Aaron Armstrong

bloggingtheologically.com

infertility

Links I like (10/10)

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Links I like

Batman, Superman, and a Rebirth for the Family

Russell Moore:

A cynic might suggest that one reason for all this settling-down is that many comic book readers are not pre-teens but, like me, those who never stopped reading or came back well into adulthood and can thus relate to mortgages and figuring out curfews. But in talking to DC fans, young and old, I think there’s something else at play.

Like When Dylan Went Electric

Jared Wilson:

What you win them with is what you win them to. And if you’ve won them with attractional programming, you can expect they’ve been won to it, and thus any strong deviation, even moreso in the direction of gospel-centered preaching and biblically healthy church dynamics, because even those moves can be quite jarring for the uninitiated.

It reminds me, actually, of 1965.

8 Reasons to Love Sound Doctrine

Kevin Halloran:

Sound doctrine should be the content of every sermon, Bible study, song, and book we read at church. And it should be loved. Here are a few reasons we should love sound doctrine.

Learning to doubt our fears

Brad Hambrick:

What is the one thing you don’t doubt when you are afraid? When we are afraid, we will doubt just about everything except our fear. We will doubt things we know to be true (i.e., whether we locked our door or paid a bill, the faithfulness of our spouse, our preparedness for an exam, God’s care, etc), rather than that which scares us.

Why the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Guidance Matters

This is helpful.

How Singleness Prepared Me for Barrenness

Lore Wilbert:

My startling moment of clarity hit me when I met some friends struggling with infertility. As obvious as it may seem now, I hadn’t considered the similarities of our struggles. We were all waiting for good things we hadn’t been promised. We had to learn to be grateful for the strange gift of lack, when God doesn’t give us the good things we want, but we learn to trust his goodness regardless.

The Lord did have marriage for me eventually in my mid-30s, but after two miscarriages in the first five months of our marriage, we’ve been unable to conceive again. The lessons I learned in my singleness translate to infertility in a few ways.

Why is it so tempting to toss the Bible?

A favorite from the archives:

Honestly, there are times when I can see why it’s tempting to adopt a more novel reading of some of these passages (or abandon them altogether). I mean, who really wants to tell the Christian woman with a non-believing boyfriend that they shouldn’t be dating? Who really enjoys the scorn that comes from being against every “reasonable” person in the West (in the eyes of the media, at least) on the issue of same-sex marriage? Who looks forward to the awkward moments at get-togethers when family members’ eyes glaze over when you talk about what’s going on in your life?

Links I like (3/30)

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Is Unforgiveness Unforgivable?

Mark Dance cuts deep with this one.

Is Preaching Headless?

Mike Leake:

I wrote an article on preaching the other day. After finishing the last sentence I did what most of us bloggers do—I went searching for a picture to attach to the article. I went to my Google machine and searched the images for preaching. Though I’ve done this search numerous times, I noticed something on this I’d never noticed before. Most of the pictures were headless. Just a few arms holding a book and gesturing with their hands.

I thought to myself, “Wow, Google gets something that we preachers often fail to recognize—preaching isn’t about the preacher it’s about the book he is holding in his hands.” But then I paused for a moment and wondered whether or not this is actually a biblical concept. Is preaching headless?

TGC17 Events

If you’re attending TGC’s conference Monday through Wednesday, be sure to consider some of these events. Also, stop by The Gospel Project booth to say hello to the team!

Why Artists Need Theology

Owen Strachan:

We often get the relationship between theology and art reversed. We feel sorry for Christian creatives, for they are constrained (so we hear) by the corrugated edges of biblical theism. Too bad, we sigh. If they could just loosen the covenantal constraints, they could really soar. But this is the reverse of the truth. The Christian worldview, powered by biblical truth, is a foundation for enterprise and creativity unparalleled in the known world. There are depths in God that no human mind can master (see 1 Cor. 2:10). There is beauty in Christ and his self-sacrificial act that no one can fully grasp. There is serendipity in the wind-like Spirit that no one can sum up.

