On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- Divine To Divided: How Occupy Central Split Hong Kong’s Christian Leaders (Jayson Albano, Marta Colombo And Maria Cristhin Kuiper, South China Morning Post): “Once on the street, he could see clearly. He could see the crowds forming, and he could see the mounting ranks of riot police. And when he saw those same policemen firing tear gas into the assembled masses one thing became clear in his mind: that his faith in God demanded he act.”
- The oldest human lived to 122. Why no person will likely break her record. (Brian Resnick, Vox): “The authors propose this is a built-in ‘natural limit’ to our longevity, an ‘inadvertent byproduct’ of our biology. And to increase the natural limit we’d need to fundamentally alter our genetics.”
- This is based on a very readable piece in Nature Evidence for a limit to human lifespan (Xiao Dong, Brandon Milholland & Jan Vijg, Nature).
- This finding reminds me of Genesis 6:3, “Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.’”
- I used to support legalizing all drugs. Then the opioid epidemic happened. (German Lopez, Vox): “By the time I began as a drug policy reporter in 2010, I was all in on legalizing every drug, from marijuana to heroin and cocaine. It all seemed so obvious to me. Prohibition had failed…. Then I began reporting on the opioid epidemic.” FYI: this article is long: only read the first two sections unless you’re really into the subject.
- Authors’ note: Deep neural networks are more accurate than humans at detecting sexual orientation from facial images (Michal Kosinski and Yilun Wang, self-published on Google Docs): this note by two Stanford researchers to explain their recent paper is extremely interesting. “We used widely available off-the-shelf tools, publicly available data, and standard methods well known to computer vision practitioners. We did not create a privacy-invading tool, but rather showed that basic and widely used methods pose serious privacy threats.”
- I called Hugh Hefner a pimp, he threatened to sue. But that’s what he was. (Suzanne Moore, The Guardian): “But this man is still being celebrated by people who should know better. You can dress it up with talk of glamour and bunny ears and fishnets, you can talk about his contribution to gonzo journalism, you can contextualise his drive to free up sex as part of the sexual revolution. But strip it all back and he was a man who bought and sold women to other men.”
- Conceptually related: STD rates hit another record high, with California near the top (Soumya Karlamangla, LA Times): “More than a quarter-million Californians were infected with either syphilis, chlamydia or gonorrhea last year, which constitutes a 40% jump compared with five years ago, state officials said.” I am often struck by the fact that STDs would effectively disappear in one generation if people obeyed the Bible.
- Ditto: Pastoring Singles in a Sex-Crazed, Gender-Confused World (Juan Sanchez, Lifeway): “Celibate singleness is a gift from God with a purpose.” This one isn’t just for pastors — recommended to all singles.
- Colin Kaepernick vs. Tim Tebow: A tale of two Christians on their knees (Michael Frost, Washington Post): “They’re both Christian football players, and they’re both known for kneeling on the field, although for very different reasons. One grew up the son of Baptist missionaries to the Philippines. The other was baptized Methodist, confirmed Lutheran, and attended a Baptist church during college. Both have made a public display of their faith. Both are prayerful and devout.” It’s a clever piece, although you should also read the gentle criticism of it at Kaepernick vs. Tebow? Washington Post passes along flawed take on a crucial heresy (Terry Mattingly, GetReligion)
- Interestingly, Kaepernick began kneeling after a meeting with a veteran who told him that merely sitting was direspectful. Kaepernick Meets With Veteran Nate Boyer, Then Kneels During Anthem (Under the Radar) (an article I found after an alumnus shared it on twitter this week — thanks, Hannah!)
- The Abbie Hoffman of the Right: Donald Trump (David Brooks, New York Times): “The members of the educated class saw this past weekend’s N.F.L. fracas as a fight over racism. They felt mobilized and unified in that fight and full of righteous energy. Members of the working class saw the fracas as a fight about American identity. They saw Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin try to dissuade Alejandro Villanueva, a three-time combat veteran, from celebrating the flag he risked his life for. Members of this class also felt mobilized, unified and full of righteous energy.”
- A lot of you seemed to like the graphic I used in this week’s sermon. Here’s a thumbnail, you can download a high-res version from the source at Visual Theology: The Books of the Bible (Tim Challies).
Things Glen Found Amusing
- Worrying Scientist Interviews (xkcd)
- Man Raptured Upon Tasting In-N-Out Burger For First Time (Babylon Bee): cute headline, but Whataburger is better. #justsayin
- Sad: This Guy Knows Exactly How To Fix America’s Race Issues, But Nobody Reads His Facebook Posts (Babylon Bee)
Things Glen Found Interesting A While Ago
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have Every Place Has Detractors. Consider Where They’re Coming From.(Megan McCardle, Bloomerg View): “There is grave danger in judging a neighborhood, or a culture, by the accounts of those who chose to leave it. Those people are least likely to appreciate the good things about where they came from, and the most likely to dwell on its less attractive qualities.” Bear this in mind when listening to conversion testimonies (both secular and religious). (first shared in volume 62)
Why Do You Send This Email?
In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.
Disclaimer
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it).
Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it.
Archives at http://glenandpaula.com/wordpress/category/links.