The Internet is overflowing with garbage. I am not merely talking about all of the pornography and the ramblings of the idiot culture. I am talking about the Christian blogosphere. Just as it is in a Christian bookstore there is quite a bit of rubbish out there. I do not care to add to the collection. So, I have set up a filter for myself; I use it for blogging, for preaching, and for engaging in deeper conversations.

As I have mentioned in the past I have a quote in my office that is taken from Piper's Don't Waste Your Life; I use it as my mandate. "To so live and so study and so serve and so preach and so write that Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen God, be the only boast of this generation." That is great, but how can I determine whether or not I am writing to make Jesus the only boast or if I am simply adding to the heap of Internet rubbish? Simple, you use the Rubbish Filter 101...or as some people like to call it 1 Timothy 1. I use it to ask 7 sets of questions:

1. Does it promote speculation? Is it clearly related to Scripture or does it require a "secret" knowledge to find it in Scripture?
2. Does it accurately preserve the gospel and transmit the clear gospel? Is it faithful to the stewardship that God has given us?
3. Is it motivated out of love? Or is it pride, self-evaluation, revenge, self-righteousness, bitterness, discord, or unbelief?
4. Will it lead to vain discussion?
5. Is my motivation to promote the unity and purity of the Bride of Christ or my own name?
6. Does this come from a deep conviction and love for the Christ and His Gospel?
7. Will this doctrine exalt man to an undue place?

There you have it. Mark Dever has a few good questions he asks concerning what doctrines are essential (I would be indebted to anyone that could provide a link to that). Also Michael Patton considers the same question, here.

I realize that I have not posted for about two weeks and my last post was only a short statement expressing my thankfulness for Jesus. That still stands true today. The last couple of weeks have been very busy, and since I am not Tim Challies , when things get excessively busy I find it difficult to blog.

One of the things that has caused me to be busy is substitute teaching. This is my way of trying to get the gospel into Mark Twain High School and build rapport with students. That has taken a couple of days out of each week. That puts me behind schedule in my other duties. Since blogging is lower on my list it gets neglected.

Another reason that I have not blogged in awhile is because I am a little discouraged with it. My discouragement is on a few fronts...and honestly they all have a root in not practicing the gospel. 1) I am not as good of a writer as many others. My punctuation skills are horrible. And my ability to convey significant thought pales in comparison to others. Therefore, until I learn to be a better writer I feel like shutting down. 2) Abraham Piper's suggestions on blogging discouraged me. I question whether I have anything unique to say. 3) Why continue throwing so much time into something that only a handful of people will read? 4) Some of the really fun things that I want to do requires more readers--so I feel stuck.

So, I am looking for direction and praying for a heart that treasures Christ and the proclamation of his glorious truth more than my stupid pride and drive for notoriety. I frequently pray perish my honor...I guess I should believe that God answers that prayer. From now on I want to blog for the glory of God and to display His worth and honor and not my own. With that being said, I hope to blog more, even though a busy summer may make that difficult.

Ligonier Ministries celebrates April Fools Day with an interesting topic: Did Jesus Ever Laugh?

Absolutely brilliant post from Brent at Colossians 3:16. As one that is attempting to change an anti-intellectual culture, this article really hits home. Why It's Arrogant to Say, "Just give me the Bible..."

One of the most oft questions asked of me, is how were the people in the OT saved. Terry Rayburn discusses this question today, find his answer here.

Abraham Piper gives us 6 reasons that pastors should blog. He also desires for your thoughts and suggestions.

C.J. Mahaney has interviewed Sinclair Ferguson. Last week I linked to the first two parts, now parts 3, 4, and 5 are available.

Challies reviews Young, Restless, and Reformed. I have to get this book, as well as the Harris' brothers' Do Hard Things.

Why is asking of the Bible, "what does this mean to me", dangerous? C. Michael Patton tells us, and I agree.

One of the most often cited passages in support of contextualization is Acts 17. Phil Johnson discusses Paul at Mars Hill.

This is a wonderful quote on worry from Ed Welch's book Running Scared: "Worriers are visionaries minus the optimism." (HT: Josh Harris)

Last week I linked to Dr. Galyon's series on Packer's points of Calvinism. Today we are treated Packer's Third Point.

It seems like whatever Michael Patton posts I link to. Nonetheless, you also need to check out this series on The Problem Passages of Scripture, Part 1.

Nathan Finn gives a Baptist Look at the Lord's Supper.