Longing for Motherhood

Chelsea Patterson:

Childlessness is often one of the loneliest struggles a woman can walk through. It is not a visible pain. No one knows that you can’t have children, or are struggling, unless you tell them. Few, if any, know the sorrow of your heart, or how heavy and difficult this situation can be. It’s not on display for the world to see. Unconcealed trials — though still hard — make it easier for people to see that you’re suffering and come to your aid. Childlessness doesn’t enjoy such lines of sight.

I have personal experience with this trial. There are many words of encouragement I could try to speak into your soul, but these three have served to be particularly powerful for me.

Publishing is Scary

David Murray:

Publishing is a scary business. It doesn’t matter if it’s a book, a video, a Facebook post, a blog a Tweet or an Instagram; whenever we press “publish” we just don’t know what’s going to happen.

Actually, come to think of it, we do. We’re going to get criticized. Sure, we may get some “Five Star Reviews, some “Likes,” “Retweets,” “Shares,” and “Hearts,” but today it’s almost certain that we’re going to get some pain mixed in as well—the pain of rejection, the pain of mockery, the pain of dismissal, the pain of critique.

The secret of spiritual greatness

A favorite from the archives:

I love reading biographies, but there are times when I feel discouraged after reading them. When I read about “spiritual giants” of the past—Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Augustine, and so many others—and of how God used them in their days to make the gospel known, and it becomes tempting to think they’re somehow super-Christians. That someone like me could never be like them or be used like they were.

Links I like

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Links I like

Kindle deals for Christian readers

This week, Crossway’s put a bunch of books by Kevin DeYoung on sale for $3.99 (unless otherwise indicated):

Infertility and the gospel

Jana Howerton:

Today is Mother’s Day. It is a day of rejoicing in the love we have for our children and reflecting on the love and sacrifice our mother has shown us. If you are like me, it’s a love that I am just now fully able to understand the depth of since I have become a mother myself. This is the way it should be for all and yet due to the affects of the fall, I know for many today is a day full of pain and sadness. The desire, longing, and love to be a mother is there, and yet the olive shoots have not come. My heart hurts for the woman who is experiencing this pain today. I understand and know her heart because I have experienced her pain as well.

Say Hard Things

Marshall Segal:

When was the last time someone told you you were wrong?

If you can’t remember, you may have reason to be concerned. Sometimes the most loving thing someone can do for us is point out an error or inconsistency in the way we think or live. The reality that we have remaining sin still inside of us means that we will be wrong.And it means we will inevitably be blind to some of the ways we are wrong. Therefore, God often gives us the perspective we desperately need on ourselves through someone else’s eyes, heart, and words. They see something that needs to change or be corrected, and they lovingly tell us the truth. They rebuke us. Love will rebuke us.

I’m Still a Complementarian… And There’s Still That “But”

Thabiti Anyabwile:

Here’s where I think we go wrong: We begin in the wrong place. Often the conversations begin with questions about “what a woman can do” or defenses of “male headship.” Those are appropriate and necessary and beautiful conversations in their place. But getting them in their place seems to be a thorny problem. These subjects are necessary but they’re downstream. And if we broach these subjects downstream with all the tranquility-disrupting water-displacing splash of used tires illegally tossed in, then we can’t be surprised that we find ourselves unsettled and seemingly always embattled.

Why #GiveElsaAGirlfriend shouldn’t surprise us

Tim Barnett:

Some LGBT activists and Frozen fans have created the viral hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend to urge the sequel’s writers to make Elsa Disney’s first lesbian queen. They believe that Disney is long overdue to have a lesbian represented in their films.

Some people, including many Christians, were surprised at the news. I, for one, found their surprise a little surprising. In fact, anyone shocked by this news hasn’t been paying attention to what’s going on in the culture.

No Pow’r of Hell, No Scheme of Man

David Mathis:

Great hymns have the ability to unite the family of God, throughout history and around the world, in the truths about God that matter most. But when voices from within the church begin to question or deny what the church holds most dear, great hymns become flashpoints of controversy.

On Dealing With Rejection

David Qaoud:

Recently, I was on Facebook scrolling down my newsfeed, checking to see what my friends and family were up to. I only scrolled for a few seconds when I noticed a picture of a few friends out to eat at a restaurant. They seemed like they were having the time of their lives. I sighed. And then I thought to myself, “How come they didn’t invite me?”

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