When the Journal of Medical Ethics released the article, “What makes killing wrong?” in January, they set off a mini-storm of outrage and controversy.  The authors, from Duke University and the National Institutes of Health, asserted that ‘universally and irreversibly disabled people’ could be killed for the sake of retrieving their organs for people who are not totally disabled.

On the whole, the issue raised is when it becomes appropriate to retrieve organs from one person for the sake of another. The governing rule that a person must be dead before vital organs can be removed, known as...

Ramez Atallah, general secretary of the Bible Society of Egypt, spoke at the 2012 Conference for Pastors on ministering with vision, creativity, and courage. Download the audio and video.

Memorable Quotes

• "Obligated, eager and not ashamed — these should characterize a church with the gospel."
• "When I came to understand the gospel for the first time, I knew that this is what my peopled needed."
• "A Christian leader has to have a vision — he must see things other people don't see and empower them to capture it and incarnate it."
• "Faith respects people who are...

The gospel turns people into pilgrims. It comes with a culture-correcting force that creates aliens and exiles of the world.

Drawing from a 1733 Jonathan Edwards sermon, John Piper offers seven descriptions of what this looks like:

1. Pilgrims are not diverted from their aim.
2. Pilgrims are to hold the things of this world loosely.
3. Pilgrims become like what they hope to attain.
4. Pilgrims will not be satisfied with anything less than God.
5. Pilgrims are not grieved by their arrival at the journey's end.
6. Pilgrims ponder what they pursue.
7. Pilgrims travel together.

Read the entire article, Jonathan Edwards on the Pilgrim Mindset.

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Recent posts from "Piper's Pen" —

• The...

Being in leadership is dangerous.

The Bible is full of warnings and examples of this truth. The devil is always lurking in the shadows to sidetrack, plateau, neutralize or flat out destroy Christian leaders.  It is at times overlooked that 1 Peter 5:8 is in the middle of a passage directed to leaders. Leaders are often the first target of the enemy of our souls and the ministry.

 

We have all observed many well-known, godly Christian leaders who have fallen due to   financial greed, sexual misconduct, and/or a variety of poor decisions. It seems that there are...

Worship Is Killing Me

I was 23 years old, and already a few years into a fog of doubt and confusion that was slowly suffocating me. I was not unaware of my situation, but my diagnosis was way off the mark. To be sure, I knew that I had “lost my faith,” but I didn’t understand why. 

The Grand Inquisitor

I had grown up in church, and was the kid in Sunday School with all the answers. I was a good kid, got good grades, and stayed out of trouble for the most part. I was smart...

When the Lord Jesus called his disciples, he famously said that he was going to transform them into “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).

He did not say, as it turns out, that he was going to send them fishing for fallacies. Similarly, the point of apologetics is to win the man, not the argument.

 

Now of course, arguments can (and should) play a role in this kind of public evangelism. Apologetics needs to consist of more than just smiling at people and being sweet. Argument plays a role, but argumentation is a sharp tool, and a tool is...

I've been mulling over whether or not to do a post or two about translation theory, since translations are back in the news. Whether or not I'll get around to it, I'm not sure, but two of my points would be that much of the issue comes down to (a) the meaning of "meaning" and (2) the relationship between "form" and "meaning."

But perhaps I can offer just a thought or two about the word literal. The word is almost unavoidable, but I think we should take pains to use it carefully and rarely. The reason is that it...

We all know the story of the two criminals crucified with Jesus on the cross.

The details are relatively sparse. We know that three men were crucified: Jesus the Messiah, with one man on his left, and one man on his right (Luke 23:33).

One of the men--on the left or on the right, we don't know--"railed at" (or reviled) Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39).

Little did he know that the only way for Jesus to "save them" was to refuse to "save himself."

But the railing criminal received a surprising response. He was...

“Each of Vern Poythress’s books has been, in my judgment, the best book on its particular subject, whether science, hermeneutics, dispensationalism, theological method, gender-neutral Bible translation, or the Mosaic law. Not only are these books expertly researched and cogently argued, but they are explicitly Christian in their starting point, method, and conclusion (to use a phrase of Cornelius Van Til). Poythress does not merely claim that these disciplines allow a place for God, or that a theistic worldview provides useful context, or that engagement in such studies is somehow useful to Christians. Rather, he comes right in your face with...

When we were putting together the songs for The Gathering: Live from WorshipGod11, we ended up having not one, but two songs that served as a “prayer for illumination.” One is Your Words of Life, written by Pat & Joel Sczebel. The other is Show us Christ, which I co-wrote with Doug Plank. Show Us [...]

The first song I heard that I thought would be on our most recent album, The Gathering, was Have Mercy on Me. Co-written by Dale Bischof and Pat Sczebel, it combines grief over sin with an assurance of God’s mercy in Christ. Even though as Christians all our sins are completely forgiven (Col. 2:13), we [...]

My top recommended book on a biblical theology of worship is David Peterson’s Engaging with God. If you’re responsible for leading in your church, either as a pastor or a musician, I think you’ll serve people more faithfully and biblically if you read it. I go through it every year with my interns and never [...]

3:48 p.m. You just never know.

52home

We are counting down in days now, instead of months and weeks. Eight days until the US Embassy in Ethiopia has completed their paperwork and interviews and God-willing, gives us the all-clear to travel and get our children. Eleven days until we (hopefully!) get on a plane, thirteen or so days until the final step--an interview at the Embassy, and fifteen days until we get our children's visas and fly home. All very subject to delays of course so we would greatly appreciate your prayers that all would proceed smoothly and speedily.

Right now my house is turned...

1:02 p.m. Looking for birdies.

52home

A great gift from our friends the Stubbs — do hard things! This does not get old. Lots of “hard things” ahead, and lots of joy. Audrey means “noble strength.” See earlier photos below! Announcing the arrival of Audrey Lynn Harris — December 19, 2011. 7 lb, 11 oz and 20 inches long. Mother, baby, and daddy are doing well. “Behold, children [...]

UPDATE (12/09/11): They won! Thank you to everyone who watched and shared the video. $16,000 for the village of Cusuna! Last week we got an exciting email from a 12-year-old rebelutionary named Sean. After watching the DVD conference, he and some friends decided to do hard things: Collecting hundreds of pairs of shoes for the village [...]

The final conference, over 5 years after the first. From 17 to 22 years old. Photos by Ashley Christine at Focal Clarity. Grateful for Joel — leading worship at every conference all these years. John Reilly, lead singer of the awesome band Reilly. We love the dueling violins of this husband-wife duo! Seeing and hearing the stories of lives changed [...]