Race and Grace in a Broken World

UPDATE 12/4/2014: Last night was our first Chi Alpha gathering since the Ferguson non-indictment — the same day as the NYC non-indictment. As a prelude to the sermon, I gave a more comprehensive take on race and the gospel. If you’re interested, check out the first few minutes of xastanford.org/sermons?sermon_id=52

I emailed this to the students in my ministry earlier today and they seemed to find it helpful. I share it in the hope that it will also prove useful to you.

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I know many of us are reflecting on racism and justice this week. As a follower of Jesus, I encourage you to remember that the journey Christians are on is a journey alongside “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language.”

Why should we remember that fact? Because it reminds us that racial unity is one of the outcomes of the gospel. Christ brings people together by drawing them to Himself.

So I urge you to think in a Christian way about these issues. Here are some resources to stimulate you.

IF YOU WANT TO ENGAGE WITH SOMETHING BRIEF

If you are wondering where the church has been in the midst of all of this, the answer is front and center. I mention this because it is frequently overlooked:
http://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2014/11/25/what-role-did-clergy-play-during-ferguson-chaos-if-you-looked-for-them-they-were-there

Thabiti Anyabwile has some useful things to say in this eight minute video. He is speaking before the grand jury’s decision was revealed. If you want to read more of him, he blogs at http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/.

White Christians in particular will find Ed Stetzer’s thoughts helpful —  http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/november/decision-in-ferguson-how-should-evangelicals-respond.html

IF YOU WANT TO DIG DEEP

If you have more time this Thanksgiving break and want to go beyond reading an article or two, pick one of these books and dive in:

  • Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian (John Piper) [like many (all?) of Piper’s books it is free on his website as a PDF — http://www.desiringgod.org/books/bloodlines )
  • From Every People and Nation: A Biblical Theology of Race (J. Daniel Hays)
  • Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (Emerson and Smith) [this book is quite critical of the church — it is painful but helpful reading]

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving, and may the Lord continue to heal this broken world.

 

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This is the sort of stuff I hear from students at Stanford. Interesting.

Listening to Young Atheists, Lessons for a Stronger Christianity

When a Christian foundation interviewed college nonbelievers about how and why they left religion, surprising themes emerged. 

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This never occurred to me, but it makes a lot of sense.

Our government will end up thwarting tech innovation and balkanizing the web

…Google Glass + NSA PRISM essentially amounts to a vision in which a foreign country is suddenly going to be flooded with American spy cameras. It seems easy to imagine any number of foreign governments having a problem with that 

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This is a very interesting read, especially because most people who talk about internet porn are either absolutely convinced that it is addictive or are adamantly insisting that it is not.

Was I Actually ‘Addicted’ to Internet Pornography?

Addiction isn’t a term to be thrown around lightly. But some argue that it’s possible to become neurologically dependent on porn. 

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The closing anecdote is chilling.

You commit three felonies a day

In a book called Three Felonies A Day, Boston civil rights lawyer Harvey Silverglate says that everyone in the US commits felonies 

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I wonder if this is true of other disciplines as well. How interesting.

Academic economics is more winner-take-all than you might think

John P. Conley and Ali Sina Onder write (pdf): We study the research productivity of new graduates of top Ph.D. programs in economics.  We find that class rank is as important as departmental rank as predictors of future research productivity. 

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I really do wonder if our society’s legal structure is untenable. There comes a point when there are so many laws that people are forced to ignore or disobey that people must begin to disparage the law more generally. We are certainly there in some people’s minds — how long until contempt for the legal system undermines our ability to function as a society?

No One is Innocent

I broke the law yesterday and again today and I will probably break the law tomorrow. Don’t mistake me, I have done nothing wrong. I don’t even know what laws I have broken. Nevertheless, I am reasonably confident that I 

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Indirect validation of the church planting assessment process.

Google Interview Questions

The famous Google interview questions? They don’t work. Here’s Laszlo Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google: On the hiring side, we found that brainteasers are a complete waste of time. How many golf balls can you fit into an 

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How interesting. Whether this study is valid or not (I have not examined their methodology/data), I think the approach has merit.

The Homeric social network

The structure of the social network among characters in Homer’s Odyssey indicates the story is at least partially based on actual 

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This should not surprise me, but it does.

Who are the three highest paid officials on the Pentagon budget?

The football coaches at Army, Navy and Air Force. Here is more (mostly on other topics), hat tip to @jtlevy.  Here are some comparable answers for state government employees.