(HT: Purgatorio)

It has been a difficult, exhausting, yet, inspiring Easter weekend. All good Christian bloggers should post over the Easter holiday. I didn't. My wife and I were in St. Louis at the hospital with her dying grandmother. We aren't certain that she knows Jesus. Please pray for her soul and for her body. The Lord has been patient for 80-something years. He would be just to take her at anytime. However, we pray for his mercy.

In the category of incomparably stinky news, my tournament bracket is shot. Someone must have slipped me some crack or something in my Mountain Dew. I picked way too many upsets. What idiot picks Boise St. over Louisville? Me! Dumb. Seriously, what was I thinking?

In other "tournament" news I was very stoked to find out that I made the Blog Madness at SBC Voices. I am seeded 11th in the South Division. The top 4 in each division advance. It would be a major upset for Borrowed Light to make it into the second round. With your votes we could do so. If you want to vote for us go here and vote. No way we advance beyond the second round. But even being in the sweet 16 would be a huge honor.

Nathan White tells a very heart-felt story about his confrontation with a beggar and then asks a very intriguing question.

I am very intrigued by the series that Phil Johnson is beginning on contextualization. This is a very interesting discussion that is going on in the church. It seems to be one of those things that keep coming up in my life. To be honest, I'm leaning towards what Phil is saying here. Read his introduction here.

This one is for bloggers; Timmy Brister provides live-blogging tips.

The John 3:16 Conference continues to cause a stir. Oh, we who adhere to the doctrines of grace ought to brace ourselves for the bunk that is about to come our way. Dr. Galyon has pointed us in the direction of Jerry Choice Grace. All I can say after reading Grace's article, is "wow"...I am out of my "caged"-Calvinist phase. It's okay with me if you aren't Reformed minded. I understand, I was not at one point as well. But, to totally misrepresent and be so vitriolic is neither fitting to a Calvinist or an Arminian. Read Dr. Galyon's article and tell me what you think.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Tim Keller spoke at the Google HQ. If you get a free hour watch this:
(HT: Buzzard)

Brian Thornton has an intriguing quote. Who do you think said it?

This could be a watershed decision by an appeals court in California. The court has ruled that parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their children. I can not articulate a comment on this as effective as Dr. Mohler. I would simply say, "that is just dumb". Dr. Mohler is a little more articulate, read his take here.

Great story of witnessing and faithfulness to the gospel by Timmy Brister: The Cross Isn't Sexy.

Michael Spencer, the IMonk, has compiled a list of 10 Reasons He Doesn't Read Your Blog. It would very helpful to me if my readers would read this article, and e-mail me any suggestions in how I may improve this blog.

I failed to mention this last week. Abraham Piper has a new blog called 22 Words. It is very intriguing. And it takes about 15 seconds to read each post.

There is a very important discussion going on between Rick Love, John Piper, Justin Taylor and a few others. The eye of this hurricaine is found in Love's signing of A Common Word. He gives reasons why, Piper, Taylor, and others do not quite buy it. Here is Love's latest explanation. Here is Frank Turk's (of Team Pyro) response to Love.

Trevin Wax points us to a phenomenal Spurgeon quote admonishing pastors and people alike, to read.

This is a phenomenal post by Ray Ortlund. His central thesis is this: "In the heart of God, moral fervor is beautiful. In the heart of a sinner, moral fervor is complicated." He then offers a few diagnostics to monitor whether or not he is slipping into moral fervor. Wonderful post.

There is a Real Preachers of Genius video floating around. I thought this one was pretty funny (and sadly true) also:

Another great article on Challies.com are suggestions on blogging. The first one really struck me--Question Everything. In other words; ask yourself, 'why am I blogging'? So, I thought it might be beneficial to ask myself this question. Here is what I have found:

• I blog to benefit our students. I hope to give them access to sermons they have heard preached. I also hope to help them interact with good books, good articles, and good websites.
• I blog to benefit my own spirtual walk. Writing while accountable helps me to interact with things I normally would not interact with. It helps me to be more cautious in my word choice. It helps me to think through issues.
• I blog to make my writing skills gooder. (Oops, I mean "better"). Being a hick from a small town the more I write the more I stop sounding like a Perry Boy. If someone would like to take the time and help me with punctuation and word structure that would be welcomed.
• I blog to blog. It's fun! I love to write. I love to have conversations.
• And lastly, and hopefully it is more and more most importantly, I blog for the glory of God. I blog in the hopes that the Lord might use anything that I write to further His kingdom and make Jesus look as precious as He is.