So long as some Christians have called themselves Calvinists, other Christians have probably alleged that Calvinists care little about evangelism, missions, and church planting. The critique isn’t new. But only recently have we learned the extent of the zeal and effectiveness of the early reformers in evangelism, missions, and church planting.

According to author and Covenant Theological Seminary professor C. John Collins, “We need a real Adam and Eve if we are to make sense of the Bible and of life.” In his recent book, Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Who They Were and Why You Should Care, Collins sees the Adam and Eve narrative as the “worldview story” of the people of God. He illustrates how that story presupposes a real first couple, and how modern life brings us to the same conclusion. This isn’t just the tale of two people, Collins says; it is fundamentally the story that explains who we are, how we got this way, and what hope we have for any relief. ByFaith Editor Richard Doster asked Collins why the truth about Adam and Eve is so important.

“Wordles” are visual representations of the frequency of words within a passage of text.  We see this all the time on the Internet with “tag clouds” and such.  Of course, what they convey is that, by the frequency of certain words, we can tell how *important* those topics are to the writer, publication, blog owner, and so on.

Here is a Wordle that I found using the entire text of the Book of Esther.  It is interesting how prominent the word “King” is — especially when we remember that this is a book about how there is a King (God) working “behind the scenes” to protect His people and accomplish His will.

Continues at 8:30am