{"id":5433,"date":"2019-05-10T18:47:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T02:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=5433"},"modified":"2019-05-10T18:47:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-11T02:47:57","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-202","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/05\/10\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-202","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 202"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<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>\n\n    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\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"simple-list wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2019\/05\/the-first-rule-of-social-media-censorship-is-that-there-are-no-rules\/\">The First Rule of Social-Media Censorship Is That There Are No Rules<\/a> (David French, National Review): \u201cThe great value of viewpoint neutrality is that it comports with our sense of fundamental fairness. It hearkens back to the image of the blindfolded Lady Justice, holding her scales, indifferent to the power or privilege of her petitioners. Twitter and Facebook have removed the blindfold, thrown away the scales, and chosen to wield only the&nbsp;sword.\u201d<ul><li>Related but less aggressive: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/05\/03\/opinion\/facebook-free-speech.html\">Facebook\u2019s Unintended Consequence<\/a> (Bret Stephens, New York Times): \u201cThe deeper problem is the overwhelming concentration of technical, financial and moral power in the hands of people who lack the training, experience, wisdom, trustworthiness, humility and incentives to exercise that power responsibly.\u201d<\/li><li>Related but with a different emphasis: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/web-exclusives\/2019\/05\/the-big-tech-threat\">The Big Tech Threat<\/a> (Josh Hawley, First Things): \u201cMy thesis is that the evidence strongly suggests there is something deeply troubling, maybe even deeply wrong, with the entire social media economy. My thesis is that it does not represent a source of strength for America\u2019s tomorrow, but is rather a source of peril.\u201d A transcript of a speech given by a US Senator who is a Stanford grad and who was speaking at the Hoover Institution.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/05\/06\/opinion\/vaccines-religious-freedom.html\">We Are Taking Religious Freedom Too Far<\/a> (Margaret Renkl, New York Times): \u201cReligious faith is a private matter between a believer and God. But how a believer lives in community with other people is something different altogether. It\u2019s time to stop giving believers a pass just because their beliefs happen to run counter to the laws of the nation they live&nbsp;in.\u201d<ul><li>In response: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/new-york-times-wrong-religious-liberty\/\">A New York Times Op-Ed Is Very Wrong About Religious Liberty<\/a> (David French, National Review): \u201cShe formulates religious liberty like this: \u2018In this country, citing religious or spiritual convictions is often a surefire way to get out of doing something you\u2019re required by law to do.\u2019 This is a common framing on the left. Essentially, it\u2019s an argument that religious freedom is an intrusion into the law and that religious people are engaged in a form of special pleading \u2014 seeking rights and exemptions unavailable to other Americans. In reality, the First Amendment is supreme, and when states seek to intrude on religious liberty, <em>they\u2019re<\/em> trying to get out of something they\u2019re required by law to do. Respecting the First Amendment is the default obligation of the federal government and every state and local government in the United States.\u201d<\/li><li>Related but on a different topic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2019\/05\/hhs-trump-religious-freedom\/588697\/\">Health and Human Services and the Religious-Liberty War<\/a> (Emma Green, The Atlantic): \u201cThe conflict between religious liberty, LGBTQ rights, and abortion access is about to intensify. In the coming weeks or months, HHS is expected to issue a revised version of Rule 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which extended nondiscrimination protections to transgender people and women who have terminated pregnancies. The Supreme Court is also slated to consider civil-rights protections for LGBTQ individuals in several high-profile upcoming cases; while those cases mostly involve protections provided under employment law, they similarly pit religious liberty against LGBTQ rights.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/spiritualfriendship.org\/2019\/05\/05\/agapao-and-phileo-by-the-sea-of-tiberias\/\">Agap\u00e1o and Phil\u00e9o by the Sea of Tiberias<\/a> (Ron Belgau, Spiritual Friendship): \u201cAfter breakfast, Peter and Jesus had a conversation which raises an interesting question about how to understand the verbs for love\u2014<em>agap\u00e1o<\/em> and <em>phil\u00e9o<\/em>\u2014used in the original Greek\u2026. The passage is difficult to translate because although English has always had separate nouns for \u2018love\u2019 and \u2018friendship,\u2019 no English speaker prior to Mark Zuckerberg used \u2018friend\u2019 as a verb. Translators, therefore, must either translate both words as \u2018love,\u2019 which loses a potential nuance in the original, or else must try to somehow make the difference apparent in English.\u201d This is the most satisfying explanation of this passage I have&nbsp;heard.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/2019\/04\/29\/american-church-admit-wrong-gays-lesbians-lgbtq-column\/3559756002\/\">American churches must reject literalism and admit we got it wrong on gay people <\/a>(Oliver Thomas, USA Today): \u201cChurches will continue hemorrhaging members and money at an alarming rate until we muster the courage to face the truth: We got it wrong on gays and lesbians. This shouldn\u2019t alarm or surprise us. We have learned some things that the ancients \u2014 including Moses and Paul \u2014 simply did not know. Not even&nbsp;Jesus\u2026\u201d<ul><li>The author is a retired American Baptist minister.