{"id":7837,"date":"2025-11-14T16:10:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T00:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7837"},"modified":"2025-11-14T16:10:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T00:10:23","slug":"tgfi-volume-530-a-christian-doctor-the-medical-benefits-of-church-attendance-and-campus-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/11\/14\/tgfi-volume-530-a-christian-doctor-the-medical-benefits-of-church-attendance-and-campus-revival","title":{"rendered":"TGFI Volume 530: a Christian doctor, the medical benefits of church attendance, and campus revival"},"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<\/p><p>You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. 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=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/11\/nyregion\/manhattan-doctor-anointment-extradition-japan.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E8.RBCR.aw23V82LfYNJ&amp;smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Accused of Desecration, a Doctor Faces the End of His Life\u2019s Work<\/a> (Benjamin Weiser, New York Times): \u201cOne day in March 2015, surveillance cameras at a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Tokyo captured a man wearing a hooded windbreaker, a white collared shirt and black shoes, dabbing at wooden pillars with oil on his fingertip.\u2026 He is Masahide Kanayama, 63, a single, childless doctor who had devoted his life to helping women bear children; a man whose Christian faith was inseparable from his work. He has practiced in Manhattan for nearly three decades and is an expert in endometriosis, a condition in which cells similar to the uterine lining grow outside the uterus. His patients describe how his surgeries ended years of crippling pain and, in some cases, allowed them to have children.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Unlocked. A fascinating story, brought to my attention by an alumnus. Pray for Dr. Kanayama.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/worldviewbulletin.substack.com\/p\/church-could-save-your-life\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Church Could Save Your Life<\/a>? (Rebecca McLaughlin, Substack): \u201cIn other words, if you aren\u2019t currently a churchgoer and you start attending weekly, you reduce your chances of developing depression by a third. A medication this effective would be widely prescribed. But while your therapist or doctor may encourage yoga, meditation, or more time outside in nature, he or she almost certainly won\u2019t recommend you go to church. The benefits of \u2018organized religion\u2019 don\u2019t fit with the big story we are telling in the West about the goodness of abandoning traditional beliefs.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/gen-z-revival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">It\u2019s Here: Gen\u2011Z Revival Hits Campuses This Fall<\/a> (Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, The Gospel Coalition): \u201cOver the last couple of years, perhaps you\u2019ve heard the stories of revival here and there\u2014Asbury, the Salt Company, and various college ministries across the country. Statistics also sounded promising\u2014from England to the United States, more young people report making a personal commitment to Jesus and attending church. The number of people with no religious affiliation, which had been increasing for decades, seemed to stall. To me, it felt like watching a pot of water heat up\u2014there were isolated bubbles but not enough to really call it a&nbsp;boil.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An encouraging article. Two&nbsp;notes:&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I\u2019m not hearing similar reports from any ministry at Stanford (note the Chicago anecdotes, though)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Gospel Coalition\u2019s theological commitments mean that this article is focused on certain ministries. I believe other ministries are seeing similar things nationwide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/john-fetterman-i-should-have-quit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u2018I Should Have Quit\u2019<\/a> (John Fetterman, The Free Press): \u201cGisele looked over at me. The corner of my mouth was drooping ever so slightly. The drooping lasted only a second or two, but she had watched a public service announcement on strokes, and it had stayed with her. She spoke to the state trooper who was driving us. \u2018I think he\u2019s having a stroke. We have to get to the hospital now.\u2019 I thought she was crazy: \u2018What are you talking about? You\u2019re nuts. I\u2019m fine.\u2019 She thought I was crazy: \u2018We have to get to the emergency room now!\u2019 The troopers switched on the police lights. We happened to be 10 minutes from Lancaster General Hospital, which specializes in strokes and problems of the heart. Had we been in a rural area of the state, without close access to a hospital, I would have died. I did anyway. I am not entirely sure of the sequence, but during surgery, my heart stopped for several seconds.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tears came to my eyes while reading this. Recommended regardless of your political affiliation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/culture\/infinite-scroll\/that-new-hit-song-on-spotify-it-was-made-by-ai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">That New Hit Song on Spotify? It Was Made by A.I.<\/a> (Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker): \u201cNo realm of culture or entertainment remains untouched by artificial intelligence: Coca-Cola just released a Christmas ad made with A.I. visuals; A.I. actors are being hyped in Hollywood. But the technology has had an especially swift impact on songwriting. A couple of years ago, a smattering of A.I. tracks went viral for using tricks like replicating the voices of pop stars, including Jay\u2011Z and Drake. Now we\u2019re in the midst of a full-blown A.I. music moment. This month, an A.I. country song called \u2018Walk My Walk\u2019 (with percussive claps and forgettable lyrics such as \u2018Kick rocks if you don\u2019t like how I talk\u2019) hit No. 1 on <em>Billboard\u2019s<\/em> Country Digital Song Sales chart, and passed three million streams on Spotify; the performer behind it is a square-jawed digital avatar named Breaking Rust. In September, Xania Monet, an A.I. R. &amp; B. singer created by a young poet in Mississippi, landed a multimillion-dollar record deal after several <em>Billboard<\/em>-charting singles.