Latest in Tabletalk Magazine
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God’s Dupes?
from Ravi Zacharias Apr 29, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
Is the Christian faith intellectual nonsense? Are Christians deluded? “If God exists and takes an interest in the affairs of human beings, his will is not inscrutable,” writes Sam Harris about the 2004 tsunami in Letter to a Christian Nation. “The only thing inscrutable here is that so many otherwise rational men and women can deny the unmitigated horror of these events and think this is the height of moral wisdom” (p. 48). In his article “God’s Dupes,” Harris argues, “Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music” (The Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2007). Ironically, Harris’ first book is entitled The End of Faith, but it should really be called “The End of Reason,” as it demonstrates again that the mind that is alienated from God in the name of reason can become totally irrational. Keep Reading -
Something New Under the Sun
from R.C. Sproul Jr. Apr 27, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
Imagine, if you would, that you are the most powerful person in the world. Now imagine that you are also the richest person in the world. Would your life be fundamentally different? Would everything that is now ordinary about your life become extraordinary? Not according to the wisest man in the world. King Solomon reigned in Israel at the peak of its power. Israel was at that time a world power, her borders swelling. Solomon likewise enjoyed the wealth of Croesus (the grossly rich Greek king). No one on the planet was as wealthy as Solomon. Better than all this, however, he was gifted by the God of heaven and earth with wisdom. In that wisdom, and in light of experiencing every pleasure, every distraction that the world had to offer, he spoke this heavy nugget: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). Keep Reading -
The Old Wine is Best
from Sinclair Ferguson Apr 26, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
It is right to be concerned that the objectivity of the gospel should never be swallowed up by subjectivity, or the church community destroyed by individuality. But the understanding of the gospel and of justification in Luther and Calvin, in Heidelberg and Westminster, provides all the necessary safeguards. The old wine is best. It satisfies both the requirements of biblical teaching and the deepest hunger of the awakened human heart. Keep Reading -
Compromising Truth and Practice
from Walter Chantry Apr 23, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
Just before Jesus was taken up into heaven He told His disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Witnessing about who Jesus is and what He taught was to be cross-cultural. As His disciples faced new social and cultural changes, they were expected to hold fast to truth and righteousness so as to be bright lights of witnessing all over the world. Keep Reading -
The Bravest & Newest World
from Andrew Davis Apr 22, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
As human imagination conceives of the future, it tends to envisage either dreams or nightmares. The dreams live in the hearts of idealists who suppose that human ingenuity is sufficient to craft a perfect world. The nightmares torment the minds of realists, who express their fears in doomsday scenarios they think are inescapable. Christians, however, have been called by God to an infinitely higher future reality, a hope better than any dream — the new heavens and new earth — coupled with a bravery that acknowledges the journey to that perfect world will be bloody and terrifying. Keep Reading -
Too Good to Be True?
from Robert Strimple Apr 12, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
In 1935 I was baptized and then raised in one of the largest “mainline” Protestant denominations. But by age twelve I was so disappointed with the pastors sent to us, all preaching the old liberalism so popular in those years, that I asked my parents if I could transfer to the local Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I went with their blessing, and the Lord soon blessed me with deepening biblical faith. Keep Reading -
Living in a Brave New World: Resources to Assist Your April Tabletalk Study
from Karisa Schlehr Apr 08, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
The April 2010 issue of Tabletalk looks at how the rapidity of change in our culture has affected many of its institutions, for good and ill. Here is a list of helpful resources that will complement your study through Tabletalk this month. Keep Reading -
He Who Has Ears…
from Scott Anderson Apr 08, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
Everyone loves a story. Whether young or old, we all enjoy hearing, reading, or seeing a good story unfold. Stories are remarkably powerful things. They stir-up our imaginations and excite our affections. They instruct us and inspire us. They intoxicate and influence us. They linger with us, often becoming more precious and poignant and powerful over time. Keep Reading -
The Times, They are a-Changing
from R.C. Sproul Apr 06, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
One of the oldest mysteries of theoretical thought is the question: What is time? Immanuel Kant defined time and space as “pure intuitions.” We see time as inextricably related to matter and motion. Without matter and space [matter and motion], we have no way to measure the passing of time. Time, it seems, is always in motion. It can never be stopped. Keep Reading -
Taking Captive All Things
from Burk Parsons Apr 05, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
Not too long ago my family and I were eating at a local restaurant known for its home style southern cuisine and quaint family atmosphere. As we were leaving, I couldn’t help but notice a family sitting together, and each one of them — Dad, Mom, big brother, and little sister — was engaged in a conversation with someone else, somewhere else in a galaxy far, far away. With shoulders hunched down and their eyes staring lifelessly into their electronic mobile devices, their frantic fingers typed away as their carefully placed emoticons (electronic emotional images, such as smiley faces, sad faces, etc.) presumably took their appropriate places as emotional substitutes for their dispassionate, electronically glowing faces. Keep Reading
