Manhood On The Mind
by on Nov 1st, 2010 at 1:15 am
A big weekend has come to an end. My son’s first birthday party was a success. My home is full of toys. I read a very interesting book from William Struthers called Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain. My father-in-law has loaned me another interesting book, Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World. I hope your weekend was enjoyable.
Now for some good reads:
“Are You Ready to Be a Leader?” by Kevin DeYoung
Pastor DeYoung lists about 20 questions that were provided by J. Oswald Sanders in his great book, Spiritual Leadership, which I read every summer in preparation for the next school year. These questions challenge our readiness for responsibility and are excellent to consider.
“Does Religion Kill?” by Maggie Gallagher
I debated whether or not to add this article, but decided to do it based on the fact that this site is designed to place before you the issues and call you to use discernment when addressing the unavoidable aspects of life. The recent suicides of several teenagers due to their sexual identities has placed a lot of pressure on religious groups. Though I think this pressure is not fully warranted, the issue is still one to carefully think about.
Maggie’s article responds to the Associated Press’ recent use of statistics. Though her article defends Mormonism more than I would (i.e. I would not defend it), she makes an interesting case for the effect that family can have on the development of a person. It is worth reading, but use discernment so that you don’t take more from the article than is meant by the author.
“Timeshare Servants” & “Players, Printers, Preachers” by Douglas Wilson
Pastor Wilson’s first article is a helpful economics lesson. His second article is a call to get engaged in the culture for sake of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. My favorite line from his second article is, “pray that the Lord of harvest would raise up preachers, the kind who spit on their hands before turning to their work.”
“Freeloaders and the Christian Work Ethic (2 Thessalonians 3:6-18)” by Bob Deffinbaugh
There are many great resources at www.bible.org, and Deffinbaugh’s article is just the top of the tip of the iceberg of substantive articles that can be found there. In this article, he tackles the issue of laziness and the biblical value of work. Americans tend to be extremists when it comes to work: some are completely lazy and others are addicted to work. Whatever your bent, something can be learned in this article. He also provides a study guide, audio version of the article, and PowerPoint slides with a skeleton-ized (no Halloween pun intended) version of his points at this site.
“Here I Stand!” by Justin Taylor
Since October 31 occurred on the weekend, I did not write anything about Martin Luther and the anniversary of what has been considered the launch of the Reformation. A day late and dollar short, I wanted to pass a couple of good articles your way should you want to learn more about him and why theologians still talk about the man almost 500 years later. Justin’s collection of videos and articles are a good start. I’ll probably add Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand in Friday’s “Leadership Library Spotlight” to give you a good starting point for further research of Luther and his time.
“95 Theses” by Martin Luther
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is an excellent website resource containing primary source material. They are literally a “no-frills” resource, however, so don’t look for anything flashy to their site. They have posted Luther’s theses that were presented in Wittenburg 493 years and a day ago.
That should be enough reading for the week. Have a good one!