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(Yesterday on the blog: My Favorite “Minor” Museums)
The Industrial Revolution of Shame
Wow. “We are undergoing an industrial revolution in shame. New technologies have radically expanded our ability to make and distribute a product. The product is our judgment of one another. As in past industrial revolutions, the mass manufacture and use of a product previously available to just a few or in small amounts has given us the power to do harm at a previously unthinkable scale.”
Christian Wisdom Amid the Gurus
Samuel James has some interesting analysis here. “To ignore the dynamics into which these gurus write and speak seems to be a way of ensuring that the chaff never gets peeled from the wheat. For good or ill, Hollis, Peterson, and Ramsey are resonating with millions of people, many of whom are Christian, with messages of taking responsibility for life, letting go of shame and excuses, and believing that a better future is possible. Gurus exist to fill gaps—intellectual gaps, emotional gaps, spiritual gaps, etc. How they fill those gaps matters, but the gaps themselves matter too.”
Single Mothers And Their Triune God
And now from another Samuel. “Mom explained it all to me when I was a boy. She was a single mother, but she wasn’t alone. The man of the house abandoned us. But the God of the house wouldn’t forsake us. Mom was a single mother with multiple divine persons who protected her household. Mom was a single mother with a triune God.”
Why a Cat Always Lands on its Feet (Video)
Just like the description says…
On Saying Goodbye
“While we don’t think too theologically when we say the word, perhaps we should. God be with you is acknowledging that from now on, I’m not with you. Goodbyes are the end of relational presence and being physically together. When we are physically present we are able to watch over each other and care for each other. Verbal and non-verbal communication is instantaneous.”
The Goldilocks Principle and Church Size
Joe Carter points out how unexamined assumptions often drive church planting. “I suspect we could do a better job in thinking about how we think about numbers. For example, before we can understand what it means to say a church has plateaued or declined in attendance, we should be able to answer the question, ‘What size should a church be?'”
Matthew 18 is Not Instructive for Book Reviews, But Much of the New Testament Is
Jen Oshman deals something that happens whenever a Christian critically reviews a book. “‘Did you contact the author privately before you posted the review?’ I’ve received this question several times over the last couple weeks, following my review of Rachel Hollis’s most recent book, Girl, Stop Apologizing. The question invokes the well-known, but oft-misunderstood, church discipline passage in Matthew 18:15-20.”
Flashback: 5 Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution
There are at least two ways that God tests you in times of persecution: He tests the genuineness of your faith, and he tests the maturity of your faith.
Trials are intended to make us think—to wean us from the world—to send us to the Bible—to drive us to our knees. —J.C. Ryle