{"id":5731,"date":"2019-10-04T10:30:37","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T18:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=5731"},"modified":"2019-10-04T10:38:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T18:38:19","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-221","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/10\/04\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-221","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 221"},"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>     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, so 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\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/dreher\/tammy-kemp-brandt-jean-the-black-church-after-christendom\/\">The Black Church After Christendom<\/a> (Rod Dreher, The American Conservative): \u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but I cannot recall the last time I witnessed more powerful public expressions of what it means to be a Christian than what Brandt Jean and Judge Tammy Kemp did in that courtroom. Guyger \u2014 again, a white woman \u2014 is going to prison to do time for her crime \u2014 but both Mr. Jean and Judge Kemp wanted her to know that there is hope for her, and redemption.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>There are lots of news sources that feature the video clip of Brandt Jean. I chose Dreher\u2019s piece because he also focuses on the judge. Both of their actions inspire me.<\/li>\n<li>I first saw video clips of Brandt Jean\u2019s moving words surging on social media, and I almost immediately afterwards saw a backlash which I found perplexing. Some commenters even suggested that there is something racist about liking this video. I think the truth is much more wholesome \u2014 Christians love seeing costly acts of obedience to Christ. Witness the similar reactions Christians had to the gospel-fueled testimony of Rachael Denhollander against Larry Nassar and to the Amish community\u2019s forgiveness of a school shooter years ago. There were different racial dynamics but similar responses from Christians.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2019\/09\/28\/us\/child-sex-abuse.html\">The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong?<\/a> (Michael Keller and Gabriel Dance, The New York Times): \u201cPictures of child sexual abuse have long been produced and shared to satisfy twisted adult obsessions. But it has never been like this: Technology companies reported a record 45 million online photos and videos of the abuse last year\u2026. the problem of child sexual abuse imagery faces a particular hurdle: It gets scant attention because few people want to confront the enormity and horror of the content, or they wrongly dismiss it as primarily teenagers sending inappropriate selfies.\u201d WARNING \u2014 this is very disturbing. The reporters non-gratuitously describe some of the content. If you suspect that the scene preceding \u201cThe predominant sound is the child screaming and crying\u201d will bother you, it&nbsp;will.&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>I know some of our alumni who work in tech and in policy still receive my Friday emails. If that is you, you need to read the preceding article.<\/li>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/web-exclusives\/2019\/10\/porn-culture-and-political-courage\">Porn Culture and Political Courage<\/a> (Terry Schelling, First Things): \u201cThe uncomfortable truth is that the rapid growth in child pornography is connected to the cultural normalization of online pornography as a&nbsp;whole.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/catapult.co\/stories\/i-spent-years-searching-for-magici-found-god-instead-tara-isabella-burton?utm_campaign=Mere%20Orthodoxy%20Email%20List&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=Revue%20newsletter\">I Spent Years Searching for Magic\u2014I Found God Instead<\/a> (Tara Isabella Burton, Catapult): \u201cI wanted magic. I didn\u2019t think too much about meaning. Or at least, as long as everything meant something, the specifics didn\u2019t seem to matter. Basil could mean love. Thursdays could mean power. The full moon purity. Why not? The alternative was that nothing meant anything at all.\u201d This is wonderfully written. Highly recommended.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/09\/29\/opinion\/sunday\/christians-politics-belief.html\">How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don\u2019t<\/a> (Tim Keller, New York Times): \u201cI know of a man from Mississippi who was a conservative Republican and a traditional Presbyterian. He visited the Scottish Highlands and found the churches there as strict and as orthodox as he had hoped. No one so much as turned on a television on a Sunday. Everyone memorized catechisms and Scripture. But one day he discovered that the Scottish Christian friends he admired were (in his view) socialists. Their understanding of government economic policy and the state\u2019s responsibilities was by his lights very left-wing, yet also grounded in their Christian convictions. He returned to the United States not more politically liberal but, in his words, \u2018humbled and chastened.\u2019 He realized that thoughtful Christians, all trying to obey God\u2019s call, could reasonably appear at different places on the political spectrum, with loyalties to different political strategies.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/justin-taylor\/basic-primer-rights-obligations\/\">A Basic Primer on Rights and Obligations<\/a> (Justin Taylor, The Gospel Coalition): \u201c\u2026the Bible doesn\u2019t say much about rights. It does, however, frequently address obligations, so the key to formulating a biblical doctrine of rights is to flip the doctrine of obligation.