Here are some interesting links seen on SD News in the past few days.

• 8 Ways Twitter Can Benefit the Christian – Nathan Bingham put a lot of effort and research into this one.  There’s been a lot of debate about how useful Twitter can be to Christians, and how we should use it.  Nathan provides some wise, practical insight.
• Scripture – The Evangelical View – A very helpful PDF on the doctrine of inerrancy.
• The Youngest Evangelicals – The Rise Of Post-Slacker Christianity – Interesting post, written by a Gen-Xer, about the contrast between GenX evangelicals (slackers?) and GenY evangelicals (earnest and eager).
• Chesterton and Lewis For Beginners – The author suggests a few books that serve as a starting point for each author.  I found this helpful because both authors were so prolific, and one can easily get overwhelmed when starting out.
• Watermelon Green – A gem by Doug Wilson.

My digital friend, Bruce Green, has reviewed Sensus Divinitatis’ first book, “The Kingdom Has Drawn Near: Studies In The Gospel Jesus Preached”.  He calls it “a winsome and articulate scriptural defense of the idea that the Kingdom of God referred to in the Bible is a present reality”, and as one who heard the sermons live and worked through the publishing process, I cannot agree more.

Thanks Bruce!

We have added some new features to Sensus Divinitatis News.  Users now have the ability to fill out a simple profile form with full name, location, some URLs, and your Flickr username if you have one.  You can check out mine here.  I’m playing around with the idea of adding last.fm and Twitter support.  If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments section.

On a technical note, SD News is officially out of beta.  Signups are open to the public, and the response has been solid.  In the last two weeks we have seen 200% growth in traffic, and our RSS readership has expanded significantly.  Thanks to everyone who has participated and used the site.  Please feel free to contact me with suggestions, at any time.

Thanks again!

Here are some of the more interesting links that have shown up on SD News in the past few days.

• catechizeMe Christian Q&A – Sort of like internet flashcards for the catechisms.  Very cool interface.
• Calvinism and Art – Classic lecture by Abraham Kuyper on the intersection between Calvinism and art.  Very thought-forming.
• 100 Christian Apologists – A fairly exhaustive list of 100 influential Christian apologists, past and present.
• Baptism: For Households or Believers Only? – MP3s of a debate between Dr. James White and William Shishko, pastor of the OPC in Franklin Square, NY.
• Pastor Ben Miller’s Recommended Reading List – Our very own Ben Miller’s recommended readings in theology and Christian living in general.

This passage pretty well sums up the thrust of The Kingdom Has Drawn Near, and hearing these sermons in person caused a paradigm shift in my thinking.

But – have you thought of this? – Adam would also have loved God just by being a great gardener! I get excited thinking about this. As Adam went out into Eden every day and tended the garden and cultivated it, he was putting on display in his work the same enthusiasm, diligence, and creativity with which the Creator himself engages creation. Adam put on display, as the “lord” of Eden, the glory of how God loves and tends and engages his creation. More than this, Adam also showed the glory of God, and his love for God, by displaying in his work ethic how one made in the image of God works when he is under the smile of God. Adam enjoyed gardening because God was smiling upon him, and the way he gardened reflected the joy of his heart in the joy of God.

We must see that loving God as Jesus commanded does not mean retreating from any sphere of human life and endeavor. It means rather that we bring the glory of God into every sphere of human life. In every part of human life, we learn how to display God by our thankfulness to him, by rejoicing in his gifts, by our delight in him, by being able to say when we do this or that that we “feel his pleasure,” by our righteousness in playing by the rules (for example, in the sphere of athletics). We bring the goodness and equity of God into these spheres, and thus show forth in them his glory. As redeemed people of God, we have a reason to do everything! We have a reason for business, economics, art, athletics, education, artisanship, science, medicine, law, politics, sex, family life, charitable giving, and charitable service. Why? Because for us who love God, every one of these spheres of human life is a theater for serving him and delighting in him. Could anything be less restrictive? Could anything be less stifling?

