In April 2006, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C.J. Mahaney, and Albert Mohler published a statement, “Affirmations and Denials,” as a basis for unity around the gospel as friends and Christian leaders, and as the basis for the formation of a new biannual conference, Together For The Gospel. T4G has become something of a rallying point and a point of identity for pastors who resonate with these affirmations and denials.

I find this statement clarifying, concise, courageous, and convictional. Now, through these videos, the statement is also cool.

Article 1: On The Bible

Article IV: On Expository Preaching in the Church

Article V: On The Extent of God’s Attributes

Article VI: On the Trinity

Article IX: On Evangelism

Article XI: On Law, Grace, and the Gospel

Article XII: On Justification By Faith Alone

Article XV: On Congregations, Associations, and Denominations

Video and audio from this year’s T4G conference is available at the T4G site.

The Economist has published an interesting photo essay of photography and commentary on a number of abandoned and all-but-ruined American ruins. Even as we progress in our understanding and mastery of the material world, everything we touch is still subject to the decay of a fallen world.

Here’s from the introduction:

Abandoned buildings are in mourning. They grieve for the lives that their damp and empty rooms have left behind. In their prime, these monumental breakers, lead works and turbine halls presented a public face to the world. They were the arena where men and women toiled and enterprise ended in success or failure. Now they are shut away, left to mourn in silence.

The columns and pilasters of these immense buildings recall a more assertive past. In that foreign country, powered by coal and steam, the 20th century was young and dynamic. The future held an intoxicating vision of progress. Now the future has arrived and that promise has been left strewn across the tarmac, mingled with broken glass, rusting iron and the encroaching scrub of the woods.

Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, the photographers who took these pictures, have built their professional lives on ruins. Both born in the 1980s, they started photographing derelict buildings in the outskirts of Paris, where they grew up. Since then they have shot America’s abandoned cinemas and its empty office blocks. At first each had his own camera; now they use just one. “Often”, Marchand says, “we cannot remember who took which shot.”

Nothing breaks the law of entropy. View the slideshow here.

Here’s an interesting description of Brad Pitt’s pursuit of a ring suitable for his new fiance, Angelina Jolie. There’s a picture here of the kind of attention and care that husbands are called to give to their wives throughout marriage.

After years of endless speculation, it appears that Hollywood’s Golden Couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, are finally engaged. According to the several reports, it was the couple’s jeweler who spilled the beans that he designed a ring for Jolie, 36, in conjunction with Pitt, 48. Jolie was photographed wearing the ring on April 11 at a private viewing of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Chinese Galleries, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The design process was a reported yearlong collaboration between Pitt and Procop.

“He wanted every aspect of it to be perfect, so Robert was able to locate a diamond of the finest quality and cut it to an exact custom size and shape to suite Angelina’s hand,” the rep said in a statement.

“Brad was always heavily involved, overseeing every aspect of the creative design evolution. The side diamonds are specialty cut to encircle her finger. Each diamond is of the highest gem quality.”

The couple had previously asserted that they would not get married until gay marriage was legalized. But earlier this year, Pitt, who has six children with Jolie, hinted at a change of heart. Pitt told CBS News that their children were putting pressure on them, which caused him to reconsider his earlier position.

“It means something to them,” he said. “We will [get married] someday, we will. It’s a great idea. ‘Get mommy a ring.’ ‘Okay, I will, I will.’”

Of course, there’s no small amount of irony in that last line.