Phil Gons

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Archives for 2013

Download a Free Copy of Chafer’s Book on Satan

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SatanEvery month since January of 2012, Logos Bible Software has been giving away a different free book as part of their Free Book of the Month program. This month’s free book is Lewis Sperry Chafer’s work on Satan. After you get the free book, you can read in one of the free reader apps for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, or Kindle Fire—or online at Biblia.com.

You can also enter to win a free copy of the 9-vol. Lewis Sperry Chafer Collection.

Here are the books that have been free so far:

  1. January 2012: Temptation and Sin, vol. 6 of The Works of John Owen, by John Owen (cf. the 24-vol. Works of John Owen)
  2. February 2012: Revelation and Inspiration, vol. 1 of The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, by Benjamin B. Warfield (cf. the 20-vol. B. B. Warfield Collection) [Read more…] about Download a Free Copy of Chafer’s Book on Satan

What Is the Righteousness Required to Enter the Kingdom?

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When the Time Had Fully Come: Studies in New Testament Theology

Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus here identifies a necessary condition for entering the kingdom, which is synonymous with gaining eternal life (cf. Mt 19:16, 23), so it’s important that we understand what “your righteousness” refers to.

Some believe that Jesus has in mind his own perfect righteousness, which is imputed to sinners by faith. It is often argued that no other righteousness could surpass the righteousness of the most religious people of that time. However, good reasons exist for understanding it a different way—as a reference to the internal, inherent righteousness of heart commenced at regeneration, continued in sanctification, and culminated in glorification.

Three points support the latter view:

  1. The immediately following context unpacks righteousness by contrasting false, external righteousness with true, internal righteousness.
  2. The other uses of righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount are best understood as righteousness of life.
  3. The Gospels don’t use righteousness to refer to imputed righteousness.

This interpretation coheres with Jesus’ teaching on the conditional nature of entrance into the kingdom (e.g., Mat 7:21; 12:50; John 15:14) and is theologically consistent with other Scriptural statements about the necessity of regeneration (John 3:3, 5), sanctification (Heb 12:14), and perseverance (Heb 10:36) for entrance into the kingdom—all of which intersect conceptually with righteousness.

[Read more…] about What Is the Righteousness Required to Enter the Kingdom?

16 Tips to Raise Kids Who Love to Read

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Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading BooksIn an age of smart phones, MP3 players, tablets, computers, TVs, video games, apps, and other electronic media, it’s important to be intentional about not letting reading take a back seat as we raise our children.

In “Raising Readers,” chapter 14 of Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), Tony Reinke shares 16 helpful ideas for making sure your children value books and reading:

  1. Fill your home with books. Many of history’s most prolific readers, writers, and leaders were raised in homes stuffed with books. . . .
  2. Read to your kids. . . . We all begin as readers who require aided discovery, that is, initially we need parents, pastors, classrooms, and teachers to help us to learn from books. . . .
  3. Don’t stop reading to your kids. . . . Parents should read aloud to their children from birth until college, the point in their lives when literacy plays the most important role in their educational success.
  4. Read your books in front of your kids. Young children prize what they see their parents prize. . . . Let it be obvious to them that books are cherished in your own life.
  5. Teach young children to read. . . . Every child will learn to read at a different pace, but try to teach your children to read early. . . .
  6. Push entertainment into the background. . . . It is not impossible to enjoy reading and entertainment, but your priorities must be settled first. In our home, reading is the priority over video games and television and movies. This is modeled in how we talk about books and how we limit electronic media. . . .
  7. Listen to audio books in the car. Over the years we have logged many miles on the road for family vacations. We have grown to anticipate these road trips and the opportunity they present for the entire family to enjoy audio books. . . .
  8. Hunt for the best books. . . . Take time to plan books by season, by personal interest, and even by school studies. Talk with other parents in your church to find reliable recommendations. . . . [Read more…] about 16 Tips to Raise Kids Who Love to Read

5 Reasons to Get Logos 5

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Logos Bible Software 5Three months ago we launched a brand new version of our Bible study software for PC and Mac: Logos Bible Software 5. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I’d encourage you to. Logos 5 is faster, better organized, and easier to use, and it has a cleaner look and lots of new and improved features. It’s a fabulous tool for studying the Bible, theology, church history, and so much more. I’ve been using it for more than a decade. It’s easily one of the best investments I’ve ever made. I wish every Christian family in the world owned at least one copy.

