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

Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Lifetimes in landscapes: Brianna Lambert with a wonderfully evocative piece of writing, “He grew up in the foothills of the forest. Where the horizon disappeared behind the blue ridges. He’d spend his days with his eyes lifted towards the clouds that kissed the forehead of the mountaintops.”

  2. How to get the most out of your counseling sessions: Jason Hsieh says, “Just as you would take a doctor’s medical prescriptions seriously. You can do this by regularly reviewing those particular biblical perspectives and following through on any new habits to form that you discuss.”

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Five misconceptions about dechurching in America: Jim Davis and Michael Davis share that, “We’re currently living in the largest and fastest religious shift in U.S. history. Some 40 million adult Americans who used to go to church at least once per month now attend less than once per year. This shift is larger than the number of conversions during the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and the totality of the Billy Graham Crusades combined.”

  2. Immature defenses of ‘mature’ sexual content in movies: Cap Stewart begins, “In a pornified culture like ours, it’s no wonder various scenes from mainstream films and television shows demonstrate a “porn aesthetic” (to borrow a phrase from academic Shelton Waldrep). We’re not just talking about raunchy comedies, erotic thrillers, or TV-MA (“mature audience”) HBO shows. Works of otherwise genuine artistry and quality storytelling can be tainted by the inclusion of a sex scene or two.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Finding contentment in a world of want: Lara d’Entremont is always excellent. She explains, “We miss the mark on this, however, when we seek the virtue of contentment only through positive thinking and gratitude lists. Yes, we should be grateful for all God gives us, but we mustn’t ground our contentment in what fails, fades, or falters. Contentment takes our sights off ourselves and our possessions and focuses on Christ.”

  2. How to pray for a loved one struggling with a mental illness: David Murray concludes this wise article, “For the believer, mental illness can be like a little taste of hell on earth. As such, it can help us to see the horrors of the hell we have been saved from, as well as to long for the health and holiness of heaven, the place where all our diseases and disorders of mind, emotions, and soul will be immediately and fully healed upon entry—a healing our bodies will also fully participate in after the resurrection.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. ‘Bothsideism’ about Hamas is moral failure: Russell Moore offers clarity on the horrifying atrocity in Israel. He begins, “Sometimes certain moments in history reveal in minutes what was concealed for decades. And sometimes those moments of revelation come with hearing oneself say the words, “Yes, but …” or “But what about …” The aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel is not one of those times. In this case, saying who is to blame—and who is not—is not factually or morally difficult at all.”

  2. The baobab: the strangest tree on earth: Have you ever seen one in person? They’re wild. Don Batten and Jerry Bergman share, “They are among Earth’s longest-lived flowering plants, and under normal conditions can grow for over 1,000 years. One baobab was estimated to have lived for 2,600 years. They grow to over 22 metres (75 feet) tall, with a trunk circumference that can exceed 26 m (85 ft).”

  3. As Jesus sleeps: Ed Welch encourages us, “There are, it seems, reasons to worry. Some of his disciples would live homeless and hand-to-mouth. To be penniless is as dangerous as a severe storm. But our God does not worry. His face toward you reveals his rest and favor. During the turbulence of life, his face also reveals his compassion and care.”

  4. On the other side of a church split: Abigail Rehmert, a pastor’s wife, shares, “The heartbreaking drama of the last year beckoned my heart toward resentment, bitterness, and pride. I have been reminded that each day, I must inspect my heart and eyes for the planks that lodge there.”

  5. Every state’s most popular Halloween candy: This is a pretty fun list. Arizona is Hershey Kisses… go figure.

  6. Clone-a-lisa: Need a silly diversion that puts your art skills to the test? Vole has you covered.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Love it or loathe it: Instacart reveals America’s top 15 most polarizing foods. To show you how weird I am, I like all 15! How about you?

  2. A forgetter’s prayer: Melissa Edgington confesses, “I forget. I forget who my Father is. I forget what my Savior looks like. I forget “fear not.” I forget “come to me, and I will give you rest.” All of the reasons to be courageous fade.”

  3. There is something greater than the great commandment: Jacob Crouch begins, “When the lawyer asked Jesus which commandment was the greatest, Jesus gave Him the perfect answer. We call it “The Great Commandment,” and as we read the impeccable wisdom of Jesus, we are encouraged, challenged, and humbled. Christians throughout all time have been, rightly, energized to love God more through this high calling. But I have to say this: There is something greater than the Great Commandment. Before you strike me off as a heretic, hear me out.”

