Stuff you should read

So I am pretty low on original content today but there is a lot of good stuff to read that other people have posted.

I really liked this one, Small Church Gives 100 Percent of Tithe to Needy for a Year.

"When you really start to live generously, and especially if you feel this is something that God has asked you to do, it just opens your eyes to how incredibly generous God is to us," he said. "Generosity is not just a nice thing to do. It's probably the answer to the biggest spiritual hurdle that we have today in becoming disciples. When you are generous that's an antidote to greed.

"So, generosity helps you imitate the ways of God and become more like Him. It's a huge piece of the discipleship process that I think most churches are missing out on right now."

That is great. We don't give God enough credit. Sure we trust Him but we want to keep funds in the church bank account in case of a rainy day. Maybe we should trust the One who sends the rain?

On a more somber note, Tim Challies is reviewing Debi Pearl's Created To Be His Helpmeet. The Pearls are pretty popular in certain circles of the church, mostly conservative, homeschooling circles and while they have some useful stuff I think overall they are kind of dangerous,.

Created To Be His Help Meet (Part 1)

Created To Be His Help Meet (Part 2)

I think Tim captures the spirit of the problem in this early paragraph:

Pearl seeks to be the Titus 2 woman, sharing with her readers wisdom that she has accumulated in many years of being a Christian, of being a wife, of raising a family. But there is a serious problem. Throughout the book, Pearl shows that she is a poor and unwise mentor. In place of the wisdom and the fruit of the Spirit that ought to mark a mentor, she displays a harsh and critical spirit, she offers foolish counsel, she teaches poor theology, she misuses Scripture, and she utterly misses the centrality of the gospel.

Just a brief look at some of the quotes gives a disturbing picture. I liked that Tim offered a solid list of alternatives at the end of the second post.

Christopher Dryden writes a great post on the issue of the love of money and slavery, Slavery, The Love Of Money and the Economic Crisis. As Christopher writes, being generous with our possessions liberates us and keeps us from being enslaved by the love of money:

I am reminded again that something has to be different as far as the follower of Christ is concerned.  We are to be good stewards of what God gives us and money falls into that, but we cannot afford to become enslaved to what we are meant to be steward over.  That is why a life of generosity is liberating because we declare again to God that our lives are not defined by possessions and money, but they are defined by a love that gave the best.

Good stuff, give it a read!

Finally Alan Knox is writing a series on preaching in  the LXX Old Testament, Preaching in the LXX (Old Testament): Genesis-Micah. This is his intent:

In this series, I plan to examine the use of the term κηρύσσω (kerusso – usually translated “preach”) in the Old Testament. Specifically, I will examine the use of the term “preach” in the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Looks like good stuff if a bit technical. Check it out!