Here are five reasons you should consider purchasing it:

  1. It’s an excellent value. The base packages give you access to a wealth of books, data, and tools at a significant savings off print.
  2. It’s cutting-edge. You’ll get access to some one-of-a-kind data and tools that will help you study the Bible more deeply and efficiently.
  3. It’s accessible. Unlike most programs that limit the number of devices you can use your purchase on, Logos allows you to access your library on as many of your personal devices as you want: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, and online at Biblia.com.
  4. It’s extensible. The base packages give you a library of hundreds or thousands of resources, but there’s plenty of room to grow from there. You can choose from more than 32,000 Logos and Vyrso books to grow your library to meet your needs.
  5. It’s on sale. The special introductory upgrade discounts end today (Monday, February 4, 2013).

If you’re still not sure, there’s a risk-free, 30-day, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee. You can easily return it for a full refund if you’re not completely satisfied with your purchase.

[Read more…] about 5 Reasons to Get Logos 5

Does God Have Dreams for His People?

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The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

Talk of God’s having dreams seems to be growing in popularity—not the fall-asleep-and-see-strange-things kind, but the wishful, hopeful, I-really-want-this-to-happen kind. You won’t find this kind of language in (any?) English translations of the Bible. And you won’t find it in the writings of previous centuries’ theologians (e.g., Luther, Calvin, Owen, Edwards, Hodge, Spurgeon, and Warfield). But it’s all throughout the popular Christian literature of the last several decades.

I was reminded of this while rereading Sally Lloyd-Jones’s The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name with my wife and daughter during our family Bible time. There’s much to like about the book, but I’m not sold on the talk about God’s having dreams for His people—even in a book for children.

Here are three examples:

But God saved the best for last. From the beginning, God had a shining dream in his heart. He would make people to share his Forever Happiness. They would be his children, and the world would be their perfect home. (25)

God loves his children too much to let the story end there. Even though he knew he would suffer, God had a plan—a magnificent dream. One day, he would get his children back. One day, he would make the world their perfect home again. And one day, he would wipe away every tear from their eyes. (36)

That’s the end of that dreamer! they thought. But they were wrong. God had a magnificent dream for Joseph’s life and even when it looked like everything had gone wrong, God would use it all to help make the dream come true. God would use everything that was happening to Joseph to do something good. (78)

It’s obvious that she’s using dream synonymously with plan, but I’m uncomfortable with some of the connotations and implications dream carries with it.

[Read more…] about Does God Have Dreams for His People?

8 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows 8

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Windows 8 Pro UpgradeWindows 8 has been out for a few months, and it’s had mixed reviews. Some people like it; others hate it. I’m convinced that it’s a worthwhile upgrade for Windows 7 users (and a must for Windows Vista and earlier users)—especially at the current introductory price.

My experience with Windows 8 went something like this:

  1. Intrigued. When I saw what Windows 8 was going to try to do, I was impressed. Could Microsoft really unify desktop/laptop and tablet/phone OSes and apps?
  2. Frustrated. When I started trying to use it during the beta stage, my excitement turned to frustration. Where’s the Start button? Isn’t the new Start screen a step backwards? What use is there to having two different versions of the same apps? Why is sleeping, restarting, etc. buried? Wasn’t this really just two very different OSes poorly stitched together?
  3. Happy. Once I started noticing all of the nice little improvements throughout the OS and realized that I could ignore the new Start screen and launch apps and find stuff just as easily as I could in Windows 7 (hit the Windows key and start typing), I was sold on Windows 8.

Many others have had the same experience. So expect a learning curve and an adjustment period before you give up.

Here are 8 reasons you should consider upgrading to Windows 8:

[Read more…] about 8 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows 8

6 Tips to Help You Read More This Year

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Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading BooksI finished reading my first book this year, Tony Reinke’s Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books (Kindle | Vyrso). I read it on my Nexus 7 using the Vyrso app. If you want to read more books in 2013, you’ll find a lot of help and motivation from this fine book.

Tony gives six tips to help you read more books this year:

  1. Expect resistance from your heart.
  2. Make time to read, not excuses for why you don’t read. We all have good excuses.
  3. Cultivate a hunger for books by reading (and rereading) great books.
  4. Set your reading priorities, and let them drive your book selections.
  5. Stop doing something else in order to make time to read.
  6. Try reading three (or more) books at a time and take advantage of your environments.

On #5, I’ll be replacing some of my RSS reading with book reading.

Up next: Todd Billings’s Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church, which I’ll be reading in Vyrso.

What are you reading?