Several weeks ago I received Volume 1 of the DVD Series Modern Parables: Living in the Kingdom of God. Last week, I finally finished viewing it. Modern Parables is billed as "cinematic theology," and so it is. Through modern-context dramatizations, six parables of Jesus are explained and shown to apply as well in our day as they did in ancient times.

Each parable is presented in two lessons. The first is a short (13–21 minutes) drama. To be honest, I was somewhat skeptical when I began watching. Too often, attempts at dramatizing Bible stories wind up reducing their texts to mere moral stories, missing the greater truth and actual theme (e.g. Veggie Tales). Thankfully, Modern Parables do not fall into that trap. I thought they were quite faithful to the Scriptural themes and free from gratuitous embellishment.

The second part of the lesson is a brief exposition and application of the Biblical passage, each presented by one of six pastors (listed here). These lessons are quite well done, thorough for their length (8–14 minutes), and accurate.

A Teacher's Guide and Teacher Prep CD is provided, and Student Books are available.

I have included a couple of trailers from my favorite lessons (you can view them all here).

I enjoyed these videos and believe they could be used very effectively in a variety of settings. I will be watching them again with my family and recommending them at my church. The DVD box set includes three DVDs, a Teacher Prep CD, a Teacher’s Guide, and one Student Book. Additional books can be purchased at modernparable.com. Two complete lessons are available for you to try here.

Click here for more information or to purchase Modern Parables.

I've been feeling a little under par lately (I know, under par is actually good. I didn't coin the expression.), so I haven't been very productive. I haven't been wasting my time entirely, though. One of the things I've been doing while doing nothing is listening to The History and Theology of Calvinism by Dr. Curt Daniel, available free of charge as mp3 or pdf files. The book appears to be out of print.

The theological system called "Calvinism" is widely misunderstood. I would venture to say that the vast majority of those who oppose it really know little about it. I would even say that there are many who call themselves Calvinists who have simply inherited it or accepted it because someone they respect believes it. Don't be one of those people!

There are many common misconceptions about Calvinism, and two in particular that have annoyed me. First, I don't know how often I've heard or read words like these: Calvinism began when John Calvin wrote his "Five Points of Calvinism," which he arranged in the acrostic "TULIP." I've even read that in books by Calvinists! That, of course is incorrect. For those who don't know, the "Five Points" were written after Calvin's death by the Synod of Dordt. Not only were they not arranged to spell "TULIP," they were not systematized in that order. Second, I'd love to have a nickel for every time I've been told that "John Calvin burned Servetus at the stake." These are only a couple of historical issues Dr. Daniel covers.

The History and Theology of Calvinism is an excellent presentation of both the history and the theology of this system, and I highly recommend it. Whatever you believe, don't believe it ignorantly!

The 2007 Ligonier Ministries "Contending for the Truth" Conference began this morning. Featured speakers are John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, John Piper, Ravi Zacharias, and, of course, R.C. Sproul.

Ligonier is making available, free of charge, a live video webcast of the conference, which you can access here. I considered watching and pretending to live-blog it, as Tim Challies is doing, but since I only type 35-40 words per minute, I gave up on that idea. So you'll have to settle for Tim's reporting.

Update:
John Rush is also covering the conference.

The 2007 Shepherds Conference at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California begins today and runs through Sunday, March 11. Speakers are John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, Mark Dever, Steve Lawson, Ligon Duncan, John Piper.

CDs and MP3s will be available for purchase after the conference.

For a fee, you can watch conference sessions by live stream.

Almost as good, and at no charge, you can read almost-live coverage at Challies Dot Com. Don't miss it.

Update: The audio for this conference is now available here.

