{"id":7989,"date":"2026-06-19T15:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7989"},"modified":"2026-06-19T15:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:09:22","slug":"tgfi-volume-560-faith-still-winning-7-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/06\/19\/tgfi-volume-560-faith-still-winning-7-1","title":{"rendered":"TGFI, Volume 560: faith still winning 7\u20131"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><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 Inter\u00adest\u00ading<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Fri\u00addays I share articles\/resources about broad cul\u00adtur\u00adal, soci\u00adetal and the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal issues like\u00adly to be of inter\u00adest to Chris\u00adtians in col\u00adlege. Be sure to see the expla\u00adna\u00adtion and dis\u00adclaimers at the bot\u00adtom. I wel\u00adcome your sug\u00adges\u00adtions, so if you read some\u00adthing fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading please pass it my 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.christianpost.com\/voices\/7-to-1-the-scientific-link-between-religion-and-better-health.html\">7\u2011to\u20111: The strik\u00ading sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic link between reli\u00adgion and bet\u00adter health<\/a> (Baugh\u00adman et al, Chris\u00adt\u00adian Post): \u201cIn a new review from the Wheat\u00adley Insti\u00adtute, we ana\u00adlyzed find\u00adings drawn from Oxford University\u2019s three Hand\u00adbooks of Reli\u00adgion and Health, cov\u00ader\u00ading the best exist\u00ading research in the field. Of 1,069 high-qual\u00adi\u00adty stud\u00adies on 15 phys\u00adi\u00adcal-health domains, 876 found pos\u00adi\u00adtive asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtions between reli\u00adgious involve\u00adment and phys\u00adi\u00adcal health and 124 found neg\u00ada\u00adtive ones. A rough\u00adly 7\u2011to\u20111 ratio. The strongest sig\u00adnals come from exact\u00adly the areas that Amer\u00adi\u00adcan med\u00adi\u00adcine spends the most time and mon\u00adey on. Among high-qual\u00adi\u00adty stud\u00adies of cig\u00ada\u00adrette smok\u00ading, pos\u00adi\u00adtive find\u00adings out\u00adnum\u00adber neg\u00ada\u00adtive ones by about 90 to 1. On sub\u00adstance abuse and addic\u00adtion, 43 to 1. On mor\u00adtal\u00adi\u00adty and longevi\u00adty, 15 to 1.\u201d \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is an op-ed sum\u00adma\u00adriz\u00ading find\u00adings from their full report: <a href=\"https:\/\/wheatley.byu.edu\/religion-and-physical-health\">https:\/\/wheatley.byu.edu\/religion-and-physical-health<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/bench-press-and-be-baptized\">Bench-Press and Be Bap\u00adtized<\/a> (Josh Code, The Free Press): \u201cThe morn\u00ading was for con\u00adtem\u00adpla\u00adtion; the after\u00adnoon for com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion. At one o\u2019clock, ref\u00ader\u00adees appeared, wear\u00ading striped black-and-white shirts, to judge a penal\u00adty-kick con\u00adtest, a game of vol\u00adley\u00adball with a 10-pound ball, a mini-Hyrox race, and a long-range game of corn\u00adhole that involved a sling\u00adshot. There was a man named Ed wear\u00ading a cow\u00adboy hat, tab\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading scores. The men com\u00adpet\u00aded with their week\u00adnight groups, each one marked by shirts dis\u00adplay\u00ading team names (Sons of Thun\u00adder, Light of Author\u00adi\u00adty, Front\u00adline Men of Faith), but by the begin\u00adning of the first event\u2014a three-man car\u00adry relay race\u2014many a shirt had already come off.\u2026 I had not in recent mem\u00ado\u00adry been around this much testos\u00adterone and did not antic\u00adi\u00adpate I would again soon. The pres\u00adence of the Holy Spir\u00adit had been hard to dis\u00adcern amid the pyrotech\u00adnics. But I did hear that sev\u00ader\u00adal guys got bap\u00adtized in big steel tubs at the end of the week\u00adend.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/14\/us\/ai-deepfake-hany-farid.html\">The World\u2019s Lead\u00ading Deep\u00adfake Expert No Longer Trusts His Own Eyes<\/a> (Eli Saslow, visu\u00adals by Erin Schaff, New York Times): \u201c&nbsp;\u2018I miss the days when it was a grainy video of a shark swim\u00adming up the street,\u2019 Farid said one night, as he sat on the back deck of his house with his wife, Emi\u00adly Coop\u00ader. He put down his phone and poured a whiskey. \u2018The tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy is get\u00adting so good. It takes me to a dark place.\u2019 \u2018Because you can\u2019t tell just by look\u00ading any\u00admore?\u2019 Coop\u00ader asked. \u2018Because nobody can,\u2019 Farid said. \u2018I don\u2019t trust any\u00adthing. Every image I see, I\u2019m draw\u00ading lines for shad\u00adows and doing geom\u00ade\u00adtry in my head, try\u00ading to fig\u00adure out what I\u2019m look\u00ading at. It\u2019s over. With\u00adin a year or two, our whole visu\u00adal sys\u00adtem will be utter\u00adly use\u00adless.\u2019 \u2018And then what? You give up? You retire?\u2019 \u2018I don\u2019t know,\u2019 he said.