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stanfordsphere.com\/2019\/10\/01\/how-stanford-hides-conflicts-of-interest\/\">How Stanford Hides Conflicts of Interest<\/a> (Daniel \u201cBob\u201d Ferreira, Stanford Sphere): \u201cWe started by going through all 127 full-time, non-courtesy professors in Biology, Chemistry, Bioengineering, and Chemical Engineering, and we checked what Bloomberg, Crunchbase, and the SEC had on them. Then, we went on to verify whether this information was current\u2014through company websites, mentions on their own public CVs, or media coverage. Finally, we removed faculty whose links to businesses had nothing to do with biotech.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/quillette.com\/2019\/09\/28\/hong-kong-first-line-of-defence-against-a-rising-fascist-power\/\">Hong Kong: First Line of Defence against a Rising Fascist Power<\/a> (Aaron Sarin, Quillette): \u201cChina\u2019s government has only retained the name \u2018Communist Party\u2019 because to do otherwise would be a first step towards admitting the atrocities of the past. The severing of the link between Xi and Mao would make it possible to acknowledge that Mao was one of history\u2019s worst villains. This would set a precedent for criticising authority that would inevitably lead to Xi\u2019s own downfall. So the name stays, but in truth there is nothing \u2018communist\u2019 about this Communist Party (save its authoritarianism). In fact, Marxist students, activists, and social workers have been arrested and tortured since Xi took power, and universities have shut down Marxist societies.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2019\/september\/prophetic-voice-of-hong-kongs-protesters.html\">The Prophetic Voice of Hong Kong\u2019s Protesters<\/a> (Christianity Today): \u201cMany Hong Kong Christians, while comprising less than 12 percent of the population, have played a prominent role in the protests\u2014marching, singing hymns, holding prayer circles, and providing food and shelter to other demonstrators. (The Jesus People song \u2018Sing Hallelujah to the Lord\u2019 became an unexpected anthem of the protests, as participants sang the tune to calm confrontations with police.) For Christians there, the Chinese Communist Party may be the greatest existential threat to the Hong Kong church.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/jcs.biologists.org\/content\/121\/11\/1771?fbclid=IwAR0tM-Pa8S0-p5T1Tc-ebCsxEUGP2aUnqtk97j62gqtwWmPPIyV3E4L9JH8\">The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research<\/a> (Martin A. Schwartz, Journal of Cell Science): \u201cAt some point, the conversation turned to why she had left graduate school. To my utter astonishment, she said it was because it made her feel stupid. After a couple of years of feeling stupid every day, she was ready to do something else. I had thought of her as one of the brightest people I knew and her subsequent career supports that view. What she said bothered me. I kept thinking about it; sometime the next day, it hit me. Science makes me feel stupid too. It\u2019s just that I\u2019ve gotten used to it. So used to it, in fact, that I actively seek out new opportunities to feel stupid.\u201d The author is a professor at Yale. This essay is about a decade old but I only recently stumbled upon&nbsp;it.<\/li>\n<\/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:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dlOVNmY7JWY\">John Walton\u2019s Magic Square<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): seven minutes<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1sktVaJZ-FI\">SangSoon Kim\u2019s Shoes Magic<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): seven minutes<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bAPC43QSfUw\">Woody Aragan\u2019s Creative Card Magic<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): eight minutes<\/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=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/clayroutledge\/status\/1085205330177519616\">America in one tweet<\/a>:\u201cWe are living in an era of woke capitalism in which companies pretend to care about social justice to sell products to people who pretend to hate capitalism.\u201d (Clay Routledge, Twitter) First shared in <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/01\/18\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-186\">volume 186<\/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, so if you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way. Things Glen Found Interesting The Black Church After Christendom (Rod Dreher, The American Conservative): \u201cI don\u2019t know about \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/10\/04\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-221\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 221\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":"Lots of interesting content 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":[16],"tags":[125,120,161,160,117,136,116,176,147,135],"class_list":["post-5731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-china","tag-famous-christians","tag-global-christianity","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-politics","tag-pornography","tag-race","tag-science","tag-sexual-assault","tag-stanford"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1ur","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5731","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=5731"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5745,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5731\/revisions\/5745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}