My wife and I have been going through lots of changes in how we manage our money, so something like this really hits home with us. We have made some major changes, and while it is sometimes painful changing behavior like that, we are already starting to see some of the benefits! The best one is the freedom from the bondage of debt that we are starting to experience! But in order to make it work, you must be serious about it. There’s no cutting corners, and you may have to make some radical changes. But if you give yourself completely to the process, I can promise you that it is totally worth it!

Here are a couple of our favorite resources. We have found great value in each one of these, and hope that you find them to be equally as valuable.

• The New Master Your Money Workbook, by Ron Blue - We did a chapter of this each week on a date night. It not only helped us to calibrate our thinking about finances, but also improved our communication with each other!
• Your Money Map: A Proven 7-Step Guide to True Financial Freedom, by Howard Dayton - We are working the “money map” steps right now, and think that it provides a great set of realistic, practical goals for us to work towards. There are lots of other resources that go with this program too.
• The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey - I haven’t actually used his materials, but we LOVE his show on Fox Business Channel. Serious, no-nonsense advice!
• Christian Personal Finance blog - I lurk here fairly regularly. Great conversation and solid wisdom.
• YouNeedABudget (YNAB) software - We have been using this for a little while now, and love the approach to budgeting that we are now being held to. Pretty basic software, not lots of bells and whistles (yet), but it does the job well and is constantly being developed to include more features.
• The Grocery Game - We have saved a TON of money recently on food. Not only are we making an effort to eat out less often, but this website has helped us to literally cut our grocery bills almost in half!

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Most definitions of God aren’t scientifically testable. They are philosophical abstractions, logical contradictions, imprecise spiritual notions, or subjective feelings. So there appears no way to show that this or that particular god idea is true or false, or even makes much sense. Moreover, most people don’t even want their god idea to be scientifically testable, since that might result in it being falsified.
                                                — American Humanist Association

Ad from American Humanist Association

I was floored today when checking out the news to see an absolutely blatant and public attack on Christianity (and all religion)! It seems that the American Humanist Association (a group that promotes atheism) is running an ad campaign this Christmas season that challenges people to not believe in a god. The quote above is from the website that people are referred to in the ad for more information.

While I can appreciate the organization’s desire to prompt people to be good and kind to each other, but am amazed at the anti-religious statements that they use to deliver that message. The website does not even tell people about ways that they can help to spread ‘goodness’, but instead simply pushes their anti-religious, secular humanist worldview.

The message about goodness itself is also a twisted one. Goodness is a measurement. An event can be measured as being good or bad. However, this is only possible if there is a moral absolute (a standard) to measure against. The secular humanist worldview will tell you that morals are relative. Simply put, what you determine to be good is good, but what I determine to be good is good, and those two things can be completely different. This moral relativism is quite problematic because when extreme perspectives start to conflict with ‘the norm’ then people start to discount the opposing perspectives as wrong. But this flies in the face of true moral relativism.

The difference in worldviews is often difficult to overcome because the two sides simply do not see the world in the same way. Imagine people that live in a two dimensional world. If a three dimensional object (like a ring) were to pass through their world, it would simply appear progressively as a point, then a couple of lines growing wider apart, then growing closer again, and coming to a point once more before disappearing. Logically (and scientifically) one could point to a series of events that happened that can be measured and described as nothing more that a series of progressive lines. Others that realize that there is more to it than just a series of lines may not have any empirical evidence to back them up, but just know that there is more to it than what the ‘evidence’ can provide. The following snippet of video addresses this difference in perspectives…

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The truth is that many of us will never see eye-to-eye on this because we are talking different languages. Some simply deny the existence of the spiritual, while other recognize that there must be more than this. Going back to the opening quote, I am happy for ’science’ to ‘test’ my God. However, I don’t think that a finite humanist scientist will ever be able to ‘measure’ my infinite God. I believe that there is more…

Oh, and if you want to do something good for ‘goodness sake,’ then try helping someone less forturante than yourself. You won’t find this challenge on the website referenced in the ads, even though that is what they want you to think that they are promoting.

Recommended Resource:

Everything is Spiritual, DVD
By Rob Bell / Zondervan

In the Hebrew Scriptures there is no word for “spiritual.” And Jesus never used the phrase “spiritual life.” Why? Because for Jesus and his tradition, all of life is spiritual. But what does that really mean?

 
Retail Price: $19.99 
Your Price: $12.99
You Save $7.00 (35%)

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Get the music here…
Albertine CD
By Brooke Fraser / Chrematizo Label Group, Llc

The latest solo release from Hillsong United member Brooke Fraser showcases her talents for songwriting and stellar voice on a strong set of worshipful originals.Includes “Shadowfeet,” “Faithful,” “Albertine,” and more.

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Certainly if you read this blog, then you probably know about the movie Fireproof (starring Kirk Cameron). If you have not seen it yet, then I strongly encourage you to do so. I thought that it was very well done, and is realistic portrayal of a marriage and the gospel. And now there are some great resources that are based on this movie! You can get The Love Dare book featured in the movie, an indivdual (couples) study, or a small group study. If you are married, or plan to be married soon, then I strongly encourage you to invest in resources like this. I promise you that you will not regret it!

The Love Dare, Imitation Leather Edition
By B & H Publishing Group

Today, many marriages end when one partner says “I don’t love you anymore.” In Love Dare, the book featured in the movie Fireproof (starring Kirk Cameron), you can learn the true nature of love. It’s a 40-day guided devotional experience that will lead your heart back to truly loving your spouse. Each day’s entry discusses a unique aspect of love, presents a specific “dare” to do for your spouse, and gives you a journaling area to chart the progress that you will be making. I dare you to take the dare! Imitation Leather.

