Linkathon!
I couldn’t be prouder of my friends and fellow bloggers…mainstream now in the Washington Post…
Note from theologian entering hospice…
Should Christians throw away morals to win the culture war?
Scholars fear Franklin will cut off access to the Billy Graham archives…
Prayer, power, and proclamation…
Three American religions confused with Christianity…
When Trinitarian theology goes tribal…
Responses to Franklin Graham’s call for prayer for Trump…
God doesn’t love abortion and if you say so, you’re not a real pastor…
Moving deeper into our theological camps…a warning…
The Ubiquitous Google, the Omnipresent God, and the Wisdom to Know the Difference
Christians need to stop cussing…
Lawsuit says church’s abuse coverup caused suicide…
Virtue signaling and historic presentism…
Are you wasting time trying to be happy?
Ten women changing the SBC response to abuse…
More later…thanks to EricL as usual…support him at top right…
1. The link re: the dying theologian is a series of updates on Calvinist/Reformed counselor David Powlinson. I read him and his colleagues, Ed Welch and Paul Tripp, when I was involved in the Reformed/Southern Baptist branch of evangelicalism a few years back.
The posts show a Christian man in the process of dying — learning he has cancer, the ups and downs that come with it, and dealing with the reality of death. If you read any of these links, this is the one to read.
2. Re the cussing article — I learned two new cuss words 🙂
Cussing Christians:
Build Pyramids…check.
Man on the Moon…check.
Invent fresh cuss words …Impossible.
I can still remember the forbidden list from early childhood in a Fundamentalist school.
Like Brian, I learned two new cuss words. As to the topic of cussing/swearing I try to avoid it as much as possible. The reason being is I had such a foul mouth before coming to faith. The same as why I never drink. Came from an alcoholic home and saw up close the lasting damages it causes to others. My brief time drinking would have led to me becoming an alcoholic. Thankfully I never really liked the taste of alcohol.I do not come down on blievers who drink responsibly or who cuss a bit although at times I become a bit uncomfortable.
Did CT ever cover the more recent events of the Harvest saga? I haven’t seen it (besides the EFCA story). I was wondering what they were going to write, given where CT itself fits in the story.
Cussing? Makes me smile.. You couldn’t say darn in !y grandfathers presence because it was a substitute for d*mn… One of my uncle’s favorite expletives wad great scott!
Don’t know if either knew that it was really gries gott! Great God!
I confess I cuss a blue streak often and especially when I don’t read an article before I post it and it’s not really about cussing, but a Calvinist lecture…
EM?
That’s funny. I remember sitting on my little chair in chapel while a pastor held up flash cards with words we couldn’t say cuzz he said they where substitute cuss words meant to bypass the ban on cuss words.
Violations where actualy pretty serious.
My mom swore like a trooper. I didn’t dare out mouth washed out with soap. Not Dove, Fells-Naptha. Once.
After going from Lutheran school in 6th into public school in 7th, I soon talked like everyone else. When I had kids, I tried to dial it back. They sometimes have heard H and D when I’m driving.
This year, S9 brought home very nasty words from school, the worst. D7 repeated them. They each did it out of my earshot then narced on each other to me. 3rd grade public school in East San Jose. I’ve told them that was unacceptable (and explained a bit why), but also tried not to overreact which might encourage them. The last time in my youth I was in public school before my Lutheran stint was in 4th grade and kids didn’t talk like that.
I am so very saddened to see that the “theologian entering hospice” is David Powlison. I sat under David’s teaching for several years as a student in the counseling department of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. I had the privilege of meeting with him personally on one occasion, seeking him for counsel on how to view all my secular training in clinical psychology in light of my newly found fervor for the Bible and how to view all of life “biblically.” (My husband and I were transitioning out of our CC phase and into our reformed phase of faith at that time…)
David was so kind, gentle, and soft-spoken, yet deeply wise and convicting. In all the lectures of his that I sat under, it was profoundly obvious that he had spent many, many hours meditating on scripture and in prayer. I especially loved what he said (referred to in one of the posts in the link) about sin as weakness…this was at the heart of much of what he taught, and was evident in his own self-awareness and his deep compassion for others.
Reflecting back on our time at Westminster, there are many things I am grateful for, and there are things and people with which/whom I no longer agree, but David and all his writing, teaching, and mentoring, is surely one of the best things that ever happened to that place, and he left a profound mark on my thinking. I am so sad to hear of his grave condition, and will be prayer for him and his family.
Sue,
That was a lovely tribute…well done.
Michael,
Thank you. Grateful to be able to give a lovely tribute for a lovely man.
David Powlison was one of the reasons I jumped into the Reformed pool. I saw grace in his writings, grace missing in much of Christianity.
Sue’s tribute is excellent, and as Michael said, well done.
I’ll stop cussing when you pry my gun out of my cold dead hands…
???
(Not cussing at God or at people in anger, that’s different.)
A well-placed cussword has made my day several times.
Snazzlefrack.
New cussword…
BOOM
My Grandmother in law used to say, “Holy Mary Mother of God!” Not sure if that counts, but it works because it borders on the profane. It has too many syllables to be punchy, though.
Now, the fact she was raised Catholic makes it funnier. Maybe it really was profane. It’s all really very contextual. As fluid as a genderless cat…
Watch the movie “A Christmas Story” for some creative and fake swears.
Hosticlefifer!
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUDDDDGGGGGGGGEEE
(Christmas Story reference for those unaware 🙂 )
Ha! The Queen Mary of swear words!
Calling Mary the Mother of God is a cuss word in several Christian traditions. 🙂
My daughter came up with a swear phrase. Rather than taking the name of the Lord in vain she says “L. Ron Hubbard!”
David Powlison has passed away…
The article about the “pastor” who loves abortion is interesting. The morality of the person it is about is infuriating and shallow, but the article itself was interesting. I was vaguely aware of the Didache, but I’d never read it before and had no idea it specified abortion as immoral.