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

busyness

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. 5 Truths Those with Jobs Need to Hear: Daniel Darling’s post is loaded with important truth. He says, “The gospel changes the way we see our work. It adds a newfound significance. It elevates us from hum-drum, cynical employees to servants of the King. Every day may not feel like heaven, but every day at the job matters in heaven.

2. Wade in the Water: Seth Lewis offers insight on the priests wading in the waters of the Jordan before God parted the river. He says, “the feet of the priests were still wet. They were wet because they had to “wade in the water” before God “troubled the water” for them. They had to obey before they saw the provision.”

3. How to See Mt. Ranier: Rick Conrad with a great little illustration about seeing the Bible as God’s Word, “And so, if you do want to see the glory of Mt. Rainier (and I do recommend it), there are two things that need to happen. First of all, God needs to remove the fog. And secondly, you need to be standing in a place where, if the fog is lifted, you will have a view of the mountain.”

4. Take Time to Be Unproductive: Kelly Kapic’s article hit me between the eyes. He starts his post with this thought, “Søren Kierkegaard, a nineteenth-century Danish theologian and social critic, once wrote in his journal, “The result of busyness is that an individual is very seldom permitted to form a heart.” We sense in our souls he is right. Unrelenting busyness — running here and there, late and in haste, always with more to do than we have time for — stifles the life of the heart.”

5. Be Still: Lee Hutchings confesses, “I never made a conscious decision to avoid or keep away from quiet. But as I evaluate my regular habits and routines, I am startled to observe that most of my day is filled with continuous screens, sounds, and other noise, which in and of themselves can be wonderful and advantageous. I suspect I'm not alone.”

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The Four Villains of Christmas: The Innkeeper

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The Four Villains of Christmas: The Innkeeper

Every self-respecting children’s nativity play has Mary and Joseph greeted by the gruff Innkeeper who rudely tells Mary and Joseph that there’s no room and then, for good effect, slams the door in their faces. What was the motivation of this heartless hotel manager? Why didn’t he find a place for this pregnant woman? Today we met the second villain of Christmas: the Innkeeper.

The biblical story isn’t nearly as clear as to the backstory of this Innkeeper. There is a just a fleeting reference to the incident and that reference only occurs after Jesus’ birth. Luke tells us simply, “And [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”[i]

Unlike last week’s obvious villain: Herod, the Innkeeper is trickier to understand. In the ambiguity, though, we find ourselves and the reality that Christmas reveals in us the sneaky villain of a lack of prioritization. Surely the Innkeeper should have been able to find a place for Mary and her child.

Let’s first briefly consider who this Innkeeper might have been and why he didn’t have room for Mary and Joseph. While we naturally think of the Innkeeper in a modern setting (perhaps you picture a hotel manager in your mind’s eye), that isn’t quite right.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       44% of Americans Believe that Clergy Have a Negative Impact on Society: Ouch! Meanwhile, teachers, doctors, scientists, and military members all have 75%+ who believe they have a positive impact.

2.       The Pros and Cons of Screens Regarding Learning: Nicole Beurkens, a Clinical Psychologist, weighs in on the impact of screen time. She says that "Research also shows  that while some cognitive skills can be strengthened with online  learning games, higher level skills such as critical thinking,  imagination, and the ability to reflect can actually get weaker."

3.       Busyness and Rest: Kevin DeYoung reflects on Jesus maneuvering the demands of the world in a godly way, "Don’t think Jesus is some kind of esoteric teacher who spent His life solely in contemplation. If Jesus ministered in the flesh today, He’d get more emails than any of us. He would have people and the media clamoring for His attention. Jesus did not float above the fray, untouched by the pressures of normal human existence. Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). And that includes the temptation to be sinfully busy. But He wasn’t."

4.       Your Capacity is Defined by Your Character, Not Your Competency: Grateful to Carey Niewhof for this word. "Nobody is going to ever pay you to work on your character. They’ll just fire you if you don’t. The same is also true in your life. Think about it. Nobody is ever going to pay you to work on your character. They’ll just leave you if you don’t. The truth isn’t pretty, but this is how divorce happens, how families fall apart, how kids end up disliking their parents and parents end up resenting their kids. It’s how you find yourself without many friends."

5.       Most Americans Want Little Influence from Religious Leaders: Yikes. This speaks to the steep hill we as religious leaders need to climb to speak into the lives of our neighbors and communities. We shouldn't assume that our voice is welcomed. 

6.       Kidnapper Ants Steal Other Ants Babies--and Brainwash Them: Isn't God's creation wild? You can't make this stuff up.

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The Villains of Christmas: The Innkeeper

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The Villains of Christmas: The Innkeeper

Every self-respecting children’s nativity play has Mary and Joseph greeted by the gruff Innkeeper who rudely tells Mary and Joseph that there’s no room and then, for good effect, slams the door in their faces. What was the motivation of this heartless hotel manager? Why didn’t he find a place for this pregnant woman? Today we met the second villain of Christmas: the Innkeeper.

The biblical story isn’t nearly as clear as to the backstory of this Innkeeper. There is a just a fleeting reference to the incident and that reference only occurs after Jesus’ birth. Luke tells us simply, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”[i]

Unlike last week’s obvious villain: Herod, the Innkeeper is a little trickier to decipher. In the ambiguity, though, we find ourselves and the reality that Christmas reveals in us the sneaky villain of a lack of prioritization. Surely the Innkeeper should have been able to find a place for Mary and her child.

Let’s first briefly consider who this Innkeeper might have been and why he didn’t have room for Mary and Joseph.

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