{"id":5378,"date":"2019-03-29T04:34:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T12:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=5378"},"modified":"2019-03-29T04:34:03","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T12:34:03","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-196","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/03\/29\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-196","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 196"},"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<p>This one is coming out early in the morning because I\u2019m driving back from a mission trip and will be on the road the entire day. When I\u2019m on a mission trip I usually do very brief video blogs (under a minute each) \u2014 you can see the ones for this trip <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZbJZNjNnToo&amp;list=PLlrEWOamtormzmEV9SZIJ4sW4rac-9HHI\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n<ol class=\"simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2019\/march\/china-shouwang-church-beijing-shut-down.html\">China Shuts Down Another Big Beijing Church<\/a> (Kate Shellnut, Christianity Today): \u201cThroughout its 26-year history, Shouwang members have refused to come under Communist authority and persevered despite persecution, with their \u2018underground\u2019 services forced outside when evicted from their buildings in 2009 and with their founding pastor Jin Tianming under house arrest since&nbsp;2011.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getreligion.org\/getreligion\/2019\/3\/24\/chinas-muslim-gulag-is-tough-to-cover-but-a-few-reporters-arent-giving-up\">China\u2019s Muslim gulag is tough to cover, but a few reporters aren\u2019t giving up<\/a> (Julia Duin, GetReligion): \u201cOne of the mosques in Kashgar, it added, has been transformed into a hookah lounge. A city that was once a world center for traditional Islamic and Central Asian architecture is now Disneyland meets <em>Aladdin<\/em>, (a fairytale that originally was set in China, by the way). It\u2019s tough covering China and the journalists who try to do it well inevitably end up expelled.\u201d This is a good summary of reporting on one of the most wicked government programs in the world right now. Highly recommended.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/23\/opinion\/electoral-college.html\">A Case for the Electoral College<\/a> (Ross Douthat, New York Times): \u201cIs there a case for a system that sometimes produces undemocratic outcomes? I think so, on two grounds. First, it creates incentives for political parties and candidates to seek supermajorities rather than just playing for 50.1 percent, because the latter play is a losing one more often than in a popular-vote presidential system. Second, it creates incentives for political parties to try to break regional blocs controlled by the opposition, rather than just maximizing turnout in their own areas, because you win the presidency consistently only as a party of multiple regions and you can crack a rival party\u2019s narrow majority by flipping a few states.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/quillette.com\/2019\/03\/19\/an-interview-with-lisa-littman-who-coined-the-term-rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria\/\">An Interview With Lisa Littman, Who Coined the Term \u2018Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria\u2019 <\/a>(Jonathan Kay, Quillette): \u201cAlthough there have been speculations about my affiliations, I am not a religious or political conservative and I am not a radical feminist. No organizations funded my study. That means that I pay out-of-pocket for research-related costs like printing, traveling to academic conferences, publication fees, etc. And because I do not earn my livelihood providing transition services or referrals for transition, and I have not personally (nor has my spouse or children) experienced gender dysphoria or transition, I have far fewer conflicts of interest than many of the current researchers in this field.\u201d Fascinating interview.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2019\/03\/western-civilization-revelation-reason-worth-defending\/\">How the West Changed The World For the Better<\/a> (Ben Shapiro, National Review): \u201cThanks to the West, billions of human beings no longer suffer in abject poverty; thanks to the West, democracy is seen as both the moral and the practical default position for aspiring governments; thanks to the West, individualism has been able to gain ground against the natural tribalism endemic to human beings. The history of the West isn\u2019t a history of unalloyed greatness: It is replete with suffering and tyranny and slavery and misery. But all of those evils are present in every civilization historically. The question is why the West changed the&nbsp;world.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>A mostly-negative review of a related book Shapiro just published: <a href=\"https:\/\/quillette.com\/2019\/03\/28\/the-right-side-of-history-a-review\/\">The Right Side of History\u2014A Review<\/a> (Jared Marcel Pollen, Quillette): \u201c\u2026Shapiro\u2019s attempt to demonstrate that secular civilization needs to rekindle the Judeo-Christian teachings upon which it is based, inadvertently shows us why we were right to leave them behind in the first place.