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Top 15 (Most Viewed) Posts of 2015

For your reading pleasure during holiday downtime: these posts have received the most views in the past 365 days:

  1. Myths About the Bible: Was Noah Mocked?: The Fight Against Apathy
    This was my most viewed post in 2013, 2014, and 2015. I’ve thought about deleting it a number of times due to the amount it’s been viewed. You know, kill your darlings.
  2. The Misused Passages: 1 Cor. 2:9, Eyes Has Not Seen, Nor Ear Heard
  3. A List of Benedicions
    This one’s always near the top of the list as well.
  4. God is Love, But Love is not God
  5. Charlotte’s Web: Dr. Dorian, Miraculous Webs, Animals Talking
  6. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Method of Pastoral Counseling and Diagnosis
    This post was a labor of love. It took a good bit of work and was worth it. I regularly refer to it for my own use and point others to it that are in need of help in pastoral counseling.
  7. C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton: Reading, Fairy Tales, and Mental Health
  8. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on C.S. Lewis
    I put together every quotation and anecdote I could find about Lloyd-Jones’ interaction with Lewis. This was the most viewed post written in 2015.
  9. On ‘On Lying in Bed’ by G.K. Chesterton
    This remains my favorite essay written by Chesterton.
  10. Him that is Unjust, Let Him be Unjust Still: What Does It Mean?
    Post inspired by the Johnny Cash song, The Man Comes Around. I am originally from the same rural county in Arkansas as Cash, and my grandfather and great uncle were childhood acquaintances with him, coming from the same home town in the middle of a bunch of cotton fields. I’m not sure if that’s why I feel such an affinity with him. But I digress.
  11. The Whole Creation is on It’s Tiptoes
    I love Romans 8:19. I preached through Romans 8 for a year and it greatly impacted me.
  12. The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers: Summary of the Argument for a Trinity in Creative Art
    This book has had a great impact on me since I read, and wrote about it, in 2012.
  13. The Difference between a Blink and a Wink
    A quote from one of my favorite books, Technopoly, by Neil Postman.
  14. A Summary of John Owen on the Sabbath
    Another labor of love. I put together a lot of material of John Owen relating to his doctrine of the Christian Sabbath.
  15. Michael Polanyi: Subsidiary and Focal Awareness, Indwelling
    I was introduced to the work of Polanyi by an apologetics professor in seminary. I find his work very helpful in understanding the nature of belief, especially in relation to his idea of ‘indwelling.’

Top Ten Posts in 2014

This will likely be my last post of the year (with the holidays and all), so I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

In the meantime, I give you the mandatory ‘top posts’ post. If there’s anything on the list you haven’t read before, why not give it a look? Here are the most read posts from the blog for the year:

1. Myths About the Bible: Noah Was Mocked? The Fight Against Apathy
This marks the second year in a row that this post is number one. It had about 1,800 views for the year.

2. A List of Benedictions
In the top 3 for the third straight year. Everybody needs a good list of benedictions.

3. C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton: Reading, Fairy Tales, and Mental Health
The same top 3 as last year. I still think that reading fairy tales is a balm for the soul.

4. God Is Love, But Love Is Not God
This one’s the first newcomer to the list. Here I take on not only modern culture, but no less a giant than St. Augustine.

5. Recent Reading: The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers: Part 1 – Summary of the Argument for a Trinity in Creative Art
This marks the second year in the top 5. I go back to this post fairly regularly to brush up on Sayers’ points.

6. The Misused Passages: 1 Corinthians 2:9, Eye Hath Not Seen, Nor Ear Heard
This is my take on how people misuse the famous words, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the mind of man, what God hath prepared for them that love Him.’

7. Charlotte’s Web: Dr. Dorian, Miraculous Webs, Animals Talking
I share a favorite quote from Charlotte’s Web.

8. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Method of Pastoral Counseling and Diagnosis
I am glad this one cracked the top 10. I worked very hard on this post in an attempt to distill the basics of the pastoral counseling method of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I work harder to actually try to put his wisdom into practice. I still highly recommend the book on which this post is based: Healing and the Scriptures.

9. Recent Reading: Leaf by Niggle, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Here’s a taste: “Christian lawyers work for justice, and the world remains unjust. Christian doctors, nurses, and pharmacists (and others of course) work for the health and well-being of people – all of whom eventually die…”

10. Him that is Unjust, Let Him be Unjust Still: What does it mean? (Revelation 22:11)
It’s a line from the Book of Revelation that has entered into the modern consciousness via Johnny Cash’s The Man Comes Around. I remember early in the season there was an SEC football commercial that used this song. I thought there was an ironically fitting display of southern culture as I saw images of Les Miles and Nick Saban as this song played in the background.

