Culture tells us that in order to be liked we must masquerade as someone other than who we are. So, we lacquer ourselves with credit cards and plastic surgery and status updates hoping no one will see the person underneath. This "veneer" allows us to silence our real selves as it gives voice to the alter ego we'd like others to see. But, is this all there is to life or have we been duped? Does material success equal significance? Is our only identity the one we steal from Hollywood? God's idea of humanity is altogether different from the world's. There is a way to live that sees beauty in our imperfection and, as Tim and Jason put it, once we realize this we can strip our veneers and live an unveneered life of freedom, honesty, and beauty.

    It’s even harder without practical guidance on how to do it.From author James MacDonald:“I have written this book to actually help people change. It's for people who desperately want to change, a practical ‘How-to’ manual… The truths in this book are stained with my own tears of trying and failing and trying again to be the man God wants me to be. So I have written this with the urgency of a loving heart for you and your situation…James MacDonald is serious about the business of change according to God's Word, and he walks you through it in three phases:The Preparation for Change: choosing the right method and partnering with God to select the areas you need to see changeThe Process of Change: exploring the biblical method of saying no to sinful patterns and yes to the things God desires for youThe Power to Change: knowing how to experience the power of God personally and continuouslyIncludes study questions, exercises, and single sentence chapter summaries

    She crafts a fresh approach that exposes the real-world impact of ideas in philosophy, science, art, literature, and film--voices that surround us in the classroom, in the movie theater, and in our living rooms.A former agnostic, Pearcey offers a persuasive case for historic Christianity as a holistic and humane alternative. She equips readers to counter the life-denying worldviews that are radically restructuring society and pervading our daily lives. Whether you are a devoted Christian, determined secularist, or don't know quite where you stand, reading Saving Leonardo will unsettle established views and topple ideological idols. Includes more than 100 art reproductions and illustrations that bring the book's themes to life.

    "A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God, not just as tracts, mind you, but as things of beauty to the praise of God." Many Christians, wary of creating graven images, have steered clear of artistic creativity. But the Bible offers a robust affirmation of the arts. The human impulse to create reflects our being created in the image of a creator God. Art and the Bible has been a foundational work for generations of Christians in the arts. In this book's classic essays, Francis Schaeffer first examines the scriptural record of the use of various art forms, and then establishes a Christian perspective on art. With clarity and vigor, Schaeffer explains why "the Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.

    One of today's most popular spiritual writers and commentators interweaves the Old and New Testament Scripture with prayers of hope and repentance, offering ancient ways of seeing Christ that will feel new to readers of all denominational backgrounds.

    His new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, will continue down this path, helping us with the ultimate big-picture issue: how do we know God? Love Wins was a Sunday Times bestseller that created a media storm, launching Bell as a national religious voice who is reinvigorating what it means to be religious and a Christian today. He is one of the most influential voices in the Christian world, and now his new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, is poised to blow open the doors on how we understand God. Bell believes we need to drop our primitive, tribal views of God and instead understand the God who wants us to become who we were designed to be, a God who created a universe of quarks and quantum string dynamics, but who also gives meaning to why new-born babies and stories of heroes and sacrifice inspire in us a deep reverence. What We Talk About When We Talk About God will reveal that God is not in need of repair to catch him up with today's world so much as we need to discover the God who goes before us and beckons us forward. A book full of mystery, controversy, and reverence, What We Talk About When We Talk About God has fans and critics alike anxiously awaiting, and promises not to disappoint.

    Bringing together some of the most beloved Christian authors and songwriters of today, Faithful guides readers through the pages of Scripture to increase understanding of how God has always valued the integral role of females and how that shapes the lives of women today.   The Faithful project is a collaboration between three major ministry partners: David C Cook, Integrity Music, and Compassion International. The accompanying album and a 2021 tour of live events celebrates the contributions of women while recognizing their empowerment through the faithfulness of God.   This beautiful, creative book will invite readers to return again and again for reflection and inspiration through guided scripture reading and writing prompts.

    It would alsomake a good RCIA resource as well as a blockbuster stimulus fordiscussions."—Book Nook, Pecos BenedictineThe authors answer the question, "Why Be Catholic?" fairly and squarely, showing a deep appreciation about what is good in Catholicism and a penetrating honesty about the Church's shortcomings. Rohr and Martos also examine what it means to be Catholic in the United States today. Finally, to answer the title question in a more personal way, they present portraits of some outstanding Catholics, especially those we call saints, who have found personal fulfillment by living their faith to the utmost.After reading this book, you will appreciate more fully the unique heritage of the Catholic Church. You will understand how its magnificent tradition enriches the lives of Catholics today and propels the ever-changing Church into the 21st century and third millennium. A popular resource for RCIA, evangelization and religious education.

    

    In this luminous book, he addresses the question of art and faith and their reconciliation with a quiet and moving eloquence."—Martin Scorsese"[An] elegant treatise . . . Fujimura’s sensitive, evocative theology will appeal to believers interested in the role religion can play in the creation of art."—Publishers Weekly Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura’s broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of "making." What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise. Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God's being and God's grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman's words, "an accidental theologian," one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.

    Internalizing society’s devaluation of the feminine, some women are killing their own natural impulses to pursue a feminist ideal that bears no relation to God’s good design. Other women struggle to conform to a fundamentalist, feminine caricature, which requires denying their full humanity and gifting.Defying both feminists and fundamentalists, Julie Roys reveals God’s true, affirming, and compelling vision for women, showing them how to reclaim what is uniquely feminine, and become healthy, balanced women of God.

    Please note that the music files may not play on older devices and we recommend you download a sample before purchase.Celtic Daily Prayer offers an alternative to the cult of the new, drawing on the live of the Celtic Saints, as well as many other writers and thinkers down the ages, to help the modern pilgrim find solid ground in their daily walk with God. It is a unique resource for personal and group devotions, both for daily use and on special occasions.Based around the order for morning and evening prayer, it provides a two year cycle of daily Bible readings, each accompanied by an insightful commentary or quotation. There are liturgies for seasonal events like Easter and Christmas

    And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals.It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas.

    Figuring Out Faith?1- Everyone is Religion2- How Religion Ruins the World3- Getting Rid of Religion Doesn't Help4- God Doesn't Exist to Be Used5- ...& Neither Do You6- THE SOLUTION: Living WITH God7- The "Radical" Life Isn't What You Think8- The World Is A Perfectly Safe Place (Really)9- All You Need Is Love

    What she discovered changed her—and it will change you too.Drawing on the best in recent scholarship and using her well-honed literary expertise, Evans examines some of our favorite Bible stories and possible interpretations, retelling them through memoir, original poetry, short stories, soliloquies, and even a short screenplay. Undaunted by the Bible’s most difficult passages, Evans wrestles through the process of doubting, imagining, and debating Scripture’s mysteries. The Bible, she discovers, is not a static work but is a living, breathing, captivating, and confounding book that is able to equip us to join God’s loving and redemptive work in the world.