Wisdom For Your Weekend: your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading around the web.
Video of the Week
“Fear not, little flock,” John Piper. This is one of several new “labs” from Desiring God—an online method of teaching the Bible, with “the camera on the text.” Piper walks us through the way he meditates on a text, and we follow his pen as scribbles in the margins. This is a great tool for anyone wanting some help in how they read (and teach) the Bible. I found it incredibly rich, and am looking forward to the others in this series.
Articles of the Week
3 Ways to Fight Book Lust, Nate Claiborne. “In some ways book lust is just a byproduct of being a bibliophile, but in other ways, it is a way for lust to run around un-checked in your heart under false pretenses. I think it is fair to say lust is a human problem, not just a guy problem, and for some guys it’s not the Victoria’s Secret catalog that is the big problem, it is the Spring Release catalog from their favorite publisher. And perhaps this is worse since alarms would go off if a good Christian husband signed up to receive the Victoria’s Secret catalog, but we wouldn’t bat an idea if he regularly gets multiple catalogs from book publishers.”
Does Brian McLaren Want a Conversation on Marriage? Andrew T. Walker. The topic of same-sex marriage being as hot button of a topic as it is, appeals for “conversation” and “dialogue” are generally a good thing. But the goal of conversation and dialogue should be to get closer to the truth. Conversation is the means, not the end. Ironically, many people calling for more “conversation” don’t want a conversation like this at all: they want to subtly condemn their opponents while claiming neutrality. As Walker says here, let’s have a real conversation, one in which both sides are open and honest about what they’re for.
Undercover at Oprah’s Tour, Paula Hendricks. “‘We come from the stars. . . . How amazing is that?’ These were Oprah’s opening words at The Life You Want Weekend 2014 Tour. I know, because I was there. Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Weekend Tour is drawing women like crazy, and I wanted to see what women are feasting on. What is Oprah feeding them? I figured I’d return to the office with fresh passion for why I do what I do. I got that . . . and more.”
Let’s Rewrite Harry Potter to Make It Christian! John Boone. If your initial response is, “Um, how about let’s not,” then you clearly aren’t a fan of Grace Ann, a.k.a. “proudhousewife.” According to several web outlets, Grace Ann has allegedly taken it upon herself to rewrite the Harry Potter series for her kids, because, “I’m happy for them to be reading; but I don’t want them turning into witches!” Is Grace Ann real? Color me suspicious, but the fact that I can’t immediately chalk this up as a hoax is troubling enough. Either way, consider this a great example of how not to redeem literature.
On The Lighter Side
“Rush Hour,” Black Sheep Films. Even though I know this is a result of camera editing, the whole thing still made me reeeeeeeeally nervous.
