Friday Fragments

Whoa! Two Fridays in a row...that's approaching regularity and consistency. Can we keep it going a 3rd week? Come back next Friday and find out. But don't hold your breath. Last week Friday Fragments was some miscellaneous thoughts none of which quite amounted to a full blog post in themselves. This week it is a little of that again, but also some other things I've collected through the week that I found helpful, funny, encouraging, challenging, interesting, etc. (Kinda like Tim Challies' "a la carte" or David Murray's "Check out.") Enjoy!

• I know that others have already addressed this, but the whole Heaven is for Real book and movie excitement, along with other "I went to heaven and came back and now I'm going to tell you all about it" stories bug me. In the story about the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man wants to go back from Hades to warn his family. I understand that a story about hell and a visit to heaven are 2 different things, but the principle Jesus articulates applies to either. "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." (Luke 16:31) If God wanted us to have the details that people are giving from their supposed experiences, he would have given them to us. And as others have pointed out, when you get a vision of heaven in scripture, the focus is on the glory of God, not chatty details about bumping into deceased relatives (Noted by Phil Johnson and John MacArthur). And in heaven prior to the resurrection we don't have bodies. And, and, and. We could go on. 
  
• If you have kids and internet access in your house these are some really practical, but really important steps to take. If you don't already know, pornography is a scourge that shows no mercy nor does it discriminate among its victims. It infiltrates the homes of the rich, poor, pagan, and churchgoer. If you don't think it can reach you or your children or you don't think its effects are that significant, you are blind. Your family situation may not require all of these steps; you may address them differently; but please address them. (Thanks, Tim, Challies, for working through this stuff.)
• A tribute. Overstated? Yes. Emotional manipulation? A little, sure. Clever and cute and makes a good point? Also yes.
• And lastly on this Friday. Good Friday. Horrible things happened. The truly innocent one was murdered. My Savior died. But this was part of God's good plan to do us good. My sin was punished. And Sunday's coming. Resurrection. Vindication. The man on the cross is the conquering King. Death is vanquished and all in Christ live! Hallelujah - praise the Lord! (Good Friday service at GFC in Bremen 7pm tonight. Here at GBC in Warsaw, we'll be turning our thoughts to the Resurrection Sunday morning. You're welcome at both services to help set your heart right, remembering that our stories are part of his big story of redemption.)