my burg

This week   I'm posting some of my favorite one-line quotes ...   “Man’s nature [ or, heart ] is a perpetual factory of idols."  (John Calvin) “The road to the promised land runs past Sinai."   (C. S. Lewis) “When a man truly sees himself, he knows nobody can say anything about him that is too bad.”  (Martyn Lloyd-Jones) "With God there are no little people."  (Francis Schaeffer) "Christianity is the only religion whose God bears the scars of evil.”   (Os Guinness) "Grace is glory begun.  Glory is grace perfected."  (Jonathan Edwards) "This is not the best of all possible worlds, but the best way to the best of all possible worlds." (Norm Geisler) “He who marries the spirit of the age is likely to be a widower in the next.”  (Soren Kierkegaard) "Christian doctrine lies at the very roots of faith."  (J. Gresham Machen) "We are immortal till our work is done."  (George Whitefield) "We have...

"And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  (Joshua 24:15 ESV) These are among the last spoken words of Joshua as recorded in Scripture.   According to mentalfloss.com here are some last words that people uttered before dying:  -- Blues singer Bessie Smith died saying, “I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord.” -- Frank Sinatra died after saying, “I’m losing it.”  [ Previously, he sung about doing life "his way."] --When Harriet Tubman was dying in 1913, she gathered her family around and they sang together. Her last words were, “Swing low, sweet chariot.” -- Murderer James W. Rodgers was put in front of a firing squad in Utah and asked if he had a last request. He replied, “Bring me a bullet-proof vest.”   -- Si...

Photography.  For a couple years in the late 1970s I worked for an  advertising / P.R. firm, Cooper Associates, mainly taking pictures for  press releases and writing feature stories for our clients.  I enjoyed  the photography -- with Pentax and Nikon SLRs -- and doing our black  and white print developing.  Retirement, at least at this stage, has allowed  me to do more picture-taking.  My current phone, a MotoG7, has very good capabilities as a camera.  Many of these photos I'm posting on  Instragram @bkyoung71.  [ Above, from yesterday morning at the CRC. ]   Hymn Sunday is a collaboration with Getty Music . You will find a video  of a favorite psalm along with downloadable sheet music . "One such struggle   [ in reading the Psalms ] is how we as Christians understand 'the righteous' in the  Psalms. At first glance our encounters might actually be more  disheartening than uplifting. We...

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me."  (John 15:4 ESV)  What does it mean to " abide in Christ "?  Sinclair Ferguson explains here .   Happy 4th of July!  Here's a nice  celebratory T-shirt ...  Not your grandparents' church.   "As Christians grapple with the fallout from the empty claims of the attractional model of church, it becomes clear: churches without grandparents are just as sick as churches with only grandparents."  (Tim Challies)  Read the article here .  Another saint goes home.   Norm Geisler was instrumental in my spiritual growth at seminary and for many years beyond.   Here he gives an overview of 12 points that confirm the truth of Christianity. What you need to know about the garden of Eden .  "No longer could they live in the holy sanctuary of Eden in the pre...

2016 Nike Air Mag Back-to-the Future Who can blame secular news media for highlighting such Christian (I use the term loosely) shenanigans?  On preachers and their pricey sneakers :  "Like pop idols hoisted for worship, these pastors aspire toward casual majesty and achieve prefabricated fabulousness."   Other articles of note:    "Secular government is breaking its promise of liberty, and the American church is breaking its promise of virtue."   (David French, on "Two Painful Truths" ) On the example of Augustine :  "Augustine had the wisdom to discern sound doctrine, the courage to defend it, and the pastoral love to demand it from his people."   (Brian Litfin, on "Why We Need More Pastors Like Augustine" )   Reflecting on socialism .  "When Fidel Castro and the socialists took power of Cuba in 1959, they quickly expropriated (stole) and nationalized farms, land and businesses in the name of social justice. These act...

