Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Internet Pornography: The God of Truth and the Lies of Porn

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Mike Salvati, the youth pastor at my church, addressed the men at our church last Saturday morning on “The God of Truth and the Lies of Porn.” This 68-minute MP3 begins with a man’s testimony followed by Mike’s talk.

Mike presented “seven biblical truths to keep you from being lied to, from clicking and sinning against your great, holy God!” Here’s the outline:

1. Intimacy (sexual intimacy in particular) is God’s good gift (Gen 2:24-25; Prov 5:15-23; Heb 13:4).

  • How has pornography distorted your understanding of God’s good gift of sexual intimacy?
  • What is one way you can cultivate relational intimacy with your wife?
  • When was the last time you thanked God for your wife?

2. Porneia is in you (Mark 7:20-23; James 1:14-15).

The God Who Is There

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Coming this July:

D. A. Carson. The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010.

  • Leader’s Guide:
  • The chapters correspond to Carson’s fourteen-part overview of the Bible that he presented at Bethlehem Baptist Church in February 2009.
  1. The God Who Made Everything
  2. The God Who Does Not Wipe Out Rebels
  3. The God Who Writes His Own Agreements
  4. The God Who Legislates
  5. The God Who Reigns
  6. The God Who Is Unfathomably Wise
  7. The God Who Becomes a Human Being
  8. The God Who Grants New Birth
  9. The God Who Loves
  10. The God Who Dies—and Lives Again
  11. The God Who Declares the Guilty Just
  12. The God Who Gathers and Transforms His People
  13. The God Who Is Very Angry
  14. The God Who Triumphs
  • See Carson’s brief introduction to the series.
  • The corresponding audio and video should be available later this year.
  • This resource will serve the church well because it simultaneously evangelizes non-Christians and edifies Christians by explaining the Bible’s storyline.

Update on July 29, 2010: Audio and video are available.

Update on December 1, 2010: Unabridged video is now available.

Carson on the Trials of Biblical Studies

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In The Trials of Theology: Becoming a “Proven Worker” in a Dangerous Business (ed. Andrew J. B. Cameron and Brian S. Rosner; Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2010), D. A. Carson contributes a chapter entitled “The Trials of Biblical Studies” (pp. 109–29).

Marsden on Edwards

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This weekend I listened to the audiobook of George Marsden’s 160-page A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards (Amazon | WTS Books). It’s considerably shorter than Marsden’s 640-page Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Amazon | WTS Books).

Marsden is a good writer and superb historian. Edwards is a remarkable man and God-intoxicated theologian. Good combination. Time well spent.

Subject Index for Carson and Woodbridge’s Letters Along the Way

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Many thanks to Matthew Hoskinson for serving us by preparing a two-page subject index to this book:

D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 1993.

More info:

Take a moment to scan the subject index, and don’t be surprised if it makes you want to read the book.

No Greater Love

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Tonight Jenni and I watched No Greater Love. We expected it to be another semi-cheesy Christian film, but it’s actually well done. It’s a surprisingly gripping story. Jenni almost never cries when watching movies, but this was different.

I learned about it in mid-January when I received this update from The Master’s Seminary. Jay Underwood, one of their graduates, co-stars in the film.

More info:

Update: Justin Taylor recommends No Greater Love.

Update: Justin Taylor <a href=”http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/03/16/no-greater-love-dvd/” target=”_blank”><strong>recomends</strong></a> <em>No Greater Love</em>.

Conservative Evangelicals Are Not New Evangelicals

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Kevin Bauder, a self-identified fundamentalist, hits a home run with “Let’s Get Clear on This.”

Some excerpts:

  • Conservative evangelicals are different from Fundamentalists, but they are not new evangelicals.
  • Conservative evangelicals have majored on the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God.
  • Nevertheless, some Fundamentalists have managed to convince themselves that conservative evangelicals are the enemy.
  • [Some fundamentalist leaders are] recognizing that the Fundamentalist label is no guarantee of doctrinal fidelity. They are aware that historic, mainstream Fundamentalism has more in common with conservative evangelicals than it does with many who wear the Fundamentalist label.
  • Conservative evangelicals are not our enemies. They are not our opponents. Conservative evangelicals have proven themselves to be allies and even leaders in the defense of the faith.
  • If we attack conservative evangelicals, then we attack the defense of the faith.

The version of this essay that appeared in my inbox this afternoon concludes with these two paragraphs:

If we believe that we must respond to conservative evangelicalism, then let us begin by addressing the areas in which they have exposed our weakness. Let us refocus our attention upon the exaltation of God. Let us exalt, apply, and defend the gospel in all its fullness. If we were more like what we ought to be, perhaps we would feel less threatened by those whose exploits attract the attention of our followers.

Whatever our differences, I thank God for John Piper. I thank God for Mark Dever. I thank God for John MacArthur. I thank God for D. A. Carson. I thank God for a coalition of Christian leaders who have directed our focus to the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God. May their defense of the biblical faith prosper.

Read the whole thing: PDF | HTML.

Update:

  1. Dave Doran responds to Kevin Bauder.
  2. Chris Anderson responds to both Bauder and Doran.
  3. Dave Doran responds again.