Book Review: Rethinking Worldview

Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This W0rld by J. Mark Bertrand

I grew up in a Christian household that analyzed everything. We analyzed ideas in conversations at the dinner table, during chats in the car on the way to town, and in visits with friends in the living room. During these discussions, a belief would be held up to the light, so to speak, and turned over, examined, to see where (or if) it fit into our system, as if it were a puzzle piece that may or may not fit into a half-done jigsaw puzzle. If the discussions in the living room carried on after I was sent upstairs to bed, I’d listen in from the top of the stairs, following the reasoning as well as I could.

So although we never used the term worldview, since it was not commonly used in Christian circles then, I grew up with a basic concept of worldview thinking. When the Christian worldview bandwagon came along and I read a little about it, my first thought was  “ho-hum.” I’d been examining other people’s worldviews and finding them wanting for years, and I wasn’t afraid to ask the sort of questions that showed the incoherence of their systems. Yet, while the exercise was helpful in firming up my own faith, I couldn’t point to one person who had come over to my worldview, even when answering my questions tied them up in knots as they tried to make a coherent system out of their incoherent one. And as I understood it from my surface level reading on the concept of worldview, the whole point was to show how my faith made more sense than their ideology in order to bring them over to my side. Well, it hadn’t proved to be  a sure-fire weapon for me!

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The October Giveaway at Challies.com

To enter this month’s giveaway at Challies.com, simply click on the banner above and fill in the required information.  What will you recieve if you are a winner?

• First prize: One case (Forty copies!) of The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul along with a copy of Jesus the Evangelist by Richard Phillips (that’s a retail value of over $600!). The forty books are not to be sold, but are to be given away or used for evangelism.
  
• Second prize: One copy of Jesus the Evangelist by Richard Phillips and admission for two to the Ligonier Ministries 2008 National Conference, Evangelism According to Jesus.
• Third Prize: One copy of Jesus the Evangelist by Richard Phillips and admission for two to the Ligonier Ministries 2008 National Conference, Evangelism According to Jesus.

This month’s giveaway is sponsored by  Ligonier Ministries.

This post will remain at the top of the blog until the day of the draw. To see newer posts, scroll down.

Italian Sausage Lasagna

This recipe is my contribution to this month’s Recipe Round Up. I don’t often freeze main dishes, but one of the ones I do freeze is lasagna. Most lasagna recipes freeze well, but one of our favorite ways to have lasagna is with Italian sausage and spinach, so I’m sharing a lasagna recipe that has sausage and spinach in it. This will make two 9 x 13 pans of lasagna, one to eat the day you put it together and one to freeze for later.

• 2 lbs. sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 green bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3-28 oz. cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 Tbsps. unsalted butter, melted
• 1-16 oz. bag fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
• 3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• 24 oven ready lasagna noodles
  

1. Crumble and sauté sausage in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until well browned. Drain off fat. Set sausage aside and wipe skillet clean with a paper towel. 
2. Add oil to skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add sliced peppers, sliced onion, and 4 cloves garlic. Cover and cook about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft.
   
3. Stir in tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20-30 minutes. Stir in reserved sausage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set sauce aside.
4. Melt butter in a separate heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sauté 4 cloves garlic about 10 minutes, until soft. Stir in spinach and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
5. Combine ricotta and mozzarella cheese in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
6. Preheat oven to temperature 350°F and lightly oil each 9 x 13 pan.
   
7. Pour 1/6 of the tomato sauce into each pan. Spread evenly.
   
8. Arrange 4 noodles in each pan and spread 1/4 of the spinach mixture over the noodles. Spread 1/4 of the cheese mixture evenly over the spinach in each pan. 
   
9. Repeat this layering process (tomato sauce, noodles, spinach mixture and cheese mixture) once more.
   
10. Top  each pan with 4 more noodles and 1/2 the remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
    
11. Bake about 1 hour, until bubbly and browned on top. Cool 10-15 minutes before serving.
12. Cool the pan for freezing as quickly as possible. Cover it tightly and place in freezer.
    
13. To reheat, place frozen in the oven and turn on heat to temperature 375°F. Bake about 1 hour or until bubbly.
    

Be sure you check out all the other freezer recipes at Motherhood Apologia.