{"id":4796,"date":"2017-12-08T19:22:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-09T03:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=4796"},"modified":"2017-12-08T19:22:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-09T03:22:22","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-130","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/12\/08\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-130","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 130"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>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&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n<h3>Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n<ol class=\"simple-list\">\n<li>There is a small but vocal group of skeptics who claim that Jesus never existed. Larry Hurtado, a professor of early Christianity, takes them down in a series of blog&nbsp;posts.&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/larryhurtado.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/02\/why-the-mythical-jesus-claim-has-no-traction-with-scholars\/\">Why The Mythical Jesus Claim Has No Traction With Scholars<\/a> (Larry Hurtado, personal blog): \u201cThe attempts to deny Jesus\u2019 historical existence are, for anyone acquainted with the relevant evidence, blatantly silly.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/larryhurtado.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/06\/focus-focus-focus\/\">Focus, Focus, Focus!<\/a> (Larry Hurtado, personal blog): \u201cAnother reader seems greatly exercised over how much of the Jesus-tradition Paul recounts in his letters, and how much Paul may have known\u2026. Paul ascribes to Jesus a human birth, a ministry among fellow Jews, an execution specifically by Roman crucifixion, named\/known siblings, and other named individuals who were Jesus\u2019 original companions (e.g., Kephas\/Peter, John Zebedee). &nbsp;Indeed, in Paul\u2019s view, it was essential that Jesus is a real human, for the resurrected Jesus is Paul\u2019s model and proto-type of the final redemption that Paul believes God will bestow on all who align themselves with&nbsp;Jesus.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/larryhurtado.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/07\/gee-dr-carrier-youre-really-upset\/\">Gee, Dr. Carrier, You\u2019re Really Upset!<\/a> (Larry Hurtado, personal blog): \u201cThis example will adequately serve to illustrate why Carrier\u2019s work hasn\u2019t had any impact in scholarly circles.&nbsp; He gets himself into a muddle.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/07\/opinion\/four-questions-american-greatness.html\">Four Questions About American Greatness<\/a> (Bret Stephens, New York Times): Difficult to excerpt but good. Stephens says America is great and that to retain our greatness we must have a proper attitude toward immigrants, independent thinking, failure, and global leadership. Recommended by a friend \u2014 thank&nbsp;you!<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2017\/12\/a-police-killing-without-a-hint-of-racism\/546983\/\">A Police Killing Without a Hint of Racism<\/a> (Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic): \u201cNo unjust killing of a black person should go uncovered. But I suspect it would be in everyone\u2019s interest if journalists and activists paid more attention to egregious police killings of white people. If you\u2019re horrified by Daniel Shaver\u2019s untimely death, yet against Black Lives Matter, consider that Shaver might well be alive if only the Mesa police department had long ago adopted reforms of the sort that Black Lives Matter suggests.\u201d There is a follow-up article \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2017\/12\/footage-of-a-police-killing-that-jurors-didnt-punish\/547868\/\">Footage Of A Police Shooting Jurors Chose Not To Punish<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1144504\/the-world-is-relying-on-a-flawed-psychological-test-to-fight-racism\/\">The world is relying on a flawed psychological test to fight racism<\/a> (Olivia Goldhill, Quartz): \u201cmeta-analyses showed that the [Implicit Association Test] is no better at predicting discriminatory behavior (including microaggressions) than explicit measures of explicit bias, such as the Modern Racism Scale, which evaluates racism simply by asking participants to state their level of agreement with [racist statements].\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bpnews.net\/50017\/survey-evangelical-label-beliefs-often-at-odds\">Survey: Evangelical Label, Beliefs Often At Odds<\/a> (Bob Smietana, Baptist Press): \u201cFewer than half of those who identify as evangelicals (45 percent) strongly agree with core evangelical beliefs\u2026. Only two-thirds (69 percent) of evangelicals by belief self-identify as evangelicals.\u201d This is important to remember both when reading the news and when talking with others \u2014 the label evangelical doesn\u2019t mean what it should. Usefully illustrated <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dukekwondc\/status\/938998880057753600\">in visual form<\/a> on Twitter.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/tech\/elements\/origin-silicon-valley-dysfunctional-attitude-toward-hate-speech?mbid=synd_digg\">The Origin of Silicon Valley\u2019s Dysfunctional Attitude Toward Hate Speech<\/a> (Noam Cohen, The New Yorker): \u201cCensoring a newsgroup, he explained to those who might not be familiar with Usenet, was like pulling a book from circulation. Since \u2018Mein Kampf\u2019 was still on the library shelves, it was hard to imagine how anything else merited removal.\u201d The article is about Stanford, and it led me to entirely different conclusions than the author intended.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/roy-moore-eschatological-politics\/\">The Church\u2019s Fate Is Not Electoral: Our Roy Moore Moment<\/a> (Greg Forster, Gospel Coalition): \u201dThere are no Flight 93 moments for the church; there never have been and never will be. Certainly God\u2019s people will continue to face persecution from worldly powers, as we always have. But the idea that we have to compromise moral standards in order to prevent the destruction of the church reflects an appalling failure to grasp where the church\u2019s fate really lies. The church\u2019s fate is not electoral; it\u2019s eschatological. The church\u2019s triumph over its enemies comes with the King\u2019s return.