Review: Andy Crouch’s The Tech-Wise Family
Andy Crouch is among the first parents to have nurtured children from clearly-too-young-to-have-a-smartphone to now-old-enough, during a time in which smartphones were in fact available for that whole period. It's only been ten years since the iPhone's debut. And in that time Crouch's eldest child went from eight (too young) to eighteen (old enough). So Crouch is able to speak from a place of not just wisdom but also experience. In fact, his "Crouch Family Reality Checks" at the end of most...
In Which I Answer a Friendly KJV Defender Who Is Not KJV-Only AND REVEAL THE COVER OF MY NEW BOOK!
The following is a comment I recently wrote in response to someone who prefers the KJV but does not insist on its exclusive use. He clearly has good education—from Southern Seminary, I believe. He also prefers the TR. [William,] your argument that study Bibles and commentaries are just as good as using multiple translations is the first serious attempt any KJV-defender has ever made to answer my simple argument from experience, namely that checking multiple translations has helped me...
Review: The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones by Steven J. Lawson My rating: 3 of 5 stars Earnest, edifying, admirably brief. Doesn't break any new ground or offer any new insight if you've already read Murray's biography. But a great introduction for those unfamiliar with the Doctor. Christian Audio provided me a free review copy of this work (no strings attached), and the reader was absolutely perfect: I'm pretty sure he imitated DMLJ's accent, and I've heard the Doctor often enough...
Review: 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You
12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke My rating: 5 of 5 stars The best way to summarize this book is probably to let the author do it. In the last twelve chapters, I have warned against twelve corresponding ways in which smartphones are changing us and undermining our spiritual health: - Our phones amplify our addiction to distractions (chapter 1), and thereby splinter our perception of our place in time (12). - Our phones push us to evade the limits of embodiment (2) and thereby...
KJVOism, Fanaticism, and Epistemology
Alan Jacobs offers a "useful definition of fanaticism": No matter what happens, it proves my point. That is, true believers’ beliefs are not falsifiable: everything can be incorporated into the system—and indeed, the more costs true believers have sunk into the system, the more determined and resourceful they will be.... In general, and on most issues, it’s fair to say that if you cannot imagine circumstances that would cause you to change your mind about something, then you may well be the...