Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is probably the most famous sermon ever preached (with the exception of those done in the Scriptures). Jonathan Edwards originally preached this sermon on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Massachusetts. When Edwards preached, he simply just read his sermon. It is said for this particular sermon that he actually had to ask the crowds to settle down so that he could finish his message and that several people fainted.

Edwards took his text from Deuteronomy 32:35 - "Their foot shall slide in due time." His main point is that "there is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God."

This is formatted as a classic Puritan sermon:

1. Introduction
2. Doctrine
3. Application

You can read the text of the sermon here. There is a very nicely done audio sermon available here for free. The audio sermon was performed by Mark Dever at Capital Hill Baptist Church for an actual church service. `

Book Sale!!

Today was a day I look forward to all year long - the annual library book sale bag sale!! It was $3 a bag and $5 a box. I got 2 big boxes with a ton of books. I got almost everything Michael Crichton has written. I just finished reading his Jurassic Park, and it was very good. As with all books-made-into-movies, the book is always much better. So I got everything I could find of his. I actually went up yesterday when the books were 80% off (75¢ for hardcovers and 20¢ for paperbacks). I got all of his stuff in paperbacks because I didn't want to risk waiting for the bag sale and then not getting any. But they had all of the hardcovers still, so I now have like 5 or 6 extras. But that's better than not having any at all!

I got a couple by Robert Ludlum. I've been meaning to read his Bourne Conspiracy, and maybe I'll get around to it someday.

I was a little surprised that I only saw one book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (some of my favorite authors). I have almost all of their books, but I was hoping to get some hardcovers to replace the paperbacks that I have.

I also got about 30 nice hardcover children's Bible story books. I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna keep them for my own kids someday or give them to my future niece/nephew.

I came across 10 volumes from the Harvard's Classic Library. That was a 51-volume set published in 1909 by Charles Eliot. Eliot was the president of Harvard and he had said in a speech that you could get a liberal arts education by spending 15 minutes a day reading from a collection of books that would fit on a 5-foot long shelf. He was then challenged to create the collection, and this is the result. Here's a picture of what they look like. I would love to have the complete set, but I wouldn't have any room! The ones I have are just like the ones in the picture, except they are a greenish-blue.

Shopping Links

I've added a new list on the side - Shopping Links. Currently there is a link for Buy.com and Betterworld Books. More will be added as they become available. If you are going to purchase something from them, if you could please shop through that link it would be very much appreciated as I would get a small commission. The cost to you is exactly the same as if you had gone directly to the site - there's no fee or anything.

Libronix - The Apex of Bible Study Software

After my post about Bible Explorer I just had to do one on my favorite Bible software - Libronix by Logos Bible Software.
Libronix is the best software out there and in my opinion, nothing else even comes close. It truly is a digital library, and they are approaching around 10,000 different books available. They range from devotionals to scholarly works to commentaries to theological studies and much more.

Here's a small video clip that gives a good overview of the basic things Logos does. There's a ton more clips here.

Some of the cool features I use are:
- extensive Bible word look-up features. Using the NASB, I can click on any word and it will take me to the same word in either the Greek or Hebrew. And then it will even parse the original word for me. And another click lets me look up the word in my various original language books.
- Englishman's Concordance. I select a Greek or Hebrew word and it will list all the verses it occurs in, but lists them in English with the English word translated in bold and lined up so that you can easily see how all the verses translated it.
- Searching - you can search through all the books in your library (or just a single book or a collection of books) with just one click. I have over 2,500 books in my library. It would take me forever to search through my print books.

The Listener's Bible - ESV

There are a number of Audio Bible out there. I've listened to several of them (not the whole thing!!) and of all of them I have to say that the best by far is The ESV Listener's Bible, narrated by Max McLean. If you want to hear a sample, they have the Gospel of John in NIV for free. You can also go to www.christianbooks.com and hear samples from the ESV version.

I listen to it a lot on my mp3 player while I'm walking or doing stuff around the house or working on my garden. It's also nice for those nights when you have trouble sleeping.

Max McLean does an excellent job on this. He puts a little emphasis on some parts and it really enhances your experience. Others I've listened to, such as Stephen Johnson, seemed very monotone and was difficult to listen to for extended periods of time - I just couldn't concentrate.

The cheapest I've seen this is on Amazon.com for $33.

Bible Explorer 4

I've used a number of different Bible Software over the years such as e-Sword, Pradis, Libronix, the SWORD Project and Bible Explorer.

Libronix is easily the best one, unfortunately it is also very pricey. Pradis is difficult to use not to mention just as pricey as Libronix, and often when a new upgrade comes out, your old books will not transfer, which means you'd have to buy them all over again. I'd stay away from Pradis. Both e-Sword and the SWORD Project are relatively easy to use and have a wide-range of free books. I have to say that Bible Explorer is probably the best one out there for the common person. Libronix is better, of course, but the books are much more expensive. If all you are going to do is read, the Bible Explorer is the one for you. For serious study, then Libronix.

I have been amazed at the excellent prices for books for Bible Explorer. Doxa Digital Press has provided a number of excellent books at very cheap prices. They have all 52 volumes of A. W. Tozer for $35, or about 60¢ a volume whereas Libronix has it for $190 on sale ($3.33 a volume), with their normal price being $399 ($7 a volume). For me, it would make obvious sense to get the $35 version than the $190 version, as these are just simple books that I am going to read. If it was something complex like a Greek NT, then Libronix would have much more added value to it.

I also purchased a collection of 5 of Louis Berkhof's Theological works for $5.95. That's hard to beat. Rejoice Software carries a lot of the titles (the guy who operates the site is the guy behind Doxa Digital Press). If you subscribe to his e-mail list, you'll get an e-mail about once a month with a special.

So go check it out. Download Bible Explorer 4 and then look for the free books in the catalog. There are 181 of them right now! Go here and you can download all of them, plus the ESV.

High Interest Savings and Checking Accounts

For years I've been using my savings and checking accounts at my local bank. I got .45% APR interest on the savings, and nothing on the checking. I tried an account with ING Direct, and it looks pretty good. Everything is done online. They have two products that you will be interested in:

• Orange Savings Account. Currently it as about a 4% APR interest rate. You can transfer money to it from your current bank account or by writing a check to yourself and mailing it to them.
• Electric Orange Checking. This gives you a 1.75% APR interest rate. You don't get a book of blank checks, but you use it by using the free bill pay services. You can also use it to mail someone a check as well.
  

So I am planning on switching all my bills over to ING Direct. With my current bank, if I had $1000 in the savings for 1 year, I would have gotten $4.50 in interest. With ING Direct, I'm looking at $40. That's a pretty big difference.

If anyone is interested in opening an account, I can send you a link that you get $25 if you open an account with $250. There are no fees for the accounts, and the minimum balance is $1.