{"id":7688,"date":"2025-06-06T19:29:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T02:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7688"},"modified":"2025-06-06T19:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T02:30:20","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-507","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/06\/06\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-507","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 507: kindness, China, and the Dead Sea Scrolls"},"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=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thedispatch.com\/article\/homeless-charity-criminalize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Kindness Became Criminalized<\/a> (Anastasia Boden, The Dispatch): \u201cThree years ago, the city of Tempe, Arizona, was celebrating Austin Davis as a hero. It even gave him an award for his charitable work, which included driving the city\u2019s homeless people to addiction or mental health services and putting on Sunday picnics, where he shared food with those who were hungry. Last summer, he was jailed for the same&nbsp;work.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This article is very much worth your&nbsp;time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afterbabel.com\/p\/the-mass-trauma-of-porn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Mass Trauma of Porn<\/a> (Freya India, Substack): \u201cImagine you meet a teenage girl who starts telling you about her childhood, when she mentions, somewhat casually, that she was shown porn by a strange man. He introduced her to it when she was nine, before she had even held hands with a boy, before she had gotten her first period, without her parents knowing. Week after week, he showed her more, each time something more extreme. By ten it seemed normal. By eleven, she was watching regularly on her own. She is calm about this, reassuring you that this has happened to most of her friends. Would anyone think this was normal? Part of coming-of-age, her healthy development? Exploring her sexuality? Or would we call this abuse? This is exactly what is happening to children today when we hand them a smartphone. But instead of one stranger introducing them to porn, it is a billion-dollar industry, profiting from their trauma.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2025\/jun\/04\/many-of-dead-sea-scrolls-may-be-older-that-thought-experts-say\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Many of Dead Sea scrolls may be older than thought, experts say<\/a> (Nicola Davis, The Guardian): \u201cWhile some scrolls were radiocarbon dated in the 1990s, Popovi\u0107 said scholars did not tackle the problem of castor oil contamination \u2013 a substance applied in the 1950s to help experts read the manuscripts, but which could skew results.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The scholarly study is available at PLOS One: <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0323185\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Note that when the article says stuff like \u201cMany of the Dead Sea scrolls could be older than previously thought, with some biblical texts dating from the time of their original authors\u201d it means something different than I would mean. When I talk about the original author of Daniel, I mean Daniel. That\u2019s not the assumption they\u2019re working under. Setting that aside, the big takeaway is that some of the Dead Sea Scrolls seem to be significantly older than we thought, and that should encourage Christians because it shows that the textual evidence for the Old Testament is even stronger than previously realized.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some China-related news&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thedispatch.com\/article\/taiwan-modern-west-berlin-democracy-freedom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Taiwan Is the West Berlin of Our Time<\/a> (Jay Sophalkalyan, The Dispatch): \u201cAt this juncture, Taiwan occupies that same fateful role West Berlin did. It stands unbowed along the fault line between tyranny and liberty\u2014a free society that, by the cold arithmetic of authoritarianism, ought not to exist. But the stakes are even higher.\u2026 this small island nation is an irrefutable repudiation of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s ideological creed. It proves that prosperity does not necessitate repression, and that liberal democracy is neither a Western imposition nor a cultural anomaly\u2014it is a universal aspiration springing from the shared yearnings of the human spirit.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/2025\/06\/hong-kong-church-beijing-crackdown-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facing a Precarious Future in Hong Kong<\/a> (Peter Maize, Christianity Today): \u201cChan believes that Hong Kong churches are within a 10-year grace period before the government imposes any significant changes. He says Flow is willing to cooperate to a certain degree. For example, he would put a Chinese flag on their stage if the government requires it. Yet for requirements that go against the Bible, \u2018we will follow Jesus,\u2019 Chan said. \u2018We will not compromise our faith. We\u2019re mentally prepared for the future.\u2019 That preparation includes a deliberate decision not to keep a database of members and an expectation that the Flow Church might disappear soon.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/2025\/06\/silicon-valley-revival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Come to Me, All You Networking Techies<\/a> (Natalie Mead, Christianity Today): \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to be a Christian in the Bay Area. I\u2019ve lived in San Francisco for 12 years. But it\u2019s often impractical, even impossible, for Christians to put down roots here.\u2026 I know many techies whose faith didn\u2019t survive the pressure to succeed, the money, and the cultural indoctrination. Mine did only by God\u2019s grace. So when a friend on the East Coast shared a recent <em>New York Times<\/em> story about a Christian \u2018revival\u2019 occurring in Silicon Valley, I groaned\u2014not because I\u2019m against revival in the Bay Area! I was just skeptical of its supposed locus: the tech industry.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/religioninpublic.blog\/2025\/06\/06\/fellowship-in-the-fiery-furnace-do-christian-persecution-narratives-transcend-racial-divides\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fellowship in the Fiery Furnace: Do Christian Persecution Narratives Transcend Racial Divides?<\/a> (Brooklyn Walker &amp; Paul A. Djupe, Religion in Public): \u201cIn this article, we show that religious threat, or beliefs that your religious group is the target of persecution, can actually bring together people across America\u2019s deep and persistent racial divide. As political scientists continue to wrestle with the meaning of racial difference in American politics, our work suggests that other types of identities, like religious identities, and the threat that makes those identities salient, should be an important part of the conversation.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There\u2019s some actually wild data near the&nbsp;end.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The academic study on which this article is based: <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/jssr.12965\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/jssr.12965<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.graphsaboutreligion.com\/p\/how-certain-are-clergy-of-their-faith\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Certain Are Clergy of their Faith?<\/a> (Ryan Burge, Substack): \u201cThere\u2019s a statement in this survey, \u2018My religion would be the best one for all people no matter their background or current religion\u2019 that really gets to the heart of the matter. <strong>This is a great example of how the evangelical understanding of religion differs from other faith groups.<\/strong> In this sample, 93% of the evangelical pastors said that their religion was the best one for all people. That was 22 points higher than Black Protestants. It was also significantly higher than Catholic priests and mainline Protestant pastors. For the Catholics, 58% thought that they had a superior perspective and it was a bare majority of the mainline at 51%. I do want to note that the non-Christian clergy had a much different approach here \u2014 a majority disagreed that they had a superior worldview.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lots of fascinating stats in this brief article.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/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=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/dLECCmKnrys?si=YvEUXCo1s7CSXk-w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gary Gulman On How The States Got Their Abbreviations<\/a> (Conan, YouTube): six amusing minutes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wKcdj-FlCrU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">At Church Versus At Home<\/a> (Mike Goodwin, YouTube): four minutes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xL2eSiXNZaM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Piero Venesia<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): ten minutes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stanforddaily.com\/2025\/06\/02\/most-popular-courses-spring-quarter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The most popular courses this spring quarter<\/a> (Devin Abrahams, Stanford Daily) \u2014 a lot of humor articles aren\u2019t that funny, but I appreciated this one. Worth skimming<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">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 Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email? In the time \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/06\/06\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-507\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 507: kindness, China, and the Dead Sea Scrolls\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":[249,220,125,140,262,136,203,265],"class_list":["post-7688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-archaeology","tag-bible","tag-china","tag-culture","tag-hong-kong","tag-pornography","tag-silicon-valley","tag-taiwan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-200","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7688","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=7688"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7691,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7688\/revisions\/7691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}