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ARTS, JOURNALISM & THE MEDIA

ALERT! ALERT! The Rebelution is coming to Dallas!

On Saturday, June 28 at The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Alex and Brett Harris will be presenting their Do Hard Things one-day conference for Christian teens and parents. Based on their book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, the Harris twins are calling their generation to live lives worthy of their calling similar to William Law’s clarion call to his generation in A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.

The conference is from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm and you can learn more about and register for the event at therebelution.com. Cost is $30/teen and $20/adult.

Book Reviews:

Book: Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens
Author: Paul David Tripp

Unfortunately the subtitle of this book is misleading – this book may be targeted to parents with teenagers, but the practical wisdom mixed with biblical principles is outstanding advice for parents with children of all ages. In fact, as a parent, you’ll want to read this book before your children are teenagers – you want to build the foundation in the earlier years, not wait until the moment is upon you. Age of Opportunity is taught by PCA mom and board of trustee member Lisa Clark through the Kingdom Parent Institute (KPi) as well – read the book, take the course, and put the principles into practice in your own family!

This book is also one of several incredible resources that are distributed by the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation as part of their Resources for Changing Lives. Their materials are published by New Growth Press and offer outstanding biblical wisdom and practical suggestions on numerous issues facing the family today. One of my personal favorite books is When People are Big and God is Small by Edward Welch, also part of this series.

Book: The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity
Author: William P. Young

There has been so much publicity about The Shack, a self-published book by new comer William P. Young that I wanted to give parents a heads-up on this book. The story is about a man named Mackenzie whose daughter is kidnapped and murdered – the shack is the crime scene where this horrible event took place. One day several years later, Mackenzie receives a note that he believes is from God telling him to go to the shack. At the shack, Mackenzie meets God…or better put, God reveals Himself to Mackenzie. Obviously, the concept of God “revealing Himself” should alone be concerning for every Christian who understandings that no novel is going to be able to explain or describe God in words, pictures or a story – God is not limited to our understanding, but I’ll give credit to Young in his attempt to address many common misconceptions about God in this book. But in addressing these common errors, Young goes too far.

While The Shack definitely confronts several limitations people commonly place upon God, it stretches the concept of God beyond what has been revealed in Scripture. The problem with Young’s description of God really isn’t the physical form God takes as the three individuals representing the Triune nature of God, but rather with a much more liberal all-roads-lead-to-heaven concept of God who is not bound by religion, but is interested only in relationship. Young’s concept of God sounds very appealing and he does a very good job of addressing several important issues which make the book very readable for a mature Christian, but he stretches and strays too far from biblical truth to make this a book one could suggest for a younger Christian to read. Parents, be mindful of what your children are reading and if there are questions about the content, make sure that you read the book with them so you can address those issues along the way.

At the Movies:

Prince Caspian in Theaters Now

The second installment from Walden Media of the classic C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia is currently in theaters. Prince Caspian is the sequel to the successful 2005 film The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and continues the story of the four heroes from that story as they return to Narnia a thousand years later. Reviews of the movie have generally been very positive. Look for the Voyage of the Dawn Treader to be in theaters in a few years as the saga continues on screen!

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