\u201d I have not read Shapiro\u2019s book, but many of the specific criticisms Pollen makes are not very persuasive. For example, it is a conventional enough position among experts that modern science arose due to Christianity that I have had students tell me that they were taught it in history courses at Stanford.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2019\/03\/the-real-reasons-american-evangelicals-support-israel\/\">The Real Reasons American Evangelicals Support Israel<\/a> (David French, National Review): \u201cThe [common media] explanation goes something like this \u2014 Evangelicals believe that the rebirth of Israel is hastening not just the second coming of Christ, but a particular <em>kind<\/em> of second coming, one that includes fire, fury, and war that will consume the Jewish people.\u2026 But the true narrative of American Christian support for Israel is substantially different. The intellectual and theological roots of Christian Zionism do not rest in end-times prophesies but rather in Old Testament promises.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>One example of a much broader phenomenon. I very rarely recognize myself or my peers in media explanations of \u201cwhy evangelicals believe ______ about _______.\u201d Or even just \u201cevangelicals believe ______\u201d. I find this puzzling because it\u2019s not as though we don\u2019t have regular gatherings where we explain what we believe to anyone who will listen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/2019\/03\/openly-gay-christian-buttigieg-challenges-religious-right.html\">Openly Gay, Openly Christian Buttigieg Challenges the Religious Right<\/a> (Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine): \u201cAs Barack Obama once convincingly argued, doubt about what God wants people to do politically is an important part of an attitude of humility which used to be called \u2018the fear of God.\u2019\u201d It is interesting how many of the Democrats seeking nomination are outspoken about their&nbsp;faith.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/ct\/2019\/march-web-only\/black-and-evangelical-why-i-keep-label.html\">Black and Evangelical: Why I Keep The Label<\/a> (Brandon Washington, Christianity Today): \u201cI too have been wounded by evangelicalism\u2019s posture toward social ethics. But I have concluded that an exodus of ethnic minorities amounts to segregation of the movement and only contributes to the problem. So I remain.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/local-man-excited-to-learn-inspirational-cs-lewis-quotes-available-in-book-form\">Local Man Excited To Discover Hundreds Of Inspirational CS Lewis Quotes Now Available In Book Form<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/evangelicals-relieved-their-president-now-only-guilty-of-paying-off-porn-stars\">Evangelicals Relieved Their President Now Only Guilty Of Paying Off Porn Stars, Models<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/dilbert.com\/strip\/2019-03-26\">Why Is Dilbert Arrogant?<\/a> (Dilbert)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2019\/03\/29\">A Warm Blanket of Goodness<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/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=\"https:\/\/dougwils.com\/books\/dealing-with-nuisance-lust.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dealing With Nuisance Lust<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Douglas Wilson, personal blog): \u201cMinimize the seriousness of this, but not so that you can feel good about indulging yourself. Minimize the seriousness of it so that you can walk away from a couple of big boobs without feeling like you have just fought a cosmic battle with principalities and powers in the heavenly places, for crying out loud. Or, if you like, in another strategy of seeing things rightly, you could nickname these breasts of other woman as the \u2018principalities and powers.\u2019 Whatever you do, take this part of life in stride like a grown-up. Stop reacting like a horny and conflicted twelve-year-old boy.\u201d (first shared in <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2018\/04\/20\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-148\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">volume 148<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/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). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent.<\/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>If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/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. This one is coming out early in the morning because I\u2019m driving back from a mission trip and will \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/03\/29\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-196\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 196\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":"Stuff from China to Israel, with stops for other sundry content.","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":[125,148,113,117,116,138],"class_list":["post-5378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-china","tag-israel","tag-lgbtq","tag-politics","tag-race","tag-religious-freedom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1oK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378","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=5378"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5381,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378\/revisions\/5381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}