Retail Price: $19.99 
Your Price: $14.99
You Save $5.00 (25%) 

Fireproof Your Marriage

This kit, based on the movie Fireproof was created to help build and strengthen marriages using biblical principles. It is designed with an easy format that integrates clips from the movie, key Scriptures, and group discussion, all perfect for couples’ small groups. The kit includes an easy to follow six session DVD, and two participant’s guides.

Six Sessions:

• He Said/She Said (1: 40)
• He First Loved Us (5:15)
• Love for a Lifetime (2:30)
• Breaking Free (2:45)
• Forgiveness (5:30)
• A Better Way of Loving (3:20)

Extras:

• Movie clip: Train is Coming (2:30)
• Movie clip: Lead Your Heart (3:20)
• Movie Trailer (2:15)

For Individual study:

Fireproof Your Marriage, Couples Kit

Your Price: $27.99

For group study:

Fireproof Your Marriage, Leader’s Kit (comes with two participant’s guides)

Your Price: $22.99

Fireproof Your Marriage, Additional Participant’s Guide

Retail Price: $8.95 
Your Price: $7.99
You Save $0.96 (11%)

Heather and Chris Goodman buy more books than they have time to read. Chris is a business and ministry entrepreneur who has a heart to connect Christians with culture, specifically through the Internet. Heather, a graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary, is a writer and speaker on the intersection of Christianity, culture and the arts.

Passionate about books and how Christianity interacts with life issues, they started Solomon Summaries. They desire to encourage people to read and talk more about issues facing everyday people, help people prioritize their reading time, and incite business and lay leaders to read about subjects they ordinarily wouldn’t. Check out what Heather and Chris have to say about this cool new resource…

Tell me about your relationship with reading over your life. How have books shaped you? Any one in particular?

LOL. We probably could not have two more polar answers to this question. I (Heather) love reading and engaging with the stories of life and meaning. In fact, I relish long lines at the grocery store, post office, and red lights when I can whip out a book and catch a few more paragraphs. Some of my closest friends are characters in books–Anne of Green Gables and Jo March, for example. I learn and understand Truth (i.e. ideas such as sacrifice, redemption, love, faith, humanity, corruption, creativity) through stories. Some of my favorites include Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler, Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo, The Living End by Lisa Samson, and The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

There have been some key theological books as well that have resonated with me and challenged me to think in a different way, such as The Character of Theology by John Franke, Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright, and currently The Beauty of God, a collection of essays about art and Christianity from a conference in Wheaton.

I (Chris) see reading as a bridge that unfortunately has to be crossed to assess the wisdom I seeks – I love to learn but hate to read (he says with an antagonistic smile). I’ve been strongly influenced by books like Good To Great by Jim Collins, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Trout and Reese in addition to Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson and Choose the Life by Bill Hull. Choose the Life has been a joyful, painful experience that challenges me to ponder living in submission to Christ daily and authentically.

We have one thing in common–the books we pile around the house, Chris because he wants to learn as much as possible, and Heather because she can’t be in a room without a book.

What inspired you to begin a business like this? Why did you want to start it?

I (Chris) found a growing chasm between the amount of books I want to absorb and the amount of time available to read them (not so much due to time shrinking, but because there are so many amazing books). In the business world, I had access to executive book summary services for years to glean the latest business wisdom and I dreamed of something similar for Christian books.

I (Heather) am passionate about all things books. I love the idea of raising awareness of what’s out there.

In a culture that has adopted “I’m busy” as a standard response to the question “how are you?”, there seems to be an interesting opportunity to engage people in bite size chunks with the key points from a book on Christian living. Hopefully, this will help readers triage which books they want to look at further. Also, we want to help lay leaders choose good materials and resources for Sunday school classes, small groups, mentoring relationships, and leadership training and help pastors stay in touch with what’s out there and what their congregations are reading.

What is your vision for Solomon Summaries?

Well that is an interesting question. As future-thinking people, we have great interest in seeing Solomon Summaries become a platform for engagement and growth. Based on the initial reaction and how passionately people share the idea with their friends (and we’re hoping people will be very excited and share it with lots of friends), we are in discussion on a number of additional pieces of the puzzle (what Chris calls the blueprint) to offer value to book readers and small group book discussions. We’d also like to get the authors of the books more involved in the discussion. We’ll be paying close attention to subscribers and their interests and ultimately it will grow into what people want and need to help them in their lives.

Personally, I think that this is a great resource for every busy Christian. You can easily pack some of the best in modern and classic Christian literature into any busy schedule. In addition to that, the summaries make great study guides for small group discussion. So here’s what I recommend…

• Join the Solomon Summaries group on Facebook! We can discuss books there!
• Get the BibleDude discount! Mention that you heard about the service from BibleDude.net, and you will only pay $100 for one year of these amazing summaries (normally $120).
• Not sure yet? Take advantage of a free trial! Register now, and get the service for absolutely free through Decmber 1st!
• Check out what other folks have to say about it! I’m not the only fan of this awesome service. Check out the reviews from other bloggers:

AKA Lewis Theodore	Gatorskunkz and Mudcats
A Peek at My Bookshelf	Geaux 2 Girl
A Prisoner of Hope	High Calling Blogs
Aspire 2 Blog	In.A.Mirror.Dimly
Bible Dude	In the Dailies
Blame it on the Loud Mouth Gene	Leap of Faith
Fictionary	Michelle Pendergrass

Check out this cool new service! I’d love to tell you more, but I’ve got to go catch up on my reading…   But, if you check them out, make sure that you let them know that BibleDude sent you!