3 Day Roundup

Again, I've been preoccupied with life (which is good), my family, and my research paper (all good as well). Tonight I had a bit of time to review the news, and here are some things of note:

1) This review ofAlister McGrath's new book, The Dawkins Delusion, is pretty interesting...I think the reviewer does a good job of getting at the central arguments in the book, against Dawkins (a neo-Darwinist). But he also does a good job at pointing out where McGrath misses a prime opportunity to show the flaws in a materialist worldview that tries to make claims about the existence of rationality.

2) Here is an interview with Dr. Dave Garner of Westminster Seminary, who wrote his PhD dissertation on the biblical theme of adoption in Christ. He gives some great teaching on the subject and then at the end gets at some implications for our own adoptions of children. I especially loved this paragraph:

Created in God’s image and restored to that image by the redemptive work of the Son of God, we, as God’s children, are privileged to emulate our Father. Imitating our Father is truly a form of worship, and the decision to adopt a child is a crisp Xerox of our Father’s love for us. What a great blessing to seek out a child, whose life is charted for misery, and to bring that child into the warmth, security, and discipline of a Christian home. What a privilege to intervene – to reverse inevitable circumstances of abuse, neglect, or worse – and to transfer a child from darkness to light. What a clear picture of God’s adoptive grace to us: to propel our own adopted child on the pathway of holiness, to bring blessing to our own heavenly Father!

You can find this quote and others at the bottom of the article.

3) This site has a "cultural" optical illusion. It's a picture that reveals a bit of our cultural bias in interpreting an image. Interesting... I'll probably use it when training people for mission trips.

4) If you like ventriloquism, this guy gives a pretty good twist on it. If you're up for a five minute video clip, here is a longer one from Letterman.

5) Justin Taylor has put together a nice set of links to resources dealing with recent discoveries in stem cell development that do not involve creating and destroying embryos.

6) Tim Challies has a great review of a book on relationships that comes from a complementarian perspective on gender. It looks wonderful! It's called Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart and its by John Ensor. Adding it to my wishlist!

7) The Shepherd's Scrapbook has a preview, review, and quote from the author on the new movie version of the atheist-authored book series, The Golden Compass. Probably not one for the kiddies!