Top 10 Posts of 2013

It’s time for the obligatory ‘top posts’ post. These are the most read posts from the blog in the past year. If you’ve missed any of them, here’s your chance to catch up.

1. Myths About the Bible: Noah Was Mocked?: The Fight Against Apathy
This post from February got a lot of traction at one point and was by far and away the most read post with around 600 clicks.

2. A List of Benedictions
This post was number 3 last year, number 2 this year. If you need a benediction, this one’s for you.

3. C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton: Reading, Fairy Tales, and Mental Health
This post was number 1 last year and still gets a good number of reads. The quotes have remained helpful to me in expressing the importance of reading good fiction.

4. C.S. Lewis Defining and Defending the English Puritans
This post was from late December of last year and records a number of Lewis’ quotes concerning the English Puritans.

5. Recent Reading: The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers: Part 1 – Summary of the Argument for a Trinity in Creative Art
This is one of my all-time favorite books and I am pleased that quite a few folks checked out my summary. Hardly a day goes by that I do not think about this book in some way, shape, or form. It has been absolutely invaluable in my preaching on Romans 8:28-30.

6. On Self-Centered Music (Ken Myers, Mars Hill Audio)
This is another post from February. I found a talk by Ken Myers helpful and decided to write down some thoughts.

7. Michael Polanyi, Tacit Knowledge, and Indwelling
This post was in the top 10 last year as well. It’s a simple application of Polanyi’s idea to the biblical idea of indwelling. I based an entire sermon series on the biblical doctrine of ‘indwelling’ or ‘abiding’ as a result of the insights I gained from Polanyi (thanks again to Ken Myers and Mars Hill Audio).

8. Recent Reading: A Tale of One who Traveled to Learn what Shivering Meant
This was number 9 last year and is still hanging in there. This story is one of my favorite fairy tales and I have frequently drawn from its wisdom. As a matter of fact, I used it as a sermon illustration just a few weeks ago. Read the post and you’ll probably see why.

9. Anthropomorphism, Unlikeness, and Reality in Fiction: Opening the Eyes of the Blind
I wrote this post in July 0f 2012 after reading The Wind in the Willows. The Wind in the Willows is one of the best books I have ever read and Mr. Toad has an enduring place in my heart. He is a constant reminder of my own pride, which someone once said is like underwear – the first thing you put on and the last thing you take off.

10a. Science a good servant, but a bad master
This is a great quote from Michael Aeschliman’s book The Restitution of Man. It is currently in a tie for the 10th spot.

10b. Recent Reading: Leaf by Niggle, by J.R.R. Tolkien
This one is from June of this year. I wrote it after my second reading of the story. As I finished reading, I happened to listen to a Tim Keller talk that used the story as an illustration. The post draws from Keller to reflect on the story.

Here’s hoping the next year of reading and thinking will be more productive and fruitful than ever.

Top 10 Posts of 2012

The 10 most viewed posts from the blog in 2012, in reverse order:

10. Interpreting Levitical Laws as a Christian (An Interpretive Grid) in which I share the fruit of several years worth of meditation on the use of the Levitical Law in the Christian life.

9. Recent Reading: A Tale of One who Traveled to Learn what Shivering Meant in which I share a powerful lesson I learned from this fairy tale.

8. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Living God in which I share the full text of my favorite MLJ sermon.

7. C.S. Lewis: Change ≠ Progress in which I share a favorite C.S. Lewis quote.

6. Recent Reading: The Light Princess, by George MacDonald in which I discuss what is probably my favorite George MacDonald story.

5. The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius: Boethius’ Philosophical Contribution to the Doctrine of Christian Hedonism in which I discuss Boethius’ philosophical ideas about God as the ultimate source of man’s happiness.

4. Guess What I Did Today – I Met a Man who Came Back from the Dead in which I discuss meeting a man who claimed to have died and met Jesus (and that he had come back to tell about it).

3. Michael Polanyi, Tacit Knowledge, and Indwelling in which I discuss some of the ramifications of Polanyi’s thought on our understanding of the biblical doctrine of union with Christ.

2. A List of Benedictions in which I discuss my love for benedictions, lay a brief foundation for a doctrine of benediction, and share some biblical benedictions.

1. C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton: Reading, Fairy Tales, and Mental Health in which I discuss Lewis and Chesterton’s common belief that the reading of fairy stories is good for the health of the mind.