Beacon2Light

In Christ Alone lyrics You may have heard that a major denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), had asked Keith Getty and Stuart Townend to change the words to this beloved song from "Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied" to " as Jesus died/the love of God was magnified. " When the authors refused, the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song by a 9 to 6 vote decided to exclude the song. Thank God for the 6 sensible ones but alas they were in the minority. Recently, I posted this quote from Randy Alcorn on my church's Facebook page: "Doesn’t our main objection to Hell center in the belief that we are far better than we really are? We may accept in theory that we’re sinners; we may even be able to list some of our sins . . . but we do not even begin to see the extent of our evil in the sight of an all-holy God." Now a church's Facebook page is not usually a place for debate but for information to ...

Joni Eareckson Tada has a great little tract online for helping children process suffering and death Why Bad Things Happen For teens and adults:  Randy Alcorn's If God is Good, chapter 4  Why Doesn't God Do More to Restrain Evil and Suffering? (also by Alcorn) Why Is There Death and Suffering? by Ken Ham and Mark Looy Ultimately, how do we make sense of the senseless?  All we can do is mourn with those who mourn, pray with and for those who hurt, spend more time with our loved ones and look to God for a future with Him without suffering and death. Update: A person briefed on the Boston Marathon investigation says the explosives were in 6-liter pressure cookers and placed in black duffel bags. The person says the explosives were placed on the ground and contained shards of metal, nails and ball bearings. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The person says law enforcement officials have some of the bomb compone...

Courageous by Randy Alcorn   free on the Kindle for a limited time! Mere Christianity is $1.99 on the Kindle Hope for the Hollow WAS free for a limited ti me on the Kindle (240 pages) as reported here but is s till a great bargain at a $1. 00 (as of 02 /25/13)!   I just blogged on this book and its predecessor at Eating Disorder Resources that Are Inexpensive and from a Christian Who Knows and also Warren Wiersbe's Bible study on Mark (you could have saved $8.99 on this 160 page book when it was free for a li mited time )  but it is s till a bar gain at $2.51 (as of 02/25/13 ) ! Keep checking back for more limited time offers from Amazon for Kindle e-books.

Throughout the ages, lots of effort has been expended on balancing the seemingly incomprehensible co-existence of God and suffering. If God is good, then why does he allow suffering? If God exists, shouldn't he be expected to stop evil at any cost? Why must good people suffer and how come so many evil people get away with so much for so long? These questions and so many more are answered in this incredible volume. Someday, I would like to write a book or commentary and Randy Alcorn raises the standard quite high! I am impressed with the amount of research, his leaning on theologians as well as those traveling the path of suffering and his faithfulness to the written Word of God. His illustrations of suffering include recent examples. This would make a great textbook for an apologetics class. Yet, it has the readability of the sweet assurance of a friend. Alcorn's work is an act of deep counseling and perspective whether one is going through suffering presently or life makes...