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Book Reviews

In Blog, Book Reviews, Sexuality on
June 26, 2022

Pure

Purity culture has left quite a bad taste in the mouths of believers and unbelievers alike. If you type the phrase into Google, you’ll find numerous negative articles regarding this movement, some even published by Christian websites. While the proponents of purity culture started with good intentions of helping their youth to pursue purity and godliness, they made a lot of mistakes along the way and taught several very unbiblical ideas to thousands of teenagers all across the nation.

As more and more people are standing up and exposing the lies they were taught and the hypocrisy they witnessed within purity culture, it seems the pendulum is beginning to swing too far the other way. Instead of encouraging dating for the purpose of marriage and abstaining from sex, many people (including some professing Christians) are encouraging our youth to sleep with whomever they’re interested in to see if they’re “sexually compatible.” While this idea may agree with the ways of the world, it certainly does not agree with the Word of God. As Dean Inserra argues in his new book, Pure, Christians must stick to God’s design for sex.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Book Reviews on
May 30, 2022

Quiet

I first started having a consistent daily quiet time when I was 14. After growing up in a Christian private school, I began homeschooling the summer after eighth grade. With the extra free time and separation from some bad influences, a desire and passion for the Word of God grew in my heart. I spent at least an hour (sometimes more) in the Scriptures every day. I bought my own study Bible and read every single note on the passage I was studying. I filled page upon page with observations and notes in my various journals. I learned, and grew, and flourished exponentially during this time.

Of course, this season did not last forever. As I got a job and started taking college classes, I no longer had the extra time to be in God’s Word for so long. I grew tired of reading through every single study note, and I felt like I wasn’t learning enough to add anything to my journals. I spent many months in a dry spiritual valley, and I felt guilty because of it! I thought I wasn’t a good Christian because I wasn’t walking away from my quiet time every day with some new spiritual insight.

Perhaps you can relate. Sometime in the past you’ve struggled with guilt over your quiet time. Maybe you’re struggling with this guilt right now! If so, Naomi Vacaro’s new book, Quiet, was written just for you.

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In Apologetics, Blog, Book Reviews on
May 2, 2022

Mama Bear Apologetics

If the past two years or so have shown us anything it’s that we live in a crazy, broken world. We’re having conversations and facing situations that we would never have thought of in our wildest imaginations just a few years ago. The culture is constantly telling us that what’s wrong is right and what’s right is wrong, and they’ve even begun instilling this in our children. When I was in elementary school, I was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Nowadays, kids are being taught how to march in a protest, how to choose their gender, and how to reject the values and morals of their parents. They’re being trained in a postmodern worldview that is dangerous and unbiblical.

What’s a mother to do? When her children are coming home regurgitating secular ideologies they learned at school. When her children’s favorite TV shows feature characters who discuss their gender identities and sexual preferences. When her children appear to be drifting further and further from biblical Christianity. As author Nancy Pearcey once wrote, it’s a parent’s God-given responsibility to protect and educate his or her children.[1] That means it’s time for mama bears to rise up and empower their kids to challenge the lies of the culture and live in obedience to Scripture. And how exactly can this be done? According to Hillary Morgan Ferrer, mothers must engage in apologetics.

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In Blog, Book Reviews, Sanctification on
March 20, 2022

The Hole in Our Holiness

According to Barna Research Group in 2006, only thirty-five percent of Americans believe that God call us and expects us to become holy. Less than half of self-proclaimed born-again believers agree with this.[1] And I imagine that over the last fifteen years or so, those numbers have decreased quite a bit. It’s evident that we live in a culture that doesn’t prize holiness. People today do whatever they want to do, whatever feels good and right to them. Even many Christians are throwing biblical values to the wind and doing whatever the world around them is doing: watching inappropriate movies, listening to explicit music, wearing revealing clothing, scrolling through Twitter or TikTok for hours on end, and engaging in actions that were once unheard of.

According to Kevin DeYoung, there’s a hole in our holiness, and it needs to be addressed now.

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In Blog, Book Reviews, Self-Love on
February 21, 2022

Enough About Me

Women in America are increasingly unhappy. And nobody quite seems to know why. After all, women have more rights and more opportunities than they’ve ever had before. Yet, women still feel unsatisfied, unfulfilled, and simply unhappy.

And when women feel this way, our culture tells them that they just to practice a little self-care. You just need to go get your nails done. You just need to go do some yoga. You just need to say no to others. You just need to focus on yourself. While these things may provide a modicum of relief, discontentment sets in soon afterward. What is the problem? Why are women so unhappy? In her book Enough About Me, Jen Oshman suggests that the problem is that women are focusing on themselves too much.

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