<\/li><li>In response: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaeljkruger.com\/oliver-thomas-usatoday-says-the-american-church-got-it-wrong-on-gay-people-and-hes-right\/\">Oliver Thomas @USATODAY Says the American Church Got it Wrong on Gay People\u2014And He\u2019s Right<\/a> (Michael Kruger, personal blog): \u201cIn this way, Thomas is right. The church is killing itself, if by the \u2018church\u2019 one means the mainline denominations who have abandoned biblical authority. Indeed, statistics have shown, plainly and incontrovertibly, that the mainline denominations are dying and the bible-believing ones are growing.\u201d<\/li><li>In response: <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/05\/06\/no-christianity-doesnt-need-endorse-homosexuality-grow\/\">No, Christianity Doesn\u2019t Need To Endorse Homosexuality To Grow<\/a> (Glenn Stanton, The Federalist): \u201cWhen same-sex-attracted Christians go to church, they are not choosing the pews of churches Thomas is calling us to become. Again, it\u2019s just the opposite. Research conducted jointly at Columbia University and the University of California at Los Angeles by scholars who are not shy about supporting gay politics found that gay- and lesbian-identified people are 2.5 times more likely to attend churches that took a more conservative view on Christianity (including homosexuality) than the so-called \u2018welcoming and affirming\u2019 congregations that celebrate it.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2019\/5\/9\/18410886\/ben-shapiro-right-side-of-history\">What\u2019s wrong with America? I debate Ben Shapiro.<\/a>(Sean Illing, Vox): \u201cThere are basically two visions of American history. One is that America was founded on great moral principles that we failed to live up to historically and we\u2019ve been striving to fulfill. The other is that America is rooted in racism, bigotry, sexism, and homophobia, and that these great moral principles were the founders merely flattering themselves.\u201d<ul><li>This is a very good exchange. Whichever side you\u2019re sympathetic to, you\u2019ll enjoy reading this interview.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6YXzywDWc1k\">Why God Is a He<\/a> (Dennis Prager, YouTube): five minutes. It\u2019s an interesting way to approach the issue. As a Christian I would make a different argument connected to the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus as a male, but Prager is an observant Jew and so that line of thinking is unavailable to&nbsp;him.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/religioninpublic.blog\/2019\/05\/07\/are-all-republicans-biblical-literalists-are-all-democrats-heretics\/\">Are All Republicans Biblical Literalists? Are All Democrats Heretics?<\/a>(Ryan Burge, Religion in Public): \u201cWith the release of the 2018 wave of the General Social Survey data, I think that it\u2019s time to take stock of how a person\u2019s view of the Bible is related to their political affiliation. Are there biblical literalists who are Democrats? How many Republicans don\u2019t put much stock in the Bible? And, how has the view of the Bible changed over&nbsp;time?\u201d<ul><li>tl;dr \u2014 Roughly \u00bc of Democrats and \u2153 of Republicans believe the Bible is the literal word of God. Roughly half of each party think the Bible is inspired but not always to be taken literally. The remainder in each party believe that the Bible is just ancient fables.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"simple-list wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/christandpopculture.com\/avengers-infinity-war-and-the-lost-spirit-of-sacrifice\/\">Avengers: Infinity War and the Lost Spirit of Sacrifice<\/a> (Michael McKoy, Christ and Pop Culture): it\u2019s kind of cheating for me to put this one down here, as it\u2019s a substantive piece. But I have a self-imposed limit of seven main bullet points above, and this is defensibly \u201cless-serious.\u201d Highly recommended.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TbwlC2B-BIg\">Some Things Vacations Can\u2019t Fix<\/a> (Saturday Night Live, YouTube): four minutes. Starts slow.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/youseeingthisshit\/comments\/bmo0af\/do_you_think_youre_brave_look_at_this_then\/\">Insane Courage<\/a> (Reddit Video): one crazy minute long. Sound optional.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/dilbert.com\/strip\/2019-05-06\">Dilbert Hires A Narrator<\/a>: I kind of want one of these, but I\u2019m scared what they would say about me. See the sequel: <a href=\"https:\/\/dilbert.com\/strip\/2019-05-07\">Dogbert Narrates<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BxPZW8pFbcg\/\">I Regret Understanding<\/a> (Strange Planet)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xkbQDEXJy2k\">7 x 13 = 28<\/a> (Albert &amp; Costello, YouTube): Four minutes from some of the funniest men in American history.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting A While&nbsp;Ago<\/h3>\n\n\n\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 I was reminded of this by a conversation with an alumnus. 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\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\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.\n\nAlso, 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 it.\n\nIf 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. Things Glen Found Interesting The First Rule of Social-Media Censorship Is That There Are No Rules (David French, National \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/05\/10\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-202\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 202\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":"There are a surprising number of perspectives I disagree with but found interesting this week. Enjoy!","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":[1],"tags":[170,127,160,113,117,138,260,162],"class_list":["post-5433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-of-random-interest","tag-devotional","tag-history","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-lgbtq","tag-politics","tag-religious-freedom","tag-social-media","tag-theology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1pD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5433","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=5433"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5438,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5433\/revisions\/5438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}