The Sunday Reader — ed. Jan 25, 2023

Worthwhile articles, odds, and ends collected this week.

10 Absurdities of Atheism

A brief but cogent critique of the major weaknesses of atheistic belief.

When I Die Young (or Old)

A beautiful reflection on how the author hopes she and her those who knew her will respond to her passing.

The Economics of Abortion by Kevin DeYoung

We’ve all heard the claim, “abortion is not desirable, but it delivers many women (and aborted children) from a life of poverty.” DeYoung dismantles the argument. Here’s an excerpt,

The presence of widespread, legal, easily accessible abortion reinforces the narrative that men do not have control over their sexual appetites and that men should not be expected to fulfill their responsibilities as fathers. Far from empowering women, abortion empowers men to expect (if not outright demand) that sexual activity should be free from any consequences. This in turn disincentivizes men from considering marriage in the first place, which is the surest way to impoverish women. […] Overwhelmingly, abortions in America are procured by single women—85% of the women who had abortions in 2019 were unmarried. This may seem like a reason women need abortion access, but that argument fails to address the larger ways in which abortion cheapens sex, undermines marriage, and puts pressure on women to acquiesce to a male-centered perspective that views sexual intimacy as centered on physical gratification rather than ordered to family formation and child-rearing. If abortion looks like a socioeconomic “cure,” it is only first because it is a major component of the disease. And this is to say nothing of the lost economic activity that comes as a result of removing millions of potential American workers from the labor force and tax base.

Recommended book of the week:

The Ten Commandments by Thomas Watson (free online) is a great companion to our present section of the Heidelberg Catechism.

Recommended Books: on Death and Heaven

This past Sunday evening, I mentioned several resources which I’ve found helpful in thinking through death and the afterlife. Here they are.

Books on Dying Well

• Farewell to My Friends by Adolph Monod — He was called "the Spurgeon of France" on account of his powerful gospel preaching. When death drew near, Monod gathered his closest friends to his bedside and shared a final series of lessons. These were written down and collected into Farewell to My Friends. You can read it online for free or purchase the book from Amazon.

Books on heaven

• (My top pick) The Happiness of Heaven by Maurice Roberts is a sound, scriptural, and practical look at what heaven is like by a Reformed pastor. It skirts most of the unknowable questions and focuses on the joys we can count on.

• We Shall See God by Charles Spurgeon (edited by Randy Alcorn). This is a 50-unit devotional based on the always-enriching writings of the aforementioned C. H. Spurgeon.

• Heaven by Randy Alcorn. This popular book by a contemporary Evangelical author is sizable but easy to read. Its only significant fault is that sometimes Alcorn veers into speculation (he’s confident we’ll play basketball in glory). But I don’t recall anything really problematic.

Finally, the author whose son recently passed, who I said is like a mentor to me, is Tim Challies:

• Here’s the post where he first announced Nick’s death.

• For a solid devotional type book, Run to Win is worthwhile.

• For a Christian perspective on productivity, see Do More Better.

• His Visual Theology Guides are super interesting to look through, especially for ages 13-20. Both are in the church library.

• The easiest place to go just might be his website: https://www.challies.com/. Every day, Tim posts an A La Carte with fresh links to resources he scours from around the Web, including news and Christian articles, as well as sales on books. And every day he posts one article of his own. Always edifying.