Far from being a burden, the commands of God are meant to bring us life.  Pastor Ben Miller, in The Kingdom Has Drawn Near, illuminates:

I remember wrestling as a younger man with the whole “problem” of authority. I have concluded over the course of my life that I do have a problem with authority. I don’t like submission. I don’t like someone telling me what to do; and it frightens me sometimes to think about Jesus telling me what to do, because I imagine a gigantic code of laws – like the IRS code – that I must somehow figure out and put into practice, and it sounds as if I’m going to be shriveled and stifled. Do you ever think like this? If we think this way, it shows how little we really understand the commandments of Jesus. Far from shriveling and stifling life, Jesus’ commands are the portal to the rich, full, blessed life for which you and I were created. The law of Jesus is an expression to us of the loving, renovating grace of our God.

An excerpt from Ben Miller’s book, “The Kingdom Has Drawn Near: Studies In The Gospel Jesus Preached“, from chapter 3, “The Kingdom and the Church”:

The church is not a voluntary society. It is the sphere in which God’s loving, gracious, faithful rule of his people concretely operates through the keys of the Word and sacraments and discipline. I say it again: an indicator of how seriously you take the rule of God in your life is how diligently you bring yourself under the ordinances of the church of Jesus Christ, particularly in his gathered worship on his appointed day. Do not say you love the kingdom if you will not bring yourself under the King’s ordinances. The King’s rule is visible in the ordinances of his church.

Pastor Ben Miller, author of The Kingdom Has Drawn Near: Studies In The Gospel Jesus Preached, gives us his recommended readings.

Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments by Geerhardus Vos
Not always easy reading, but the foundational text of Reformed biblical theology. A must-read.

Paul: An Outline Of His Theology by Herman Ridderbos
A seminally insightful exploration of the structures of Paul’s conceptual world.

According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible by Graeme Goldsworthy
For anyone wanting to understand the “big picture” of the Bible, this is a good place to begin.

Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, edited by John T. McNeill (2 volumes)
Every Reformed Christian should read this work. Magisterial.

The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship by Robert Letham
An excellent overview of the history and significance of this distinctively Christian doctrine. Clear, well-researched, and worshipful.

By Faith, Not by Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation by Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.
Dr. Gaffin’s exegesis of the New Testament is a model for the church.

Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible by Stephen G. Dempster
Working from the order of books in the Hebrew Tanakh, Dempster brilliantly uncovers the narrative dynamics and themes of the Old Testament.

God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards by John Piper
Jonathan Edwards’ Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World was revolutionary in my personal theological development.

The Confessions by St. Augustine, translated by Maria Boulding
A book (and translation) to be savored.

Word and Church: Essays in Christian Dogmatics I by John Webster
Everyone serious about Reformed theology should read this and Confessing God (below), if for nothing else than to imbibe Webster’s theological method.

Confessing God: Essays in Christian Dogmatics II by John Webster
See above.

Calvin’s Doctrine of the Christian Life by Ronald S. Wallace
A book that, when taken to heart, may properly be described as “life-changing.” I believe it is available as a reprint from Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Bavinck (4 volumes)
In my humble opinion, this is easily the greatest work in Reformed dogmatics since Calvin.

Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin by B. A. Gerrish
One need not agree with everything to profit much from this delightful study of Calvin’s sacramental theology.

Lesslie Newbigin, Missionary Theology: A Reader, edited by Paul Weston
An anthology of writings from one of the brilliant thinkers and theologians of the 20th century.

The Old Testament Explained and Applied by Gareth Crossley
This would be my first pick to help lay readers understand the Old Testament. A masterful introduction.

The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology by Richard Lints
Anyone concerned about the current state of evangelical theology, and seeking a way forward, should read this book.

Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old, edited by G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson
Those serious about understanding the Bible through the lens of its own self-interpretation should make this their next purchase. Technical at points, but extraordinarily useful.