Linkathon!
10th annual State of the Bible survey…“The proportion of Americans who use the Bible daily also fell to fewer than one in ten (9%), the lowest number on record during the ten years of the State of the Bible research study.”
Manning up America’s evangelicalism…“But evangelical support for Trump was no aberration, nor was it merely a pragmatic choice. It was, rather, the culmination of evangelicalsâ embrace of militant masculinity, an ideology that enshrines patriarchal authority and condones the callous display .”
Pruning…“Covid 19 has swept through our world and our lives like a pruning knife, cutting out large portions of things we thought we couldnât live without. Pruning doesnât just trim away the excess and the dead; it gouges to the heart of the flourishing, a harsh process designed to bring forth future abundance. But for now, our branches are bare. We feel stripped.”
J.I. Packer was the Robin Hood of evangelicalism….“The prominent theologian âstoleâ riches from church history and gave them to the spiritually impoverished.”
Fellowship Church spreads Gospel and COVID-19 at Allaso Ranch…“Keystone Church in Keller, TXÂ is under fire from parents who want answers about the number of COVID-19 cases among teens returning from a camp experience sponsored by the church.”
Church in the Time of Covid-19 or What If This Is the New Normal?…“In short, because of the continued rise in infection rates, it doesnât look like weâll be getting back together face-to-face anytime soon. And if thatâs the case, we have to ask some painful but obvious questions.”
Coronavirus, Conspiracy Theories, and the Ninth Commandment…should be required reading…”The good news is that weâre often wildly wrong about the nefarious intentions or beliefs of our political opponents. The bad news is that there does not seem to be a Christian exception to these polarizing trends.”
I’m not God...”Godâs sovereignty relieves me of a great responsibilityâthe responsibility of assuming the role of God.”
10 Church Phrases That Really Need to Go Away...”The church environment can be a funny one. In it, we often use words and phrases no one else uses â and sometimes the are very good reason that they donât.”
But I didn’t mean to be racist…“In all the conversations about whether a person meant to be racist, what is lost is the damage done to other image bearers.”
As pandemic wears on, faith leaders dig in on life or death decisions…âThereâs a lot of anger, grief, lament, and a lot of hurts, but slowly people are realizing that this is exactly the kind of moment we have been called to act upon as faithful people,â
The Gospel and the Passion for Judgment…“The parable of tares, or weeds (Mt 13:24-30, 35-43) offers wisdom for the circumstances we face today.”
Should We Repudiate Americaâs Past or Its Present?…”There is now some push-back against the angst-ridden repudiation of Americaâs history and culture on the part of Americans themselves”.
How Would It Begin? The Early Signs of Totalitarianism…Roger Olson warns that the seeds are planted…
How Should We Pray?…“It is one thing to pray against deathâs slow and aggressive assault on Godâs creation. It is another to trust in the one who has conquered the grave.”
Linkathon! is always brought to you by Reader Hill…
Regarding the church phrases that should go away, I’ve never understood the widespread use of the phrase “hedge of protection’, the only person in the Bible who uses that phrase is Satan (in the book of Job). Does anyone even know that anymore? The article didn’t even mention it.
sarahmorgan,
I doubt that is common knowledge…good point!
“Embrace the militant masculinity”
” enshrine patriarchal authority”
“Condones the callous display”
Weeeel….
If you are a male, i hope we celebrate that as God’s design
If you are the patriarch of your family, take it as an honor and a responsibility to show strength, good judgement and compassion – leave a legacy of Christian character
What’s a callous display? Incompetent bullying?
Embrace, enshrine and condone? ? ? And distort? Don’ think so….
We hold up bad examples of the races (all races have them at the bottom and at the top-so-called) and we say, “See what they are ! They’re all like that, ya know.” That’s a racist
to call a bad actor a bad actor is NOT racist – God in your mercy, give us discernment
Speaking of hedge of protection….
https://babylonbee.com/news/genetic-engineers-develop-highly-effective-new-species-protection-hedge
And for each of those of those 10 phrases that really need to go away, the Babylon Bee has probably satired. For #10, here is a handy item that will make that phrase “JUST” go away:
https://babylonbee.com/news/new-prayer-app-delivers-electric-shock-every-time-user-says-just
âEmbrace the militant masculinityâ
â enshrine patriarchal authorityâ
âCondones the callous displayâ
WeeeelâŠ.
If you are a male, i hope we celebrate that as Godâs design
There’s plenty of debate and discussion about patriarchy, equality and masculinity these days.
Seems to me it’s a hell of a lot more important to focus on character issues — as in, “What kind of man are you — what character traits do you display?” To me, the structures are secondary — but they’re not irrelevant, either. For example, if it’s common for patriarchal societies to enslave people, then those structures should be examined and maybe changed or discarded. IMHO.
bob1, without a focus on character, nothing else matters
BUT. đ
God has the final word on what defines character – exploiters and bullies among other traits, are NOT people of good character.
Em,
I agree. Hard to argue with those assertions!
We are all racist to some degree or another and to deny that isn’t racist at all, it’s either ignorance or a refusal see.
However being racist does not necessarily mean it’s about the color of ones skin.
There is something in us which can only be seen when we take an active pause and look.
Here’s a great link about what is going on these days:
“That human beings start out crooked and prone to sin means we require strong social institutions meant to form us, and that we cannot thrive in their absence. ”
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/anthropology-defines-the-right/
MM,
Thanks for sharing this article. AEI is an old con and neocon think tank that’s been around for a long time.
Question for you: do you believe that this POV is completely compatible with Xnity?
“That human beings… start out prone to sin….. [DOES] require strong social institutions….” Yes, we, as a nation/ society, cannot THRIVE without them…. BUT……
Who gets to form and support those standard bearers?
Some among us would make very poor, (maybe bad even from what i see), choices
Oh, Lord Jesus, we need YOU ! ! !
To be honest Bob1 I really donât know.
When I asked the question how the races evolved, since there appears to originally be only one human race, I was taught decades ago the answer lies in anthropological study.
Basically people group with others they either like to be around or are forced to be around. As humans moved about the world and became isolated as groups those traits which were preferred became dominant. Some teach the weather or climate was a deciding evolutionary factor of which traits remained, however that theory really doesnât hold scientific scrutiny.
These days we, or we used to, have access to many people groups and the homogenization of human traits is happening. However racism is really about not wanting our neighbor to disturb our equilibrium and resources. It is truly inherent in all of us and thus the command to âlove our neighbor…â comes down from God.
Original question, I donât know how compatible anything really is.
My best answer and discussion, thank you for asking.