Recommended Summer Reading ’12

If you are looking for some ideas for summer reading, here’s the titles I recommended to our congregation this summer:

 

Pray for Steve Saint

 

Steve Saint, perhaps most well known in the evangelical community for being the son of Ecuador missionary martyr Nate Saint (d.1955), has compiled an impressive missionary resume himself. The leader and founder of I-Tec, based in nearby Dunnellon, Florida, Saint has a passion for helping nationals develop technology to help themselves and spread the Gospel message. One of the coolest inventions he has come up with is the Maverick flying car. I heard Steve speak live at the Desiring God National Conference back in 2005 and was truly touched by his story.

Last week Steve was participating in an experiment at their Dunnellon headquarters when a safety strap broke and seriously injured him. He was medevaced to Shands Hospital in Gainesville where he has experienced paralysis, hopefully temporary in nature. For updates go to I-Tec’s facebook page.

Here is man who has known much suffering. His father died a martyr’s death while Steve was yet a small boy. In the year 2000 his college-aged daughter, Stephanie, died unexpectedly from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage within nine hours of returning home from a summer on the mission field. And now this.

I’m sure he and his family would appreciate your prayers.

Does the Old Testament Condone Polygamy? (Lionel Windsor)

If you have ever read through the Old Testament, you’ve probably noticed that many of the heroes therein had more than one wife. It seems rather odd to have such a hero. First of all, I’m not sure we should consider these figures “heroes.” There is one hero in the Old Testament, God. What seems strange to many readers of the Old Testament is that the narrative seems to move along like there is nothing wrong with having multiple wives. Lionel Windsor addresses this very effectively in a recent article on the subject:

Like many good stories, the Bible’s stories can communicate deep moral truths without needing to resort to explicit commandments. Indeed, stories are often more morally powerful when there is no explicit moralising. Think of a movie like Schindler’s List, a powerful story telling us about one of the darkest moments in Western history. Now imagine, at the end of the movie, as you’ve been hit with the human horror of the holocaust, just before the credits, a commandment comes up on the screen: “The director would like to point out (in case you missed it) that you should not be racist.” Not only would this be unnecessary, it would destroy the power of the story.

Something similar happens when it comes to the Bible and polygamy. Sure, the narrators never pause to say, “Oh by the way, please, don’t be a polygamist.” But why should they? The stories make the point all by themselves.”

Great point! Read the full article HERE.

Eric Metaxas on a Living Faith

I may have already linked to this video, but now Thomas Nelson has published it in book form and is available via Kindle at the great price of $3.99 (click on the image to go to the amazon link):