What I’m Reading – 11/3/15

Below are some of the articles and books I’ve read recently that you may enjoy checking out.

• Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction, by Caleb Kaltenbach — This is a thought-provoking and powerful treatment of how Christians can be loving and convictional at the same time. Highly recommended.

• “Theological Triage and the Doctrine of Creation,” by Samuel Emadi — The doctrine of creation is surely one of the most important and one of the most controversial topics in the contemporary church. Here, Emadi proposes 7 first-order, essential elements of a doctrine of creation for evangelicals, and then suggests that second- and third-order issues should be debated vigorously, but not demonized. He concluded:

By all means, let’s spill some ink in rigorous defense of each side of the debate, but let’s not spill one another’s blood while we’re at it. My hope is that others refine and clarify these points in a way that further contributes to our collective understanding of first-, second-, and third-order issues in the doctrine of creation.

• “How ‘Playboy’ Magazine Legitimized Pornography—and Destroyed Itself in the Process,” by Joe Carter — Carter analyzes the ironic turn in the Playboy story, as the magazine pioneered the legitimization of pornography, but in doing so made sexual deviance so commonplace that its own product was no longer marketable. (Here is a similar article from Al Mohler on the topic.)

• We Cannot Be Silent: Speaking Truth to a Culture Redefining Sex, Marriage, and the Very Meaning of Right and Wrong, by Albert Mohler — Mohler’s newest book is a bold call for faithful witness in a culture that seeks to undermine truth at every turn on the biggest issues of our day.

• “Persecuted Christians Tell Horrors of Starvation, Brutal Electric Shock Torture for Refusing to Deny Jesus Christ,” by Samuel Smith — We cannot forget that we have brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering for the name of Jesus.

• “Chick-fil-A and the Politics of Eating,” by Gina Bellafonte — This article details the opening of a new Chick-fil-a restaurant in the heart of New York City and the strange political equation being played by those on the cultural left, who want good food but do not align with the conservative values of the chains founders and owners.