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The Fight for Life: Why We Keep Standing
Preparing for the Future in the Age of Facebook
Sometimes Only God Can Feel Hope
Was the carnage of this past week in the USA extraordinary? These things came at us so fast that we did not click on them. Only when someone assembles them do they take our breath away.
Consider this from AP National Writer Ted Anthony:
Ugly things. Violent things. Elemental things. Epic things. The forces of nature and human anger unleashed in concentrated form across the land. Water and fire, gun and sky, bringing destruction, death and misery. And tears.
America's body count for the week from Feb. 2 to Saturday tops four score. Fifty-nine dead from the tornadoes in the South. Five dead after Edwin Rivera opened fire on his family and a SWAT officer in Los …
My Introduction to My Dad's Message
When I have to speak in front of a lot of people, I feel the way I imagine I would if I were jumping out of a helicopter. It's just not natural—at least that's what my body tells me. Nonetheless, when Scott Anderson asked me a couple months ago if I would introduce my dad at this year's pastors conference, I said yes. (And for four days leading up to it, I questioned the sanity of my decision.)
But I'm glad I did it. I love my dad a lot, and it was an honor to get to say a few things before he spoke on Tuesday.
Below is the text for my intro. (I'm only mildly embarassed to say I had it prepared 5 weeks early.) If you want to see it, it's the first 5 minutes of the video of my dad's …
The Tradition of the Pastors Conference Speakers Dinner
The pastors’ conference has become a tradition in the Piper family. Back in the days when the conference was small enough to be held in the Bethlehem church building, the sons who were homeschooled loved to hang out there. It didn’t take them long to figure out who the pastors were that enjoyed talking with kids and playing basketball during break. Oh yes, and there were killer snacks.
The big family event during conference is Tuesday evening when the speakers and their wives are invited to dinner at our house before the evening session. We’ve done this since the very first conference, because we wanted to give the speakers one time during the conference when they could visit with each …
Talitha Interviews the Rebelution Guys
When we knew Alex and Brett Harris would be in town for the DG Pastors’ Conference, we wanted to catch them for an interview. Who better to interview two popular young bloggers than another young person? The guys were glad to sit down with Talitha Piper, 12, and answer her questions.
The message of the 19-year-old twins is, “Do hard things.” That’s also the title of their book, available in April.
They are high school grads, homeschooled all the way, and applying now to colleges for the fall or spring. In the meantime, this year is filled with writing, organizing Rebelution conferences (4 in 2007; 7 in 2008) and answering the emails they receive through their website.
Talitha's I
…Bombing, Abortion, & Down Syndrome
Al Qaida has moved another step toward western standards of abortion barbarity in using Down Syndrome women to blow boys and girls to pieces. The news is that this was not suicide bombing, but the detonation of retarded girls at a distance.
The disgust one feels for the kind of heart that does this could reveal to England and America how we should feel when we screen for Down Syndrome babies and then kill them. Compare the stories:
Story One: al Qaida
At Breitbart.com (and most news sources), it is reported that yesterday al Qaida used two women with Down Syndrome to bear the explosives under their clothes and then were detonated remotely killing over 70 people.
T…
How Shall We Love Our Muslim Neighbor?
There are as many answers to this question as there are ways to do good and not wrong. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor” (Romans 13:10). “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Here are some things that, it seems to me, need to be emphasized in our day.
- Pray the fullest blessing of Christ on them whether they love you or not.
- Do good to them in practical ways that meet physical needs.
- Do not retaliate when personally wronged.
- Live peaceably with them as much as it depends on you.
- Pursue their joyful freedom from sin and from condemnation by telling them the truth…
Abortion Creates a Mission Field
Sometimes I fall into thinking of abortion as an American issue, or worse, an American political issue. Most of the stats I read, after all, are about abortions in this country. And when I consider voting for a candidate, one of my first questions is "Are they pro-life?"
So I find it helpful to remind myself that abortion is not American and it is most certainly not primarily political. Those stats are kids, not numbers. And the kids are from many colors, cultures, and countries.
Life International is a ministry that actively remembers that abortion is a world-wide scourge. They note,
Abortions in the U.S. and Canada (1.4 million) amount to 3% of abortions worldwide. …
So You Want to Be a Writer?
I got a letter recently from someone who hopes to be a writer. She says:
I get so frustrated with myself because even as I am typing, I think, "What am I doing? I can't write!" I would like to get published some day, but I don't even know how to start.
No 7-step list will guarantee a writer is formed out of a non-writer, but here are some suggestions, things that have been helpful for me.
1. Write!
The cliche answer is probably the best one—if you want to write, write. Don't think about publishing at first. And quit examining yourself and your ability. Don't worry about grammar and spelling at first. Just write. Anything. Journal. Letters. Blog. Keep a writing …
Rick Love Responds to Piper's Thoughts on "A Common Word"
Last week, we posted a video of John Piper discussing "A Common Word," a letter to Christians from Muslim scholars, and expressing his disappointment with the response to it that over 300 Christian leaders signed.
In the video, John mentions that he has friends among those who signed. We contacted some of them to ask if they would be willing to provide their rationale.
Rick Love, former International Director for Frontiers, has responded. (Please note that this is his personal response, not representative of Frontiers.)
* * *
Why I Signed the Yale Response to “A Common Word”
By Rick Love
Thank you, John, for inviting me to respond to your recent…
Something to Keep in Mind
"You can be so interested in great theological and intellectual and philosophical problems that you tend to forget that you are going to die."
-Martin Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, p. 193.
