Christian Living, Biblical Studies, Religion, Spiritual Growth, Theology
John Beeson
The Faith of Unbelief

Bart Ehrman has perhaps done more to undermine the credibility of the Bible than anyone else in my lifetime. But his story didn’t begin that way. Ehrman is a New Testament scholar and skeptic. Ehrman grew up in a Christian home, attended a conservative Bible school, and then found his way to a liberal seminary where his faith in the God of the Bible unraveled. That seminary happens to be the seminary I would attend a couple of decades later.

For Ehrman, everywhere he looks he sees holes in the biblical story. The inconsistencies that he sees have led him to determine that he cannot trust in the God of the Bible.

The Faith of Unbelief
Christian Living, Culture, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Don't Numb Your Feelings

“Don’t listen to your feelings; remember what Jesus did for you!”

“Don’t be guided by your feelings; listen to what God commands you to do!”

In just the past week, I heard both of these warnings. Two very different Christian speakers urged their audiences to shut down their feelings. These admonitions resonate. They contain truth. It is correct that our feelings don’t override truth, nor do our emotions negate what God has done. Neither do our feelings give us an out for what God commands us to do.

Don't Numb Your Feelings
History, Spiritual Growth, Suffering, Wisdom
John Beeson
Lord, Reach Your Justice Down

I had outsized emotions as a child. Games, especially, would get the best of me, whether cards or boardgames or sports. In response to a stroke of bad luck, a hot surge of anger would erupt, followed quickly by tears and then embarrassment.

Emotions are God’s gift to us in many ways. They are one of his kind ways of showing us where our deep attachments lie.

Our son started his freshman year at the University of Arizona this fall. It’s been a great experience for him, but not without its adjustments. The climate of a secular school is quite different than the Christian school he graduated from

Lord, Reach Your Justice Down
Culture, Generosity, Nature, Relationships
John Beeson
Marshmallows and Friends

Most have heard of the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment. In 1970, psychologist Walter Mischel invited kids into his lab. A child was offered a marshmallow that they could eat, or, if they waited until the researcher returned, they were given a second marshmallow. About one-third of the kids waited approximately fifteen minutes for the additional reward.

The study then tracked those children over time and found that children who waited for the second reward tended to have higher SAT scores and lower body mass indexes. Later tests have challenged those outcomes, but it hasn’t stopped parents everywhere from running the experiment on their kids, often with humorous results.

Marshmallows and Friends
Christian Living, Culture, Politics
John Beeson
Uprooting Our Political Identity

Happy election day!

In 2016, data scientists Eitan Hersh and Yair Ghitza analyzed data among registered voters to determine how often Democrats and Republicans married. They learned that 9% of marriages had the spouses registered in the two parties. Over the next four years that meager number would drop precipitously, down to 4%.

 As Jonathan Haidt and others have successfully argued, the ideological disparity between FOX News and CNBC are child’s play compared to the engineered social media algorithms that create hermetically sealed echo chambers for our political views.

Uprooting Our Political Identity

Sylvia Shroeder

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This Christmas Week's Recs

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This Christmas Week's Recs

  1. My Christmas Gift Bought With a Child’s Heart: Sylvia Shroeder has a beautiful post. Of the wise men she says, “What greater treasure could they bestow than to fall down at the feet of the divine Christ and worship? The true gifts of the magi didn’t come because of the place they acquired them or the amount they spent. The glint of gold or fragrant scented air could never have equaled the response of their hearts. In an obscure village, to a child lacking world’s fame or prestige, they fell down and worshipped.”

  2. When the Soul Feels Its Worth: Andrea Sanborn reflects, “Jesus was born to a simple girl, lived in humility and sacrificed Himself to find me at my kitchen sink; to find you where you are, meeting us in our obscurity and our wondering.”

  3. 5 Major Concerns About the State of the Bible in the US: Eric Geiger concludes this list with this discouraging fact, “According to the research, only 9% of youth in Gen-Z are engaged with the Scripture. And the youth in Gen-Z are significantly less engaged with the Scripture than Millennials.”

  4. Vaccines, Mandates, and Disagreements: Justin Hale responds to this question, “I have a close friend who recently told me their views on vaccines, mandates, and masks, and now I see them differently. They were vocal and opinionated. I would be lying if I said it hasn’t affected our interactions. I really like my friend, but I feel they aren’t being reasonable or rational on this topic. And every time I think about talking with them, I get annoyed and irritated. What can I do?”

  5. The Spiritual Choir: 4 Carols 4 Christmas: You’ll love this.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       Will You Still Know Me? One of the most beautiful pieces I've read in some time, Sylvia Shroeder shares the story of the removal of her daughter's birthmark and the earnest question her daughter asks her, "Will you still know me?" Shroeder concludes, "Jesus wrote my name in the pages of eternity. He inscribed me on hands wounded by the weight of the sin of humankind. I am bookmarked chosen. When Heidi comes back, a white bandage covers what used to be a brown birthmark. Her eyes are open, searching for me. I lean down, kiss her forehead and whisper, “I know you.”" Read the whole thing, you'll be glad you did. 

2.       When Christians Began Speaking of "The" Antichrist: Did you know that for centuries, Christians spoke of "antichrist" much more frequently than "the antichrist?" Why is that important? Thomas Kidd explains, " For these theologians, antichrist was a power, rather than a single individual, although a single individual might certainly be at the head of world antichristian power."

3.       Does the Bible Teach Generational Curses? Roger Skepple says no. " In Exodus 20:4-6 the subject is idolatry. Regarding those who commit idolatry, we learn that God would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him. Notice, the text says “generations of those who hate Me.” Therefore, we see that God would punish those who imitate their fathers’ idolatrous actions."

4.       Farewell Bible Readers, Hello Bible Quoters: Russell Moore reflects on a growing problem, "Here’s the end-result according to Nienhuis: 'They have the capacity to recall a relevant biblical text in support of a particular doctrinal point, or in opposition to a hot spot in the cultural wars, or in hope of emotional support when times get tough. They approach the Bible as a sort of reference book, a collection of useful God-quotes that can be looked up as one would locate words in a dictionary or an entry in an encyclopedia.'"

5.       The Amazing Story of Kipchoge Keino "Kipchoge Keino or... just Kip, is a retired athlete who ran for the country of Kenya. Throughout his career, Kip earned almost a dozen medals, half of which were gold, for being an amazing middle to long distance runner... [Once] Kip was almost late for his own race and had to (literally) run to get there, then won a gold medal anyway, despite major adversity in that race. "

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