Entries from June 2007 ↓

Well, the guys at AB417 were kind enough to let me join their societal think tank, so of course I had to pony up a 2,000-word essay for the new newsletter.

The essay, In Defense of Fake Authenticity, is now live on the AB417 web site.

My essay is a response of sorts to a post on Scott Greider’s blog in which he criticizes a local Uno’s Pizzaria for looking like an old urban building but actually being a new suburban building.

I agree with Scott’s concerns, but offer a different perspective:

But I contend there is something real behind this fake authenticity, something that I’d say is good and decent. And those who want to preserve and recapture our city’s downtown as a place of destination and a true city center should look to this fake authenticity as a source of hope.

You can read the essay here.

“Our people don’t so much need to have their heads stored as to have their hearts touched and they stand in the greatest need of that sort of preaching that has the greatest tendency to do this.”

– Jonathan Edwards

As always, my dear family gave me a great Father’s Day, with lots of food and goodies. Here are some photos. You can click on the small ones to see them larger.

Until midnight on Thursday, every book and study guide at John Piper’s web site are only $5. That includes hardbacks.

I already have three Piper books, “Desiring God,” “Don’t Waste Your Life” and “What Jesus Demands From the World.”

If I had to recommend only one Piper book, this would be it. In fact, what’s always been great about Piper’s ministry is how unselfish it is. For example, the entire text of “Desiring God” is online, and in an easy-to-read-online format.

Note that the subtitle for “Desiring God” is “Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.” In the book’s introduction, Piper states five convictions upon which he builds his philosophy of Christian Hedonism:

1. The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.
2. We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.
3. The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God.
4. The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love.
5. To the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is, The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.

It’s a great book that cannot be too highly recommended.

Oh, and their servers have been very, very busy, so you may want to wait and order later in the evening or early in the morning.

Related: We Want You To Be a Christian Hedonist!

I recently found this photo from a trip to Wheeling’s Good Zoo in September 2005. I liked it and thought others might, too.

Sarita’s at the top of one of those old concrete climbing tubes that had holes in them that always reminded me of swiss cheese. Anyone know what I’m even talking about?

Oh, I found a photo of the “swiss cheese.”

This is from the cover of the MacMall catalog I got in the mail this week:

I know catalog editors may not be math wizards, but they should at least have a grasp of subtraction.

It’s … Dramatic Chipmunk!

Hat tip: Zach Klein

Andrew Osenga is one of the newer members of excellent Christian band Caedmon’s Call, but he’s been putting out music on his own for quite a while.

Now, on his web site, he offers a six-song fan-inspired EP for download:

This is an acoustic EP I recorded in the early Summer of 2007. All the songs are written from ideas submitted by fans and supporters of my music. The download contains the six MP3