highly recommend this book. Here are some of Smith’s thoughts on the formative power of families eating dinner together:

For example: never underestimate the formative power of the family supper table. This vanishing liturgy is a powerful site of formation. Most of the time it will be hard to keep the cathedral in view, especially when dinner is the primary occasion for sibling bickering. Yet even then, members of your little tribe are learning to love their neighbor. And your children are learning something about the faithful promises of a covenant-keeping Lord in the simple routine of that daily promise of dinner together (132).

Smith continues:

The table at home is an echo of the Lord’s Table; the communion of the saints is given microcosmic expression in the simple discipline of daily dinner together. There is an ongoing dance between the rhythms of gathered worship and the rhythms of our “sent” lives Monday through Saturday (138).

photo credit: Jessie

Do You Really Believe This? On Santa Claus, Jesus, and the Unbelievable

It is during this season, the glorious Christmas season, that my wife watches her favorite channel the most. Unfortunately for me, that channel is not one of the ESPN family of networks, but the Hallmark Channel. I’m generally a fan of Hallmark’s usually wholesome television programming, stuff you can actually watch with your nine-year-old in the room, so please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say.

Here it is: The endless string of Christmas rom-coms I’m forced to watch with my wife makes me want to channel William Wallace in Braveheart, rip off my shirt, and yell, ”Freedom!”

Maybe it’s the very simple plot lines (wealthy developer wants to tear down a small town’s sacred institution to build condos–oh, the horror–until a scrappy heroine saves the day with a pitched local campaign and then falls in love with the formerly evil developer), the overwrought sentimentalism, or the poor acting. Or maybe it’s just the difference between men and women. My wife can’t get enough of the Hallmark Channel at Christmas.

If there’s a message in every new Christmas special (and perhaps every Christmas movie ever made), it’s pretty simple: Do you believe? By “believe,” we typically mean that really joyful, spirited, wonderful people put their faith in Santa Claus at Christmas. And this faith injects a spirit into a normally grouchy, stressed, terrible world.

Christians have historically been all over the map with Santa, from denouncing him as a work of the devil (Santa = a rearranged version of Satan!) to moderate disgust, to passive participation. The latter is where I’d guess most evangelicals are now. And if you’ve read my work for long, you’ll know that I’m no Santa grouch. Like most parents, we make the annual pilgrimage to the mall to have our kids sit on the fat man’s lap. I’ve yet to talk to a prodigal who identified Santa as the catalyst for his departure from the faith, so I think an honest engagement with Santa Claus is mostly harmless and fun.

But I want to circle back to the theme of most Christmas movies: Do you believe? It seems absurd to most rational people that a man in a red suit lives in a cozy home workshop at the frigid North Pole, and that he could possibly worm down every chimney and deliver gifts to good kids. It’s a pretty far-fetched idea. So rational people don’t actually believe it. Yet this part of Christmas makes us really want to believe it. Because, the story goes, if this were true, all would be right in the world.

Does that not sound just a wee bit familiar to another argument? I’m not suggesting the Santa myth is a perfect allegory of the Christian story or that to believe in Christ is the same as believing in Santa. We know the gospel narrative is not “be good for goodness sake” but that Christ was good for us, satisfying the law’s righteous demands and absorbing the punishment of a just God on our behalf.

But this question, Do you really believe this? Is this not the same question asked of us by the world about the Christian story?

Of course, the substance of the Christian question is a more robust, more unbelievable premise than Santa: Do you believe God became a man, entered space and time, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, was unjustly crucified, stayed dead in a rich man’s tomb for three days, and then miraculously was raised to life and is now the reigning King of the world?

The Christian story is buttressed by solid circumstantial evidence (many infallible proofs), and yet it is an unbelievable narrative. Perhaps we American Christians have gotten so used to the gospel story that we’ve forgotten just how incredible it is. But an increasingly secular society is asking us the question, Do you really believe this? It’s not an intellectual question they are asking. It’s not a search for archeological proof. It’s a rhetorical question of near incredulity. You can’t possibly believe this.

Because rational people, educated people, progressive people just don’t believe that this man Jesus was the Son of God, that there really was a virgin named Mary, that the ugly intersection of humanity and divinity at the cross really is the pivot point of human history. Young people spend their parents’ hard-earned money at our finest educational institutions learning just how preposterous this is. Scientists write strongly worded rebuttals to the biblical narrative, because things like this just don’t happen.

And yet…what if it were true? Imagine if the story the Bible tells about Jesus is not allegory or myth, but actual historical record? What if the 500 witnesses who saw the nail-scarred Jesus after his resurrection were right? If this is true, then the world really will be made right. Evil really has been defeated, and a new kingdom awaits those rescued by the King. Lamb and lion really will lie down together. All races will one day come together in praise of God’s glory. Creation will once again be restored from its tumult.

