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November 2011

"52 percent of Democrats seldom or never attend church"

By Aaron Blumer Wed, 11/09/2011 - 7:40am

“A Gallup poll released Monday highlights the religious spilt … showing that 52 percent of Democrats seldom or never attend church. read more

Life in prison for Pastor Love

By sifilings Wed, 11/09/2011 - 7:25pm

David Love admits killing congregation member

Evangelicalism's Got Talent

By sifilings Wed, 11/09/2011 - 9:35pm

I fear that a similar thing is occurring today among true evangelical believers. As with other seasons of church history when preaching was slowly stripped of its precision, clarity, and doctrinal depth, many contemporary congregations have slowly been robbed of the same.

read more

Reflections on "The Book" - Four Views on The Spectrum of Evangelicalism

By Jeff Straub Thu, 11/10/2011 - 1:00am

Image of Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
by Andrew David Naselli, Collin Hansen, Kevin Bauder, R. Albert Mohler Jr., John G. Stackhouse Jr., Roger E. Olson
Zondervan 2011
Paperback, 224 pp.
The new Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism is being discussed in various venues such as Mark Snoeberger’s blog and by Kevin Mungons at Sharper Iron. In a few days, ETS will host a discussion on the book and its theme at the 2011 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Carl Trueman will be there serving as moderator along with coauthors Kevin Bauder and Al Mohler, both of whom I know and respect. Too bad Roger Olsen and John Stackhouse Jr. won’t make it, but they have their reasons.

While the book just came out recently, much of its content has been known among the Central faculty as Kevin has shared parts of it with us along the way, mostly his own material, seeking advice and help. He seldom needed it, quite frankly. When Kevin puts pen to paper, he is rarely outdone, and what little we might have suggested is so insignificant as to be of no consequence. I am, however, glad to have gotten a mention in a footnote. Thanks, Kevin.

I read most of the book on a flight to Romania the end of the last week of November where I am doing some administrative work for the seminary at our satellite campus. I finished the book this Monday. Let me weigh in with a few comments of my own. read more

"...as if 'justice' has anything to do with us getting something we didn't actually earn."

By Aaron Blumer Thu, 11/10/2011 - 8:00am

Open Letter to the #Occupy Movement
(Video and analysis: Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years)

Announcement: SharperIron's Fall 2011 Book Giveaway

By Bob Hayton Thu, 11/10/2011 - 9:00am

giveawayFrom time to time, SharperIron will be hosting book giveaways.  With the recent publication of Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism, which includes a chapter from Dr. Kevin Bauder—a frequent contributor at SharperIron—we thought we would giveaway three copies of this new title to our readers. 

The contest is open to all members of SharperIron.  If you read SharperIron but are not yet a member, you can join for free.

Just fill out the following form to enter the giveaway. Additional entries are available for publicizing this giveaway or answering a question about the book. See details on the form below. You may also want to check the book out at Zondervan.com.

The contest will run from now through the end of November.  Don’t forget to enter below.

Contest now closed.

If the form above does not load, click here to enter the contest

Our thanks go out to Zondervan publishing for graciously sponsoring this giveaway.

Book Review - Broken-Down House: Living Productively in a World Gone Bad

By Greg Wilson Fri, 11/11/2011 - 7:00am

Image of Broken-Down House
by Paul David Tripp
Shepherd Press 2009
Paperback, 250 pp.

It is often said that you cannot judge a book by its cover. The cover for Broken-Down House is one of the best looking covers I have ever seen. The creative team at Tobias’ Outerwear for Books has once again designed an eye-catcher. To have the inside of this book worthy of the outside, author Paul David Tripp had his work cut out for him.

Paul Tripp is the president of Paul Tripp Ministries and is on the pastoral staff of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Previously he was a counselor at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (Glenside, PA) and is an Adjunct Professor at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, PA). He is not to be confused with his brother Tedd Tripp, also an author of note.

It wasn’t only the cover that attracted me to this book. I had just read Tripp’s War of Words which I found particularly edifying. Soon, I will be using his What Did You Expect marriage curriculum in a Sunday School class. I appreciate his “down to earth” style—a style well suited for a book on a sin-cursed earth, or as he calls it a “broken-down house.” However, it is not just this world that is broken—we are too. This book encourages us to cooperate with what the Master Carpenter is doing to restore the brokenness.

Overview of the book

This book is divided into two parts. Part One is “Knowing” (chapters 1-10) and Part Two is “Doing” (chapters 11-16).

What must we know? “Sin has left this world in a sorry condition. You see it everywhere you look” (p. 17). Because of this at “every point and every moment, your life is messier and more complicated than it really ought to be because everything is so much more difficult in such a terribly broken world” (p. 17). In spite of this, “God calls us to live productively in a world gone bad” (p. 21). read more