Building with Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones
What Is Indwelling: The Old Testament Background
Day Two First Thought
The Ministry of the Spirit in John, Part 1: Jesus and the New Birth
The Ministry of the Spirit in John, Part 2: Jesus the Temple Builder
The Ministry of the Spirit in the Christian Life, Part 1: The Work of the Spirit in the Book of Acts
The Ministry of the Spirit in the Christian Life, Part 2: Spirit Empowered Hope for the Past, Present, and Future: Romans 5:1–11
Northbrook Conference Recap

I don't know anything about the Brandon Biblical Theology Conference, except that it took place in Brandon, Florida on the 12th-14th of this month and that it featured a stellar line-up of speakers (Phil Johnson, Pastor Chris Pixley, and Dr. Robert Reymond). O yes, and JD Hatfield (Voice of Vision) was in attendance and is now home and blogging his notes. It looks more interesting than anything going on here, so what are you waiting for? Start clicking:

Session 1 - Chris Pixley
Session 2 - Phil Johnson
Session 3 - Robert Reymond
Session 4 - Phil Johnson Part Deux
Session 5 – Q & A
Session 6 – Dr. Reymond II
Session 7 – Johnson III
Session 8 –Todd Murray

...Because it's all happening in Minneapolis. Tonight is the opening session of the 2006 Desiring God National Conference. This year's theme is The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. Once again, Tim "Lightning Fingers" Challies is live blogging the conference, so be sure to follow along at Challies.com for nearly live coverage.

Yes, I know you all read Challies before coming here, so you already know this. So humor me. Tim Challies, the World's Most Famous Christian Blogger®, has purchased discerningreader.com, and launched the new site today. Read all about it.
I'm going to claim bragging rights as the first to link to Discerning Reader. Using inside information, I had my link typed and my finger on the "publish" button. The minute the Discerning Reader appeared on the page, I published my blogroll.

Yes, folks, we are cutting edge.

Here and here is where the action is this week. Tim Challies and Doug McHone, the two dashing young men in the photo, are live-blogging the 2006 Shepherd's Conference at Grace Community Church, home of John MacArthur and Phil Johnson. Although I am incredibly jealous, I am happy for both of them and encourage you to follow the conference on both of their blogs. CD's and mp3 downloads of the seminars will be available after the conference, and I highly recommend taking advantage of those resources.

I would like to draw your attention to a new link in the sidebar, Life in the Holy Land. Todd Bolen is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, The Master’s College, Israel Bible Extension (IBEX), in the Judean Hills of Israel. He blogs at BiblePlaces Blog. Life in the Holy Land is an extensive collection of photographs, drawings, and maps of the biblical lands from the 19th and 20th centuries. I’ll let Todd tell you about it:

I am a teacher in Israel. An hour from now I am going to drive down to the airport and pick up a group of 50 seminary students from the U.S. Three weeks from now, when they depart after their intensive studies of the land of Israel, their understanding of the Bible will be revolutionized. I love to watch the “lights go on,” and in more than a decade of doing this, I have never seen one person who didn’t feel like the trip was worth every penny.

So I try to get as many people to Israel as I can. But some can’t come, for various reasons. And so I try to bring Israel to them. This I have been doing now for five years with the development of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands. But recently I’ve decided that that is not enough. Modern photographs are great, but they are limited to showing life as it is today. So now I’m trying something new – to take people back to the land and peoples of Palestine in the 1800s. That’s not Bible times, to be sure, but it is traditional times, before the wave of modernization and the population explosion.

You can see, from photo graphs of a hundred years ago, what the land looked like before four-lane highways and ten-story apartment complexes were built. You can see the ways of the native people, doing things the way they had for hundreds or thousands of years, before combines and railways forever altered agriculture and transportation.

So how did the ancients plow and harvest? What was fishing on the Sea of Galilee like? How did leprosy affect its victims, and what does the imagery of Psalm 23 really mean? For this and dozens of other similar subjects, I created www.LifeintheHolyLand.com. The travelers’ descriptions are unlike any that you can find today, and a picture, of course, is worth a thousand words. Life in the Holy Land is not only a trip across the world, it is a trip back in time.

Life in the Holy Land will be an excellent resource for pastors, teachers, or anyone interested in the geography, history, and culture of the Holy Land.

I also recommend Todd’s BiblePlaces.com.