#self articles

Julie Atherton joined the New York office of SapientNitro as vice president for strategy. She succeeds Steve Zaroff, who is now the chief strategy officer at McCann Erickson New York. Ms. Atherton had been a global digital director on Team Colgate, the WPP unit that is devoted to the Colgate-Palmolive account. McCann Erickson New York is part of the McCann Erickson Worldwide division of the McCann Worldgroup, which is owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies.

Mike Bender joined the New York office of CraveOnline, part of Evolve Media, as senior vice president for sales. He succeeds Drew Berkowitz, who joined Vistar Media, handling strategic sales and marketing partnerships. Mr. Bender had been vice president for East Coast sales at Spin Media, formerly Buzz Media.

Blade PR, Boston and New York, was opened by Victoria Brody, who had been director for communications at the Bravo cable channel that is part of the NBCUniversal division of Comcast.

Constant Contact, Waltham, Mass., which offers online marketing services, selected Mediahub, Boston, part of the Mullen division of the Interpublic Group of Companies, as its media agency of record, to handle media planning and buying. Spending was not disclosed. The assignment had previously been handled by NorBella, Boston.

Carolyn Contois joined Entrinsic, Toronto, in a new post, executive director for client services. She had been vice president and director for integrated solutions at the Toronto office of DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group.

Jim Delaney, chief operating officer at Marketwired, Toronto, was promoted to chief executive. He succeeds Michael Nowlan, who served as chief executive for 14 years and is to remain on the company’s board.

Michelle Dickens and Neil Saunders joined GSD&M, Austin, Tex., part of the Omnicom Group, in new posts, as vice presidents and planning directors. Ms. Dickens, who will led the agency’s strategic efforts on the Walgreens account, had been a partner and planning director at Ogilvy West, part of the Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide unit of WPP. Mr. Saunders, who will lead planning for the John Deere and Goodyear accounts as well as for new business and special assignments, had most recently worked as a freelance planner at many agencies.

Sabrina Galati and Kathryn Redekop joined the San Francisco office of Gyro in new posts. Ms. Galati becomes vice president and media director; she had most recently been media director at Moxie, Atlanta, part of the Publicis Groupe. Ms. Redekop becomes vice president for agency operations; she had most recently been vice president and group director for project management at the San Francisco office of Digitas, also part of Publicis.

John Gilles joined the San Francisco office of Code and Theory in a new post, director for new media. He had most recently been managing director at A Different Engine, San Francisco.

Anyone with two-cents-worth of opinions and a pinch of conviction knows how easy it is to launch into an argument with those holing different views. We see it all the time, but especially on the Web. Perhaps it is because forty-by-forty-pixel avatars in online forums project less sense of personhood than being face-to-face with that person having the same discussion. Walls of sans-serif text make it easier to speak our minds without equal regard for the people we spout off at. You have probably noticed in the middle of a comment thread debate, how easy it is to slip into human reductionism—that is, reducing the entire personal existence of an opponent to nothing more than his or her (seemingly) wrong view. We treat others as less than people, as mere wrong ideas.

In doing so, we lose sight of the fact that God's whole commandment is fulfilled in love (Matt. 22:36-40). The Lord does not ask for armchair reformers to propound truth into an impersonal vacuum, but calls his people to a life of "faith working through love." This means forming our speech in ways that express the same patience and goodness which our Father shows in sending rain upon the just and unjust alike (Gal. 5:6, Matt. 5:45). We are called to love, and love is an ardent affection which yearns and acts for the well being of others. "Speaking the truth in love," requires that behind all our argumentation stands a principle of genuine preference for the good of our neighbors, even those we believe are in error (Eph. 4:15). The rule, "love your neighbor as yourself," involves defending our principles as much for our opponents' sake as for truth's sake, and, if possible, communicating our benevolent intentions toward them in the same context (Mark 12:30-31).

Over in the Reformed Steakhouse, conservative pundit John Loftus wrote (in gratuitous capitals, no less),

WE WILL NEVER GET GODLY GOVERNMENT BY VOTING FOR MEN WHO HAVE NO BIBLICAL VIEW OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT....

I responded that we will never get godly government by voting, either. Voting—even for the most ideal candidate—can never insure elected officials will honor their duty to walk according to the moral law, regardless of platforms and promises. We can vote in David and watch him become Saul over night.

Justification

Preservation

Sanctification

(v. 3-6) — "We ourselves were once foolish, .etc. . . . But when the goodness and loving kindness of god our Saviour appeared, he saved us. . . . not because of works done in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit."

The point of rescue occurs while sinners are yet in their sins. God in mercy appears in kindness to transform and unite himself in Christ with those who are neither seeking nor deserving of his righteousness. 

Justification of sinners is neither merited by, nor conditioned upon, independent acts of human will, nor on account of determinations to henceforth live morally improved lives (as Tyndale seems to imply in his introduction to the New Testament, 1534). Rather, justification owes decisively and entirely to an act of grace merited by Jesus Christ, in which the Spirit transforms the heart by regeneration, thereby inclining the will to rest by fully in the work of Christ, both for imputation of righteousness and forgiveness of sins.

From start to finish, before the creation of the world to beyond the final judgment, salvation is assured to the elect because it rests secure in the covenanted work of God the Father in Christ Jesus, through the effectual power of the Spirit. Thus may regenerated persons be called, "justfied" and "heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (v. 7) The term, hope, as it is used in the New Testament, would not be hope, were it not grounded on the promise and power of God to fulfill its object. (See Calvin, Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life) It is unlike our common English use, "I hope I sleep well," but should instead be understood as in, "I have hope that God keeps his promises." Were perseverance grounded decisively on the will of man, independent from inclining grace, such hope would be impossible. Yet David says, "turn me, and I will be turned. . . Incline my heart to you, O Lord." The scriptures testify elsewhere, "he who began the good work in you shall complete it," and "faithful is him who called, and he shall do it"; "he works in you, both to will and to do according to his good pleasure"; "It was granted to you not only to believe. . ."; "who makes you to differ? It is God," etc.

(v.8) — “I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.” 

Are your reading habits inconsistent at best? Well, I have some tips to motivate and improve your reading. But before sharing them, I want to address a particular type of reader, the "burned out scholar". This is the sort who devotes his or her self, whether for personal or vocational reasons, to a particular genre of literature and consumes every book in their path for a time before burning out. I see this often among serious students of Christian theology. They read all of the big-name Puritan classics, gobble down four or five systematics, and a dozen commentaries. Then they go blind for the next few years, touching spiritual books only rarely.

Not only is this kind of regimen mentally fatiguing for the majority of people, it is also intellectually and personally unbalanced. By focusing on only one aspect of knowledge, even the very best one, readers miss out on developing other parts of their minds that are important as well.

Since 2009, I have adopted a plan to always be reading at least three genres simultaneously:

Something technical or theoretical (theology, philosophy, scientific, mathematical)

Something practical or devotional (books on sanctification, building community, etc.)

Something historical or fictional (including memoirs, letters, and poetry)

I try to read from all three each day, in half-hour installments. This tends to relax my mind between books, like switching gears, and I'm not burned out by any one type. And because of the frequent change of subject matter, I find I have a lot more will to read. It's similar to the way that people watch five sitcoms back-to-back without becoming bored.

And one last trick: I keep a book or two on my person at all times so that I can nibble at them while standing in line at the grocery store, or getting a cup of coffee. If I can knock down just ten pages a day in this fashion, it will usually add up to one or more completed books each month, merely from those times I spent waiting or would otherwise have been unoccupied.