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday about the Colorado baker who refuses to bake cakes for events he find objectionable \u2014 including gay weddings.&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/2017\/12\/argument-analysis-conservative-majority-leaning-toward-ruling-colorado-baker\/\">Argument analysis: Conservative majority leaning toward ruling for Colorado baker<\/a> (Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog): \u201cAlthough making predictions based on oral argument is always dangerous, it seemed very possible that there are five votes for Phillips among the court\u2019s more conservative justices, even if it is less clear how broadly they will&nbsp;rule.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/04\/opinion\/first-amendment-wedding-cake.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=opinion&amp;region=rank&amp;module=package&amp;version=highlights&amp;contentPlacement=2&amp;pgtype=sectionfront&amp;_r=0\">A Baker\u2019s First Amendment Rights<\/a> (Robert P. George and Sherif Girgis, New York Times): \u201cYou need the First Amendment precisely when your ideas offend others or flout the majority\u2019s orthodoxies. And then it protects more than your freedom to speak your mind; it guards your freedom not to speak the mind of another.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-big-idea\/2017\/12\/6\/16741602\/masterpiece-cakeshop-same-sex-wedding\">We\u2019re lawyers who support same-sex marriage. We also support the Masterpiece Cakeshop baker.<\/a> (Douglas Laycock &amp; Thomas Berg, Vox): \u201cThe case tests the nation\u2019s commitment to liberty and justice for all. And we aren\u2019t doing well on the part about \u2018for all.\u2019 Too many Americans, left and right, religious and secular, want liberty for their own side in the culture wars, but not for the other side.\u201d The authors are not just lawyers \u2014 they are professors of constitutional law.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/04\/opinion\/gay-marriage-cake-case.html\">How Not To Advance Gay Marriage<\/a> (David Brooks, New York Times): \u201cIf you want to know why we have such a polarized, angry and bitter society, one reason is we take every disagreement that could be addressed in conversation and community and we turn it into a lawsuit. We take every morally supple situation and we hand it over to the legal priesthood, which by necessity is a system of technocratic rationalism, strained slippery-slope analogies and implied coercion.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Things Glen Found Amusing<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tFUKsthR-Ts\">Chad and JT Fight For House Parties at the LA City Council meeting<\/a> (YouTube): American democracy clearly has a long and vibrant future<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/nation-fondly-remembers-time-just-two-years-ago-everyone-said-gay-marriage-wouldnt-affect-christians\/\">Nation Fondly Remembers Time Just Two Years Ago When Everyone Said Gay Marriage Wouldn\u2019t Affect Christians<\/a> (Babylon Bee) seriously, though<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/love-life-none-business-says-couple-forcing-business-owner-approve-love-life\/\">\u2018Our Love Life Is None Of Your Business,\u2019 Says Couple Forcing Business Owner To Approve Their Love Life<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/millennial-pays-0-taxes-outraged-will-still-pay-0-taxes\/\">Millennial Who Pays $0 In Taxes Outraged She Will Still Pay $0 In Taxes<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2017-12-06\/millions-are-hounded-for-debt-they-don-t-owe-one-victim-fought-back-with-a-vengeance\">Millions Are Hounded for Debt They Don\u2019t Owe. One Victim Fought Back, With a Vengeance<\/a> (Zeke Faux, Bloomberg): \u201cIn method, Therrien was like a prosecutor flipping gangster underlings to get to lieutenants and then the boss. In spirit, he was a bit like Liam Neeson\u2019s vigilante character in the movie Taken\u2014using unflagging aggression to obtain scraps of information and reverse-engineer a criminal syndicate. Therrien didn\u2019t punch anyone in the head, of course. He was simply unstoppable over the phone.\u201d This is a gratifying story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Things Glen Found Interesting A While&nbsp;Ago<\/h3>\n<p>Every week I\u2019ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.peterkreeft.com\/topics-more\/20_arguments-gods-existence.htm\">20 Arguments For God\u2019s Existence<\/a> (Peter Kreeft, personal website): \u201cYou may be blessed with a vivid sense of God\u2019s presence; and that is something for which to be profoundly grateful. But that does not mean you have no obligation to ponder these arguments. For many have not been blessed in that way. And the proofs are designed for them\u2014or some of them at least\u2014to give a kind of help they really need. You may even be asked to provide help.\u201d The author is a philosophy professor at Boston College. (first shared in <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/09\/01\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-116\">volume 116<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h3><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (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.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) 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\u2019ll usually mention it).<\/p>\n<p>Also, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n<p>Archives at <a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&nbsp;way. Things Glen Found Interesting There is a small but vocal group of skeptics who claim that Jesus never existed. \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/12\/08\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-130\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 130\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,124,152,160,113,117,172,132],"class_list":["post-4796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-america","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-free-speech","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-lgbtq","tag-politics","tag-racism","tag-supreme-court"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1fm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4796"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4802,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796\/revisions\/4802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}