Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

money

Beating the College Debt Trap: Getting a Degree without Going Broke

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debtThis book releases today:

Alex Chediak. Beating the College Debt Trap: Getting a Degree without Going Broke. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015.

90-second promo video:

My endorsement:

Alex Chediak does it again. He gives wise, user-friendly advice for students in high school and college (and their parents) for how to graduate from college without crippling debt. This book makes me even more grateful for colleges that do everything they can to serve students by keeping tuition low.

As I read the book I kept thanking God for my school: Bethlehem College & Seminary. We strategically give every resident student a Serious Joy Scholarship:

God works in the hearts of individual men and women to provide two-thirds of Bethlehem College & Seminary students’ full tuition cost such that they can:

1. Receive a high-value education at an unusually affordable cost.

2. Launch immediately into ministry without student loan debt.

3. Be affordable as staff to churches and ministries that need them.

serious-joy-scholarship

The Real Problem with Gambling

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gamblingThat’s the title of a short appendix in this book:

Vern S. Poythress. Chance and the Sovereignty of God: A God-Centered Approach to Probability and Random Events. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

Here’s what Poythress calls “The Real Problem with Gambling” (pp. 279–81):

The preceding appendix has analyzed a number of gambling systems by which gamblers hope to “beat the odds” and make a killing. We could consider still more systems. In each case, careful calculations of the probabilities show that the gambler will not win in the long run. In fact, in casino games the probabilities are always stacked against the customer, so that in the long run the casino consistently takes in money from every form of gambling that it offers on its premises. [Read more…] about The Real Problem with Gambling

The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution

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grudemThis book is scheduled to release at the end of the month:

Wayne Grudem and Barry Asmus. The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013. 398 pp.

I’ve skimmed it, and it’s what I expected from Grudem: well-organized, clear, comprehensive, and compelling. It’s helpful to start by carefully reading the detailed version of the contents (pp. 11–18). [Read more…] about The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution

Tithing after the Cross

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tithingDave Croteau has written another book on tithing:

David A. Croteau. Tithing after the Cross: A Refutation of the Top Arguments for Tithing and New Paradigm for Giving. Areopagus Critical Christian Issues 7. Gonzalez, FL: Energion, 2013.

Dave explains here why he wrote a third book on tithing and how this differs from the first two. (I blogged about the second one.)

Here’s my endorsement: [Read more…] about Tithing after the Cross

How Addiction Works

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Paul David Tripp, Sex and Money: Pleasures That Leave You Empty and Grace That Satisfies  Tripp (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 22–23 [22-page sample PDF]:

The dynamic of addiction is that if you look to something that God created, to give you what it wasn’t intended to give you, either you get discouraged quickly, and wisely abandon those hopes, or you go back again and again, and in so doing, you begin to travel down addiction’s road. That created thing will give you a short-term buzz of euphoria, it will offer you temporary pleasure, it will provide a momentary sense of well-being, it will briefly make you feel that you’re something, and it may even make your problems seem not so bad for a bit. [Read more…] about How Addiction Works

Alleviating Poverty

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Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor—and Yourself. 2nd ed. Chicago: Moody, 2012. 272 pp.

From David Platt’s foreword:

[T]his book is virtually required reading for everyone in our church who is intentionally engaging the poor here and around the world. I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who is passionate about spreading and showing the love of Christ to the “least of these.” [Read more…] about Alleviating Poverty