  4. 50 preaching tips in 15 minutes (video): HB Charles’s wisdom is gold.

  5. Bird’s impressive courtship dance moves fail to impress partner: I feel like I’m watching myself in middle school. Poor guy.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Don’t think about elephants: Simon van Bruchem begins, “How good are you at resisting the anxious thoughts that enter your mind? Most of us can find all kinds of things to worry about. It might be our family members, our sin, our finances, any number of things. And this general underlying anxiety is fed when we scroll through the news or social media. What can we do about these things that are making us unhappy, especially when we know that this kind of anxious thinking doesn’t accomplish anything?”

  2. The sermon on the mount is not an impossible standard to make us feel bad: Kevin DeYoung cautions us, “Too many Christians instinctively set aside the commands of Scripture as utterly impossible to obey on any level. The danger with this mindset is not only that we might be disheartened when we shouldn’t be, but that we might not be warned when we should be. Once we convince ourselves that failure is the norm…we won’t take seriously the many warnings given to us in Scripture that people unchanged by the gospel prove themselves to never really have been saved by the gospel.”

  3. The utter folly of the cross: Jeremy Treat helps us look at the cross with fresh eyes, “When the Bible talks about crucifixion, however, it emphasizes not physical pain but rather social shame. Reserved for the scum of society (rebels, slaves, and outcasts), crucifixion was a public spectacle meant to humiliate and dehumanize the victim.”

  4. The astounding diversity of ocean life: Laurent Ballesta’s magnificent photography is on display here.

  5. Wings of wonder: Fun video about “nature’s helicopters.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. They will never understand how much I love them: Jacob Crouch speaks to the heart of every parent. “God has now given me five children, and with each new birth, a strange thing happens.

  2. Jesus said more about hell than anyone in the Bible: Speaking of love, how do we square Jesus’ love with this hard truth?

  3. The list on the door: Andrea Sanborn asks us to consider eternity

  4. Which is the best position to sleep in?

  5. Nature inFocus photography festival winners: India’s annual photography festival has some amazing shots.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. How Naples reinvented the Catacombs of Rione Sanita into a must-see attraction: Wow! This is about as close as you can get to visiting the catacombs without being there.

  2. God knows I love you: Kyle Borg considers Jonah and a conversation with a fellow pastor. He asked his friend, “’Do you love pastoring your church?’ I knew that it was a searching question. I also knew that an honest answer wouldn’t come easily and could be very costly. He paused, and then said: ‘I imagine I feel about my congregation how Jonah felt about Nineveh.’”

  3. What is humility? Nick Thompson begins, “When asked in the early fifth century what three graces a minister needs most, Augustine didn’t think twice before responding, “Humilitas; humilitas; humilitas.” When it came to pastoral graces, the great African bishop awarded humility with gold, silver, and bronze medals.”

  4. The moment animals lock eyes with a photographer: Take a look at these photos! Oh, and you’ll want to click play on the very short videos as well.

  5. The five stages of Costco: I’m sure you don’t relate at all 

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The $40M bet that made South Korea a food and cultural power: Fun story about Gastrodiplomacy (it explains the explosion of Thai restaurants as well). “Gastrodiplomacy, a term first coined by The Economist in 2002, happens when governments try to increase the value and knowledge of their nation through food.”

  2. Daniel’s three tips for surviving the university of Babylon: Catie Robertson and Andrew Selby offer lots of wisdom in this article, “As young men, Daniel and his friends in Babylon studied alongside unbelieving peers to receive a rigorous secular education under a regime that demanded obedience. Daniel’s story can help believing college students not only survive but thrive in their own Babylons. Let’s consider his advice.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. ·  Geopsychology: your personality depends on where you live: Take a look at where you live and have lived on this and see if it lines up. Agreeableness and conscientiousness stood out to me.

  2. ·  The professionals most likely to be paired up in marriage: Andrew Van Dam stuffs a lot more than you might think in this report. He begins, “The top spot goes to medical doctors, according to our analysis of responses to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey over the past decade. Not-that-kind-of-doctors, also known as college professors, come in second.”

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