The Effect of Sin

I have been reading a book lately: Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church by D.A. Carson. I came across a fascinating quote that has some great application. I thought I would toss it out there to foster a little discussion.

"God's gracious 'common grace' assures us that even systems that are deeply structurally flawed will preserve some insight in them somewhere; our sin ensures that even a system closely aligned with Scripture will be in some measure distorted."

I have some to understand this quote as simply saying that no matter how off base the idea/belief is there is a pinch or dash or twinkle somewhere in it of truth. But more than anything, no matter how right we think we have it, or close to the inerrant Scripture we have come, our sin still distorts it in some way. His insight is dead on in my opinion.


PS: Do you hate it when people put IMHO(In My Humble Opinion) on posts? Doesn't saying that preclude you from telling the truth about yourself? Just a side thought.

Seven Questions with Terri Blackstock

1. Current statistics show that pastors have a hard time of managing their time and therefore their devotional time suffers. Please share your method or habit of daily devotional time.


I teach Precept Bible Studies, and whether I’m teaching or just sitting as a student, I usually have some Precept course that I’m working through. So my daily devotional time consists of me studying a book of the Bible and doing the homework in my Precept book, which makes me dig deeply, letting scripture interpret scripture. When I’m not involved in a study, I’ll just pick a section of the Bible and read. But I don’t stop at one or two chapters, usually. I’ll read a whole book in one or two sittings.

After I study or read God’s Word, I always feel the desire to talk to Him, so I usually have a prayer time then.

There are days when my routine is off, that I don’t do any of these things. I’ll go halfway through the day and realize that I didn’t read my Bible. I’m trying to make sure those days happen less often.

2. What do you hope to accomplish by writing Christian fiction?

I hope that I’ll challenge Christians to bear more fruit, and lead unbelievers to Christ. I also hope to teach biblical principles while still telling a page-turning story.

3. Who is your inspiration when it comes to writing? Who do you read when you have free time?

I have a lot of writer friends, so I read a lot of their books. I enjoy Christian writers like James Scott Bell, Brandilyn Collins, Bill Myers, Alton Gansky, Angela Hunt, and many others.

4. What is your greatest passion?

My greatest passion is to whet people’s appetite for the Bible and make them long for Christ.

5. If you could share one thing about the Christian life to encourage all of your readers, what would it be?

That righteous living and biblical principles do work to bring us abundant life.

6. What ministries are you involved in currently?

I teach Precept Bible studies, and lead a prayer group for parents at my church. I also try to be a helpmeet to my husband who teaches a huge Sunday School class of about 150 people.

7. What has been the key to your success as an author?

Perseverance. I’ve been writing for over 22 years, 12 of them in the Christian market. Instead of trying to be a best-seller or award-winner, or working tirelessly to promote my books, I’ve just worked hard to tell the best story I can. Over the years, my readers have multiplied and put me on the best-seller lists. That’s just icing on the cake. But even if my books weren’t selling, I’d still be writing.


Terri Blackstock is a Christian Fiction writer. She is currently writing books for her "Restoration Series". Here is a list of her books. You can get more information about Terri and order her books at her website. Terri is also one of Mrs. OKpreacher and I's favorite authors.