{"id":9477,"date":"2014-10-10T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=9477"},"modified":"2014-11-18T16:25:26","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T00:25:26","slug":"weekly-links-10112014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2014\/10\/10\/weekly-links-10112014\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Links (10\/11\/2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>Creation is either the result of an eternal, personal, and intelligent being or the accidental effect of eternal, impersonal, and mindless matter with unknowable origins. It should be the life quest of every responsible and thinking individual to determine which account of the cosmos best answers the ultimate questions and sufficiently accounts for our day-to-day lives. (Dan DeWitt, Jesus or Nothing)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Feliz Friday! Let\u2019s get to this week\u2019s links!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Call this an example of the reason we need to engage in apologetics with those whom we may not feel comfortable speaking with. David Wood points to the c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.answeringmuslims.com\/2014\/10\/apologetics-saves-lives-literally.html\">hildhood and, later, the horrendous act of Alton Nolen<\/a>\u00a0as an example of someone who was raised in the church, yet abandons the faith and adopts Islam, with an inaccurate understanding of his prior Christian upbringing. Wood answers the objections Nolen raises against Christianity and brings out the apologetic implications of one who was raised in a religious home and left unprepared to handle objections from other religions without a proper understanding of Christian faith, and where it could lead (not that it necessarily leads one to where Nolen went). Very eye-opening.<\/li>\n<li>Highlighted this week at Triablogue, Joseph Mizzi, who has a website dedicated to evangelizing Roman Catholics, has written a short book on the issue of justification that looks to be very clear and helpful. Called\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.justforcatholics.org\/justification.pdf\">\u2018Right with God,\u2019<\/a>\u00a0Mizzi explains the concept of justification biblically, and the relationship between justification and Christ, the law, grace, and faith. There are no shortages of books on this subject, but there will always be a need to understand this doctrine, even more so to remind us that our faith is a gift of God, not of works.<\/li>\n<li>On Monday, the Supreme Court turned down every appeal from a number of states on the issue of same-sex marriage. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.albertmohler.com\/2014\/10\/06\/the-vindication-of-antonin-scalia-a-sad-milestone-for-marriage-and-morality\/\">Al Mohler reminds us<\/a> that Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia predicted that when the Supreme Court rejected sodomy laws back in 2003, it could lead to the embracing of same-sex marriage, since the moral disapprobation would no longer be there, leading to this week\u2019s news. Ryan Anderson responds with the <a href=\"http:\/\/dailysignal.com\/2014\/10\/06\/supreme-court-decision-will-lead-gay-marriage-five-states-thats-wrong\/\">legal ramifications of upholding lower court laws<\/a>, and also <a href=\"http:\/\/dailysignal.com\/2014\/10\/07\/defense-marriage-isnt\/\">the way forward<\/a>. We must pray for the state of our nation and plead with God to bless America with repentance.<\/li>\n<li>When it comes to issues of the canon of Scripture, Michael Kruger stands out as a leading evangelical scholar today. On his blog, he r<a href=\"http:\/\/michaeljkruger.com\/there-is-no-bible-in-the-bible-really\/\">esponds and refutes an article that argues that the church created the canon<\/a>, exposing the vacuous objections for what they are. If you have discussed the canon with a Roman Catholic, a Mormon, or even an agnostic, you are bound to discuss this issue. Come prepared.<\/li>\n<li>Tim Challies <a href=\"http:\/\/www.challies.com\/articles\/6-great-reasons-to-study-doctrine\">gives six reasons to study doctrine<\/a>. You\u2019d be surprised at the reasons he gives, and none of them involve being a Bible geek or seminarian (not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that).<\/li>\n<li>Though it has been a few years since R.C. Sproul Jr. lost his wife to cancer, he reflects on one of his biggest regrets: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ligonier.org\/blog\/husbands-hold-your-wifes-hand\/\" class=\"broken_link\">not holding her hand more<\/a>. Husbands, please read this and hold your wife\u2019s hand more.<\/li>\n<li>In anticipation of Vern Poythress\u2019 next book, <em>Redeeming Philosophy: A God-Centered Approach to the Big Questions<\/em>, Poythress <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crossway.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/why-philosophy-matters-for-christians\/\">calls believers to engage in philosophy as an act of love<\/a>\u00a0to those who think they have the answers to the big questions, especially since we actually know the One who created us to ask those questions in the first place. Being a philosophy major certainly draws you to think more deeply about the ultimate issues of life, but if you want a short summary of the ultimate problem in philosophical activity, look no further.<\/li>\n<li>If you aren\u2019t in the know, this month is pastors appreciation month! In celebration, Crossway has decided to make one of their books available for free download: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crossway.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/free-e-book-memoirs-of-an-ordinary-pastor-by-d-a-carson\/\" class=\"broken_link\"><em>The Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor<\/em> by D.A. Carson<\/a>\u00a0. To turn a famous phrase, \u201cOne does not simply walk (away from a free D.A. Carson book).&#8221; Be wise and click that link!<\/li>\n<li>Pastor Matt Mitchell, author of the book <em>Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue,<\/em> has created a <a href=\"http:\/\/videos.resistinggossip.com\/\">series of videos<\/a>\u00a0that goes into a deeper study from the book related to gossip. Best thing is, it\u2019s free! Spread it around (I promise it isn\u2019t gossiping if you do so).<\/li>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/bookstore.peacemaker.net\/blog\/?p=3900\" class=\"broken_link\">this week\u2019s PeaceMeal<\/a>\u00a0(Peacemaker Ministries\u2019 weekly devotional), there are some statements that Satan promotes, which believers can be susceptible to accepting. If you\u2019ve heard of any of these statements, be aware of Christ\u2019s response to Satan\u2019s lies, and learn.<\/li>\n<li>Denny Burk asks a simple question that is worth considering, given recent events: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dennyburk.com\/do-you-have-a-confidence-in-christ-that-can-handle-ebola\/\">Do you have a confidence in Christ that can handle Ebola?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s all for this week! Looking forward to another weekend to celebrate and worship our God with you all!<\/p>\n<p>Soli Deo Gloria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Creation is either the result of an eternal, personal, and intelligent being or the accidental effect of eternal, impersonal, and mindless matter with unknowable origins. It should be the life quest of every responsible and thinking individual to determine which account of the cosmos best answers the ultimate questions and sufficiently accounts for our day-to-day [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-links"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9478,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9477\/revisions\/9478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}