Dr Paul Allen

If I am being honest, I have to admit that my iPhone habits have been largely unchecked, undisciplined, and unhealthy. And in a recent survey of 8,000 of our readers, many of you honestly admitted the same struggle. We asked you to finish this sentence: As I evaluate my life right now, my use of social media [ Facebook , Twitter , Instagram ] is . . . (A) . . . under control, limited, and healthy. (B) . . . not controlled or restricted, but also not having a negative influence on my life. (C) . . . uncontrolled and unhealthy. I check my social networks compulsively though out the day, and it’s probably not good for me. About 40% of you answered (B) — you don’t intentionally limit your social media use, and you don’t notice harmful effects as a result. Those of you who chose (C) — who admit your unlimited social media habits are unhealthy — were noticeably younger. Readers 18 to 39 are nearly twice as likely to call their habits injurious (38.5%) than those over fo...

happiness (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) James is sometimes called the " New Testament book of Proverbs." That's because of passages such as James 4 that give us a series of loosely linked aphorisms of practical, godly wisdom. This chapter begins with our universal concern about conflict: What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend on your passions. (James 4:1-3) The world is marked by warfare. There's global war and national conflict; there's warfare in the church; there's warfare in the community; there's warfare in the home—there's conflict all around us. James says that these quarrels, fights, disputes, and contentions come from within, from the fallenness of our hearts. The mot...

A generation of young men are discovering what Internet Porn can do to their brains. But growing numbers of them are deciding to escape. This secular TEDx video is essential viewing for everyone concerned about this issue:

Cover via Amazon Mark Driscoll appeared on a short YouTube  clip entitled, “Don’t Elevate Doctrine above the Holy Spirit .” It’s from Mark Driscoll’s sermon on Revelation 2:1-7 preached at the ancient Celsus Library in Ephesus .  The clip raises the thought, should we pit “doctrine” against the work of the Spirit in the heart. Mark warns against the consequences of elevating doctrine (especially cessationists) over the Holy Spirit with statements like: “You don’t need to pray much anymore, because you have a theology that tells you what to do. You don’t have to listen to the Holy Spirit anymore, because you have a theology that directs all your steps. I’m not saying we avoid our doctrinal clarity, but we still need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  He infers that cessationism tends not to need the Holy Spirit as much as having good theology. One of the repercussions of cessationism, he says, is that “Christianity goes from a relationship we enjoy to a ...

The Old Testament in 5 minutes from Youtube Related articles New Testament Books (mastersquill.wordpress.com) 5 Old Testament Models for How to Live (catholicexchange.com) Should we still follow Old Testament laws? Christians against homosexuality? (tiffanyngarner.wordpress.com) The Fortress Commentary on the Bible (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com) How Did We Get the New Testament? (petrosbaptist.wordpress.com) How was "sickness" interpreted in the Old Testament? // Why did Jesus show so much interest in the sick? (travismikhailblog.wordpress.com) TESTAMENT, DOWN, HIGH ON FIRE Added To Already Stacked MOTORBOAT Lineup (metalinjection.net) Love Your Enemies (verse4psalm37.wordpress.com) Advance Notice: The 2015 "Old Testament in the New" Conference at Hawarden (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com) Vanhoozer, ed., Theological Interpretation of the New Testament (jdavidstark.com)

Last Friday, Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old student, ran amok, stabbing two roommates and a visitor to death , before he went to a sorority at the University of California, Santa Barbara and shot three young women, killing two of them. Jumping into a black BMW , he went to a delicatessen and shot dead a male student. Jumping back in he began shooting randomly as he drove. After injuring several people, he crashed the car and committed suicide. Elliot Rodger The tally: seven dead and 13 injured. The father of one of the victims, Christopher Martinez, blamed “craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA [ National Rifle Association ]." "They talk about gun rights," he said. "What about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop?” His anguish is understandable, but half of the victims in this latest atrocity were stabbed to death. A new suspect is “ toxic masculinity ”. Rodger left behind a 140-page manifesto full of hatred for women who ignored h...

Author: Jonathon Holmes. One problem that biblical counselors will surely face in their counseling and everyday conversations, regardless of gender, is the addiction and enslavement to pornography . It is not uncommon to hear and meet counselees whose first introduction to pornography happened in their pre-adolescent years of 7-12. With a problem so prevalent and pervasive in the church, numerous books and articles have been written on the topic. How can biblical counselors contribute to this conversation? Biblical Counseling Coalition (BCC) member and Association of Certified Biblical Counselor’s Executive Director , Heath Lambert recently authored a book entitled, Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace which has ably defined and elucidated a gospel-centered approach to fighting the sin of pornography. Additionally, a helpful list of resources has been gathered on the BCC website to equip biblical counselors on this topic as well. Something I have found persona...

US troops in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Our missionaries have remained with us; we will stand by them, and live or die together." Meng Ch'ang-ch'un and the other Chinese pastors at Pao- ting Fu were united in their determination. The Boxer Rebellion , an angry reaction against western interference in China , raged across China. The government encouraged lawless bands to kill all foreigners and those who had adopted their ways, especially Christians . Thousands of people died. Meng was a direct descendant of the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius . He was attending a conference in T'ung Chow when the news came that the Boxers had destroyed the railroad to Pao-ting Fu and cut communications. Meng could have fled to nearby Peking where foreign embassies offered some protection; many other Christians did. But he remembered the missionaries who remained behind. It seemed to him that his honor as a Chinese called him to Pa...