In other words, if the real story of Christmas, the Incarnation, is true, it changes everything. In fact, I would argue, even if you don’t believe it to be true, you might wish it to be true. Maybe this is why we cling to fantasies like Santa Claus, like the Disney fairy tales. It reflects within each of us a deep, heart-felt longing for things to be made right.

Could it be that the nostalgia for the good old times is really us missing our original home, Eden, before sin and death destroyed what God made perfect? Could it be that our hopes for a world where things are magical and beautiful is a yearning for heaven? Perhaps this inspired Phillips Brooks when he wrote the famous words of “O, Little Town of Bethlehem” and the line, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee (Christ) tonight.”

To believe in Santa defies logic, to be sure. But to believe in the Christian story is also to believe the unbelievable. Not that Christianity cannot be logically explained. Not that the wisest believing scholars haven’t given it weight. But at the end of the day, to follow King Jesus, to be a Christian, is to bow the knee to a baby turned man, God in the flesh, fully human and fully divine. And the question of Christmas becomes rhetorical: Do you really believe this?

Yes, with my life, my heart, and my mind, I do. And I hope you do, too.

The Way Home featuring Ray Ortlund

What do good fathers give to their children and why is marriage a picture of the gospel? Ray Ortlund joins us to talk about his childhood, what he learned from his father’s example, and why he has, recently, been speaking out on racial justice. Ray Ortlund is a the Senior Pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tenn. He is a council member with the Gospel Coalition, and the author of several books, including his latest, Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel[image error]. He blogs regularly here and speaks at conferences around the country.

Show Notes

Twitter: @rayortlund
Website: ortlund.net
Book: Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel [image error]

The Way Home featuring Nancy Guthrie

What do you say to a grieving friend? Nancy Guthrie, Bible study teacher and author, shares from her own seasons of grief to help others both find comfort and to comfort. Nancy and her husband, David, have a twenty-something son, Matt, and have had two children, a daughter, Hope, and a son, Gabriel, who were born with a rare genetic disorder called Zellweger Syndrome and each lived six months. She is a Bible teacher, host of Help Me Teach the Bible, and author of several books, including her latest, What Grieving People Wish You Knew about What Really Helps (and What Really Hurts)[image error]. 

You will be richly blessed by this conversation with Nancy as she opens up about grief, grace, and the gospel.

Show Notes

Twitter: @saysNancyGuth3
Website: nancyguthrie.com
Book: What Grieving People Wish You Knew about What Really Helps (and What Really Hurts) [image error]
Bible Studies
The Gospel Coalition podcasts and articles

What is Advent, and Why Should We Celebrate It?

There is something really wonderful about the word, advent. We know this word from other contexts besides religion. We say things like, “Since the advent of the automobile…” Or “Since the advent of the modern era…”

Advent signals something new is coming. The dawn of a new and better era. This is really what Christmas is about, isn’t it? It’s the celebration of the coming of a new era. God broke into time and space and entered our world. He is Immanuel, God with us. He broke in the midst of the sin and clamor and the fallenness. He came as a vulnerable baby in a poverty-stricken town to ordinary people, in a time of great political unrest. Advent–Christ’s Advent–means that God sees us in our distress, in our sin-ravaged condition, in all of our helplessness.

We’d like to think we can save ourselves from ourselves. We’d like to think with a few tweaks here and there, we can create the Heaven we long for. We’d like to think with a bit more progress and education we can overcome evil. But alas, we know we cannot. Tragic news stories in 2016 remind us that evil invades even the safest, most beautiful environments on this earth. But the hope of Christmas tells us that Christ invades even the most evil, sin ravaged places on this earth.

The first Advent is worth celebrating with great joy because it tells us a new day is here. Christmas is the dawn of something to come. It fills us with hope that the endless cycle of sin, violence and hopelessness of human history will someday be reversed. The curse that was put on mankind, on the universe, is not forever. God broke in as man and God. By his life, death and resurrection, he defeated sin and death. As hymn writer Isaac Watts wrote:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

We should celebrate Christmas joyfully with gifts, with food, with singing and with festive decorations because Jesus has come. God is with us. And the First Advent signals a second advent, a coming of a King whose Kingdom will end all other kingdoms and whose rule will create the world we all long for but can’t create. His glory will spread through the earth and sin, sickness and death will be no more. The enemy will be forever silenced.

So, celebrate Christmas, not as a scrooge, not as a scold, but with overflowing joy. Because the Lord has come.

The Way Home featuring Scott Sauls

Is it possible to listen and learn from people with whom we disagree? In an age of connectedness, why are we so lonely? I invited my good friend Scott Sauls back to the podcast to talk about his important new book, Befriend[image error]. Scott is the senior minister at Christ Presbyterian Church in the Nashville area. He’s a well-regarded author, speaker, and leader.

Show Notes

Twitter: @scottsauls
Website: scottsauls.com
Book:  Befriend: Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear [image error]