God uses the afflictions of the faithful to silence His enemies. Pain and suffering give us an opportunity to share the gospel and to bear witness to God’s grace and mercy even through adversity. Pain and suffering make us more dependent on God, bring us closer to God, and make us long for heaven.

Adolescence is a time of self-questioning and self-testing, looking outside your immediate sphere for clues about the person you really are. Teens shape their identity the same way babies learn to talk and preschoolers learn proper behavior: They interact with others and respond to feedback, both positive and negative. They encounter their limits.

I’m not sure exactly to whom you are referring with the phrase “the gospel-centered camp” but if you mean the likes of Tim Keller, Bryan Chapell, and Tullian Tchividjian then I would gladly take on that label as well. I am radically centered on the freeing and transforming grace of God in the gospel and am hesitant about much of evangelical pietism. Moralism is not the gospel and I think Jesus focuses on this message very much.

How exactly should businesses go about determining if woman is working to “simply supplement” her husband’s income or working because without her income there wouldn’t be food on the table or a roof over their heads or clothes on their backs?

D’Souza said in a statement that he “had no idea it is considered wrong in Christian circles to be engaged prior to being divorced,” but this raises the question: What if he was not sharing a room with her, would any apparently romantic contact be considered alright?

"The hardened heart of Boston was at least chipped at this past weekend," wrote a student at Emerson College in Boston who attended the conference, "and only God knows if this is really the beginning of a long-awaited thaw."

The role of clerk also gives men the opportunity for job experience and training in a field in which they could serve more substantially later on. We’ve talked to several young men who say that nobody will hire them because they have no work experience, but they have nowhere to get it. If Christian business owners would take on unemployed men as clerks, they would be providing employment and preparation for future employment.

The survey also examines an individual's inclination to adjust their attitude through the statement: "When I realize my attitude does not please God, I take steps to try to fix it." More than 80 percent agree with the statement, but only 32 percent strongly agree. Fifteen percent neither agree nor disagree, and four percent disagree.

Chase the trail of “staying Christian” in seminary long enough, and you’ll realize it’s less about what a special season seminary is and more about what Christianity is in every season of life, in every age of church history, in every place on the planet. Staying Christian in seminary is about staying Christian in general.

If you’re looking for a book on suffering that offers simplistic answers, easy solutions, five-step formulas, and “pull up your bootstraps” triumphalism, don’t buy Glorious Ruin.