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/ng-interactive\/2025\/nov\/04\/strike-3-porn-copyright-lawsuits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rise of the \u2018porno-trolls\u2019: how one porn platform made millions suing its viewers<\/a> (Tarpley Hitt, The Guardian): \u201c\u2026since September 2017, Vixen\u2019s owners had been pursuing another revenue stream: filing thousands of boilerplate copyright lawsuits against individual \u2018John Does\u2019 and collecting millions in settlement fees \u2013 a mass litigation campaign one federal judge likened to \u2018a hi-tech shakedown\u2019.\u2026 According to Westlaw and Pacer data from the past three years, Strike 3 accounted for 50% of the federal copyright docket all on its own. I first heard about Strike 3 in September, when some legal clerk friends mentioned that nearly every judge on their circuit was handling a stack of Strike 3 cases \u2013 which are now so consistent as to have become routine.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I am shocked, SHOCKED, that a porn company would be unethical in any way. How could they treat their users with anything but the utmost respect and courtesy? Treating people with dignity is practically their entire business model.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2025\/11\/12\/lds-pickleball-sunday-mormon-tournament\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pickleball on Sunday: Why some top college players are calling foul<\/a> (Ben Brasch, Washington Post): \u201cThe NCAA has a long-standing rule that adjusts championship schedules to accommodate players or teams from schools with written policies barring competition on Sundays or other days for religious reasons. Twenty-two of the NCAA\u2019s roughly 1,100 member schools have such policies this year, the group told The Washington Post. But pickleball is not an NCAA sport. And it\u2019s not clear whether all three organizations at the forefront of the college game, which includes more than 100 schools, are ready to make a change. Christianity is central to the National Collegiate Pickleball Association, which hosts regional and national tournaments, said its founder, Noah Suemnick. The league\u2019s website prominently references a Bible verse from the Book of Matthew.\u201d<\/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:\/\/xkcd.com\/3164\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Metric Tip<\/a> (xkcd) \u2014 this is malicious genius<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/08\/science\/biggest-spiderweb-sulfur-cave.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stinking, Spongy, Dark, Huge: A Spider Web Unlike Any Seen Before<\/a> (Adeel Hassan, New York Times): \u201cEven in a pitch-black cave, what appears to be the world\u2019s largest spider web is hard to miss. It stretches for about 1,140 square feet, about the size of a small home, hanging in a low and narrow passage in a cave spanning the border between Albania and Greece.\u2026 Inside the spider metropolis \u2014 population 111,000 \u2014 were two species that had not been known to live together harmoniously, mainly because one species tends to eat the&nbsp;other.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8aOamKPz7GE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Atl\u00e9tico Ottawa\u2019s \u2018icicle kick\u2019 lights up blizzard-hit Canadian Premier League final<\/a> (YouTube): one and a half minutes of Canadian winter insanity featuring impressive athleticism&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newser.com\/article\/86139df5644ef0885a9baf98e9677380\/us-mint-presses-final-pennies-as-production-ends-after-more-than-230-years.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">US Mint presses final pennies as production ends after more than 230 years<\/a> (Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press): \u201cThe U.S. ended production of the penny Wednesday, abandoning the 1\u2011cent coins that were embedded in American culture for more than 230 years as symbols of frugality and the price of a person\u2019s thoughts but had become nearly worthless.\u2026 The last U.S. coin to be discontinued was the half-cent in&nbsp;1857\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcsweeneys.net\/articles\/e-mail-addresses-that-would-be-really-annoying-to-give-out-over-the-phone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">E\u2011mail Addresses That Would Be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone<\/a> (Michael Ward, McSweeney\u2019s Internet Tendency) \u2014 this is 21 years old and still&nbsp;funny<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A4QcyW-qTUg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amazing T\u2011Rec Illusion!<\/a> (YouTube): two minutes&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An absolutely WILD illusion. You can see the magic revealed at around the 1:30 mark. It\u2019s worth watching the whole thing straight through.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/st-peter-getting-tired-of-answering-questions-about-the-nephilim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">St. Peter Getting Tired of Answering Questions About The Nephilim<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/congress-prepares-to-pivot-from-doing-nothing-because-of-the-shutdown-to-doing-nothing-because-theyre-congress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Congress Prepares To Pivot From Doing Nothing Because Of The Shutdown To Doing Nothing Because They\u2019re Congress<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2025\/11\/14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Problem With Modern Politics<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine, Nov&nbsp;14)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/prayer-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Prayer<\/a> (SMBC)<\/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>You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/11\/14\/tgfi-volume-530-a-christian-doctor-the-medical-benefits-of-church-attendance-and-campus-revival\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cTGFI Volume 530: a Christian doctor, the medical benefits of church attendance, and campus revival\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":[124,219,165,120,160,115,136],"class_list":["post-7837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-campus-ministry","tag-famous-christians","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-missions","tag-pornography"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-22p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7837","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=7837"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7840,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7837\/revisions\/7840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}