Aaron Armstrong

bloggingtheologically.com

Easter

Links I like

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links-weekday

Kindle deals for Christian readers

Lots of new stuff for you today, starting with three books by Phil Ryken ($1.99 each):

Also on sale are:

Suicide Bomber Kills 65 as Taliban Targets Christians Celebrating Easter at Pakistan Children’s Park

Tragic news.

The attack was Pakistan’s deadliest overall “since the December 2014 massacre at an army-run school that left 143 people dead, most of them children, and marked a devastating new turn in militant violence against Pakistani civilians,” reports the Los Angeles Times. (Xinhua has more details, as does The Express Tribune.)

Pakistani Christians—including Asia Bibi, one of the world’s most prominent persecuted Christians—were bracing for a bloody Easter Sunday after a blasphemy-related death sentence stoked Islamist anger last month.

Christ’s Resurrection Guarantees Our Own

Love this excerpt from Spurgeon’s 1892 sermon, “The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus”.

Read Scripture: 2 Samuel

This is really well done:

15 Pieces of Writing Advice from C. S. Lewis

Justin Taylor:

In his letters and other sources, C. S. Lewis left various bits of advice on the craft of writing. Below are 15 of the things he said. The bold is my restatement, followed by his actual quote.

A Resurrection Day Posture Worth Modeling

Erik Raymond:

Truly this is a narrative to be cherished. The women had come to the tomb to serve the crucified Savior by tending to his body, however, upon arrival his body was no longer there. We read of the great announcement by the angel that “He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said..” (Matt. 28.5).

Notice the reaction here by Christ’s servants for it is a great model for us. The risen Savior had induced dual emotions in their hearts, fear and great joy.

Stephen Colbert, Champion of Respectful Disagreement

I found this piece by Aaron Bumgarner quite interesting.

The Rise of the Modern Control Freak

Tony Reinke:

I’m here with a few hundred strangers. I know nobody. We all arrived in unison. This choreographed gathering of likeminded strangers, each representing their own unique life of self-contained routines and schedules, is a phenomenon that would’ve been inconceivable for our ancestors in medieval Europe 500 years ago. Life then was not so self-determining.

Everything sad is coming untrue

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freely-heart-rocks

I can’t imagine what it would have been like that first Easter Sunday—to have been one of the first people to come to the tomb, and to hear the angels say, “He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said” (Matthew 28:6). To see the empty grave clothes. To meet Jesus and mistake him for a gardener. To walk alongside him on a road and not recognize him. To feel my heart burning within me as he spoke, but not understand what was happening.

To watch the beginnings of everything sad coming untrue,1 and not realize it.

Yet, this is what happened, starting on that fateful morning, isn’t it? As the women came to honor Christ in death, they discovered death could not hold him. As the disciples’ sorrow turned to joy as Christ revealed to them all that the Scriptures testified about him. As Jesus appeared to his followers and allowed Thomas to touch the holes in his hands and feet, and see that he really was alive.

That’s what’s been happening—and has continued to happen every day for 2000 years since, as Jesus’ followers took the message throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And as this message has taken root in the hearts of men and women everywhere,

  • Sadness has been exchanged for joy.
  • Enmity with God has been exchanged for friendship.
  • Sinfulness has been exchanged for righteousness.
  • Fruitless toil has been exchanged for rest.
  • Folly and striving after the wind have been exchanged for true wisdom.
  • Separation has been exchanged for unity.
  • Death has been exchanged for eternal life.

No more striving in vain. No more hoping to earn what he freely gives. No more trying to do what only Christ could do for us. “It is finished,” Jesus said on Good Friday. And on Sunday, the angels confirmed it: “He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said” (Matthew 28:6).

That is the good news of Easter, friends: Christ is risen—and everything sad is coming untrue. That is the good news we celebrate not simply on one day of the year, or even every Sunday, but every day!

  1. With apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien. ↵

Links I like (weekend edition)

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links-weekend

Kindle deals for Christian readers

Lots of new deals for you today:

Today’s also the last day to get these books from Crossway for $4.99 each:

Promoting the Gospel in Farsi

This is pretty cool news!

Don’t Like Diversity? You’ll Hate Heaven

Dan DeWitt:

The issue really wasn’t theology; it was about practice. Peter got the theology right: Gentiles don’t have to live like Jews. But in practice, he was embarrassed to be found with them. He was ashamed to dine with them. His theology was good. His behavior was bad.

Which makes me ask, “What are some ways our theology on issues of different cultures can be good, but our practices be bad?”

How To Preach A Terrible Easter Sermon

Colin Adams:

Like the spirits who plagued the Demoniac, my mistakes in Easter-preaching have been legion. The subject is always lively, but the preaching is sometimes grave! So in a deeply ironical tone, neither to be copied or encouraged, here are seven ways to preach a terrible Easter sermon. Please, I beg of you, do not try this in your pulpit this Sunday.

3 Old Things Every New Christian Must Part With

Rob Tims:

Clearly I have personal preferences when it comes to desiring something old and something new, and these personal preferences carry over into my spiritual life. Oftentimes, I am very eager to embrace the new things Jesus has for me, but other times I am reluctant to let go of the old … the old, familiar thoughts and behaviors I’ve grown to love about myself throughout the years. Though my old thoughts and habits are incompatible with the new me, I hesitate to say goodbye.

Yet there are three old things that, no matter what, I have to part with if I’m going to follow Jesus.

 

Empty Grave Clothes

Peter Jones:

As you can imagine, I have thought long and hard about Easter, since it is a central element of my faith. Indeed the Apostle Paul says that if the resurrection did not occur, we have all believed in vain. In May, Rebecca and I will be making a long-awaited visit to Israel. As I anticipate this trip, the historical force of this event keeps hitting me. It is the major reason I believe the message of Christianity—for two reasons.

6 Things New Parents Need to Hear

Barnabas Piper:

These aren’t really good news, but at least they’ll set the bar a little more accurately. Most of us spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to other parents, seeing what everyone else posts on social media, and thinking we’re doing a pretty awful job. New parents want to grab the world by the tail and avoid all the mistakes their parents made and all their friends are making. Hopefully these six words of “wisdom” will offer some perspective and maybe a little boost. If they don’t now file them away.

The Quran’s Deadly Role in Inspiring Belgian Slaughter

Nabeel Qureshi:

As a Muslim growing up in the United States, I was taught by my imams and the community around me that Islam is a religion of peace. My family modeled love for others and love for country, and not just by their words. My father served in the U.S. Navy throughout my childhood, starting as a seaman and retiring as a lieutenant commander. I believed wholeheartedly a slogan often repeated at my mosque after 9/11: “The terrorists who hijacked the planes also hijacked Islam.”

Yet as I began to investigate the Quran and the traditions of Muhammad’s life for myself in college, I found to my genuine surprise that the pages of Islamic history are filled with violence. How could I reconcile this with what I had always been taught about Islam?

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