If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might wonder from time to time about the point of the weekly poll. The short of it is that it helps me to know something about you. (And by the way, in order to see who's voting for what, you actually have to cast a vote.) For a while now I've wanted to do a detailed post on all our poll results; I just haven't had a chance to sit down and review them all. But I can tell you this: the majority of TPC readers are from the Eastern half of the US, more heavily concentrated in the southern states. A good handful of you are in the UK and Canada; the... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

It is a common assumption that, in order to survive, churches must accommodate to the age. But in fact, the opposite is true. In every historical period, the religious groups that grow most rapidly are those that set believers at odds with the surrounding culture. As a general principle, the higher a group's tension with mainstream society, the higher its growth rate. —Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

A woman I know wants to have children, yet 10 years of hopes and prayers have not enabled her to conceive. This woman is a personal friend, and she has agreed to do an interview for The Purple Cellar. She shares with us what a baby-hopeful, godly couple has learned from their infertility about things such as in vitro, adoption, and marital intimacy. We aren’t using her real name; we’ve chosen to call her Hannah as a reflection of the biblical Hannah who so desperately wanted a child.Hannah: First of all, let me say that I’ve had a bad attitude about Hannah off and on over the years, s... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

The term “single mother” indicates something gone wrong, something not what God intended in his design for family. If you are a single mother, there is no question but that you are living a difficult life. Chances are you have a hard time entering a roomful of people at a social function, even—perhaps most especially—Christian functions. Your single-parenting lifestyle may be mainstream today, but you likely feel that there's a stigma attached to being a mother without a mate. Nothing quite lifts that perceived weight, that feeling of baggage that trails after a divorce or having ha... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

Mother's Day evokes strong feelings in women. Those who are singled out for honor and expressions of appreciation anticipate this contemporary holiday. For others, the approach of the second Sunday in May brings an undercurrent of dread. It brings up memories of painful abandonment, abuse, or even just the stress that undergirds a strained mother-daughter relationship.Single women are frequently among those who dread the holiday, as are married women unable to conceive--perhaps especially hard for those who attend churches that give the occasion an inappropriate prominence in the worship se... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people is out. It includes world leaders and revolutionaries, scientists, entertainers, and builders. Here are the top 25:1. Dalai Lama2. Vladimir Putin3. Barak Obama4. Hillary Clinton5. John McCain6. Hu Jintao7. George W. Bush8. Jacob Zuma9. Anwar Ibrahim10. kevin Rudd11. Bartholomew I12. Ben Bernanke13. Muqtada al-Sadr14. Robert Gates15. Michelle Bachelet16. Sonia Ghandi17. Baitullah Mehsud18. Evo Morales19. Ma Ying-jeou20. Ashfaq Kayani21. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie22. Oprah Winfrey23. Oscar Pistorius24. Mia Farrow25. Andre Agasso... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

The pleasures that ensnare our hearts--the little escapes, the pet sins--push God into the background. Anything that pushes God away from first place in our hearts functions as a mini-god, an idol. We're all guilty in one way or another; how do we get out from under it? In his commentary on Hosea, James Boice tells us: We must come the whole way. We want to come part way which is, in our way of thinking, far enough to get what we want while nevertheless preserving the greatest measure of freedom to do our own thing. . . . This will not do in dealing with God. It might work with our employer... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

Tim Challies tells me that his reading the excerpt below, taken from a New York Times article called "First, Kill All the Editors!" made him think of me: There’s no such thing as a non-cutting editor; it’s not in the nature of the beast. The fellow prowls through your copy like an overzealous gardener with a pruning hook, on the watch for any phrase he senses you were rather pleased with, preferably one that also clinches your argument and if possible is essential to the general drift of the surrounding passage. Then — slash! Sending in exactly the number of words asked for only sharp... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

Lack of "postage" during the past week is because I've been traveling and am now buried under a pile of work. I'll be back in the groove by the end of the week. Please visit then!

add to discussion

or create a new discussion:

The Capitol Hill Baptist Church website has some material posted from a seminar held there on God's guidance. One of the sessions covers choosing a career and discusses why pursuit of job satisfaction is not necessarily the right approach. Our society has trained us in something that may be less than Biblical. We are told that we must enjoy our jobs and be satisfied with what we do. Is this a must? And should this consideration drive our choice of a job? I would say no, it should not. Yet I fear that it IS THE dominate motivation for many for which job or career they choose. Let me ex... [read more]

add to discussion

or create a new discussion: