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THINK by John Piper

John Piper writes books quicker than I can read them. But I still try! I thoroughly enjoyed one of his recent books: Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. Here’s part of the official blurb from the publisher, Crossway: “We often pit thinking and feeling against each other, especially when it comes to the Christian experience. Glorifying God with our minds and hearts, however, is not either-or, but both-and. Focusing on the life of the mind will help you to know God better, love him more, and care for the world.”

Here’s a promo video for the book:

In Think Piper has two biblical texts that form the main point of the book. 2 Timothy 2:7 – “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (ESV) and Proverbs 2:3-6 – “…if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding…” (ESV)

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Do We Really Believe What We’re Saying?

I recently blogged on the controversy surrounding the release of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins and the Harsh Reality of Hell. As yet, I haven’t read Bell’s book, but from reading other reviews and watching his interview and book launch, it seems that Bell has stepped away from an orthodox, historical understanding of hell. See all of Justin Taylor’s recent posts mentioning “hell” and also read Kevin DeYoung’s comprehensive review of the book.

No-one in the Reformed Evangelical camp is particularly rattled by Bell’s denial of historic Christianity. It has been argued that Bell has been on this theological trajectory for some time. That’s what makes the following video from David Platt so useful. In it he argues that while we may be opposed to “intellectual universalism”, in reality we often live as “functional universalists”. We say we believe in the reality of hell yet our lives look no different. See it below (or click here if you can’t see it).

What a challenge!

We don’t have time to play games with our lives
We don’t have time to play games in the church
We have a mission that demands radical urgency

Check out David Platt’s blog and his incredible book Radical.

Vid from this blog post.

Find out more about what Christians believe.

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The death of the iPod

Great article on the life and death of the Apple iPod in the SMH. Some really interesting comments on the iPod as the “first cultural icon of the 21st century”. Here’s a snippet:

Apple has changed the way we think about technology and design, the way we shop, the way we consume media and the way we interact with each other. Via the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad it has opened up doors for other methods of technology to come into our lives. None of that would have happened without the iPod. “It was the first cultural icon of the 21st century,” says Dr Michael Bull, a lecturer in media and film at the University Of Sussex, south-east England, where his studies on the sociology around the MP3 player have earned him the sobriquet “Professor iPod”. “It was the first MP3 player that really worked. With the earlier ones you had to get down on your knees and pray to get a bit of music out of them. And it became symbolic of the way people like to move around in cities. It fitted the desire for a technological freedom, whereby you moved to your own soundscape. Roland Barthes argued that, in medieval society, cathedrals were the iconic form. Then by the 1950s it had become the car – the Citroen DS. I argue that 50 years later it was the iPod, this technology that let you fit your whole world in your pocket. It was representative of a key moment in the social world of the 21st century.”

Read the rest here. Some of the content reminded me of some of Stu Crawshaw’s thoughts from his Youth Ministry as Shock Absorber article.

Do you have an iPod? Do you still use it? Can you name a competitor for other 21st Century icons?

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Black is the new Bieber

The pop culture phenomenon  of the week is Rebecca Black with her new hit song “Friday”. Black is being likened to teenage super-pop-star Justin Bieber. It went from 2000 hits to 25million hits just this week!! Perhaps Black is the new Bieber? Anyway, you decide:

Sometimes modern pop lyrics are hard to understand. Not in this track. They are simple, yet profound. Her observations on life are quite insightful.

It’s only March, but this song is well on its way to ‘song of the year’. Triple thumbs up ;)