What's the difference between empathy and compassion ?   "Empathizing without thinking is easy, like diving headlong into quicksand. Compassion with conviction requires muscle."  Samuel James explains "The Empathy Trap."    Blessings of the Holy Spirit.  "Life, comfort, light, purity, power, peace, and many other precious blessings are inseparable from the Spirit's gracious presence."  (Spurgeon)  Read more here.   The Handmaid's Tale , both book and series, is apparently very popular, especially among secular, anti-religious viewers.  Hanna Howard writes that it is "...at best a thought-provoking literary work, and at worst a straw-man argument against traditionalism and conservative values. Atwood fails to deliver an intelligent critique of conservative Christian values, and her book does not reach the caliber of Orwell’s tales."   Read her review here.    What to do when you have an attention span sho...

“Fierce was the wild billow  Dark was the night; Oars labored heavily  Foam glimmered white; Mariners trembled  Peril was nigh;  Then said the God of God --  ‘Peace! It is I!’ “Ridge of the mountain wave,  Lower thy crest! Wail of Euroclydon,  Be thou at rest! Peril can none be –  Sorrow must fly –  Where saith the Light of Light --  ‘Peace! It is I!  “Jesus, Deliverer!  Come Thou to me: Soothe Thou my voyaging  Over life’s sea! Thou, when the storms of death  Roars, sweeping by,  Whisper, O Truth of Truth! --  ‘Peace! It is I!’” ~ Anatolius of Constantinople (d. 458),     Hymns of the Eastern Church  (J. M. Neale, trans.)   "We need our brothers and sisters down through the ages.  We need the whole church for this task of explaining God's word."   (Michael Horton) Summer reading suggestion:   Church History in Plain Language (4th. e...

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."   (Matthew 28:19 ESV) "As the Father is God, so is the Son,  And as the Son is God, so is the Holy Spirit;  And the Three are likewise One God when seen together.  Each is God because they are of the same essence,  And they are One God because of the single principle of Deity. And when I see the Three together, I see only one torch,  And I cannot divide or share out the Undivided Light." ~ Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 329--390)  [Cited by Nick Needham in Daily Readings – The Early Church Fathers ] Image above: an icon of the three Cappadocians -- Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nazianzus.   Continuing this Sunday: "Highlights in Church History", a summer adult class, meeting first hour (9:45 am) in the fellowship hall.  Topics include Council of Nicaea, Chalcedon, the gre...

Nations in need of prayer.   Venezuela (Amazonas Territory above) is a land of stunning beauty and great contrasts.  We spent an unforgettable week there among the Yanomamo in 1990.  All the people of Venezuela at this time need prayer and intervention.   Also pray for Christians in Burkina Faso   and for the children of North Korea .   Are Your Prayers Like Paul's Prayers? "Praying about health (which, if we had the chance to listen in on the prayers of Western Christians, would likely come in at number one) is rare—almost non-existent—in the Bible. So why are we praying about it so much?"  (Alistair Begg) David Brooks’s Journey Toward Faith "I can't unread Matthew."  (David Brooks) It's Time to Teach our Children to Stand Up for Life    "It’s not enough to teach our children that life is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death. We must also teach them to declare the truths of our faith in the ...

Above, No Compromise was the second album by Christian singer/song-writer Keith Green, released in 1978. WHY STUDY CHURCH HISTORY? "For the past two-thousand years of our history, Christians have wrestled with Scripture. They have preached sermons, written commentaries,  defended orthodoxy (right belief) against heresy (false teaching), and articulated biblically faithful statements of doctrine in form of the historic  confessions of the faith.  If we disregard all this, choosing instead to remain ignorant of this treasure-trove of spiritual wisdom, is that not arrogant  of us?"   REDISCOVERING FORGOTTEN CLASSICS Here's a treasure trove of lesser known works that you may want to investigate. PASTORAL CONCERN ABOUT EVANGELICAL PROPHECY "The belief that God continues to grant special revelation through personal experience fosters unhealthy experientialism." THOMAS MORE'S ANTIDOTE TO MODERN IDEOLOGIES "By now, the recipe is sadly famil...