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/belief\/articles\/ryan-burge-emptying-american-churches\">The Antiprophet<\/a> (Mag\u00adgie Phillips, Tablet Mag\u00ada\u00adzine): \u201cRather than demand\u00ading per\u00adfect ortho\u00addoxy upfront, Burge argues that church\u00ades should make room for doubters, seek\u00aders, and par\u00adtial believ\u00aders because the act of par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpa\u00adtion itself car\u00adries social and spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal val\u00adues. \u2018The church actu\u00adal\u00adly can serve a dual pur\u00adpose. It can save souls, but it can also save soci\u00adety,\u2019 he said. His advice for spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal seek\u00aders is sim\u00adi\u00adlar to his coun\u00adsel to church lead\u00aders: don\u2019t let the per\u00adfect be the ene\u00admy of the good. \u2018Find a church that you don\u2019t hate,\u2019 he said, \u2018And just go there. It\u2019s not that hard.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.persuasion.community\/p\/protests-are-not-emotional-support\">Protests Are Not Emo\u00adtion\u00adal Sup\u00adport Groups<\/a> (Dan Sto\u00adryev and Maria Kuznetso\u00adva, Per\u00adsua\u00adsion): \u201cIf Amer\u00adi\u00adcans want to actu\u00adal\u00adly enact change, they seri\u00adous\u00adly need to re-think their strat\u00ade\u00adgy. Take it from us: we both grew up in Putin\u2019s Rus\u00adsia and saw well-inten\u00adtioned protests fail to stop an aspir\u00ading despot. We know that author\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adans are typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly unwill\u00ading to respond to the kind of protest No Kings exem\u00adpli\u00adfies: loud, rau\u00adcous, and ulti\u00admate\u00adly harm\u00adless. These \u2018fes\u00adti\u00adval protests,\u2019 as we call them, are con\u00adve\u00adnient for their par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants. They are fun and usu\u00adal\u00adly do not require much sac\u00adri\u00adfice or risk. They also look good on TV and Tik\u00adTok feeds. But they often achieve next to noth\u00ading.\u2026 protests in gen\u00ader\u00adal are becom\u00ading less effec\u00adtive. In the 1990s, around 65% of non-vio\u00adlent move\u00adments suc\u00adceed\u00aded in over\u00adthrow\u00ading a dic\u00adta\u00adtor. In the late 2010s, that fig\u00adure was down to 34%. Vio\u00adlent move\u00adments are even less effective\u2014their suc\u00adcess rate is cur\u00adrent\u00adly around 8%, down from a peak of more than 40% in the 1970s.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaronrenn.com\/p\/the-evangelical-business-mindset\">The Evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal Busi\u00adness Mind\u00adset<\/a> (Aaron Renn, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cThe over\u00adwhelm\u00ading evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal and mis\u00adsion\u00adal focus is on sav\u00ading souls. This lends itself to think\u00ading of busi\u00adness as pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly about mak\u00ading mon\u00adey to fund mis\u00adsions, rein\u00adforc\u00ading the sweaty start\u00adup mind\u00adset. Busi\u00adness is not seen as cul\u00adture-shap\u00ading in its own right. Then add to this the way that evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals approach church as an entre\u00adpre\u00adneur\u00adial endeav\u00ador. The very way evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals do church can form them into a sweaty start\u00adup busi\u00adness mind\u00adset. The net result is a lot of evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal mon\u00adey and suc\u00adcess, but not much cul\u00adtur\u00adal pow\u00ader.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I con\u00adtin\u00adue to think Renn under\u00ades\u00adti\u00admates the extent of an evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal elite, but he makes sev\u00ader\u00adal sol\u00adid obser\u00adva\u00adtions in this arti\u00adcle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.substack.com\/pub\/austinsuggs\/p\/youth-group-taught-me-ideas-are-dangerous?utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web\">Youth Group Taught Me Ideas Are Dan\u00adger\u00adous<\/a> (Austin Sug\u00adgs, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cStill, in my expe\u00adri\u00adence, most peo\u00adple walk away from youth group with a the\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy con\u00adsist\u00ading in three main ideas: Jesus loves you, don\u2019t have sex before you get mar\u00adried, and be care\u00adful going to col\u00adlege because your pro\u00adfes\u00adsors are going to try to make you an athe\u00adist.\u201d \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>(rec\u00adom\u00admend\u00aded by a stu\u00addent)<\/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\/o5BHTDyVD4Y?si=i93K44EnveoIqlE6\">Church staff for\u00adgets this Sun\u00adday is Fathers Day<\/a> (John Crist, YouTube): three min\u00adutes \u2014 makes points both sil\u00adly and seri\u00adous<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/a_AMfbAabGU?si=DfmEE0JQU4NvEOso\">Dol\u00adlar Gen\u00ader\u00adal Rob\u00adbery Gone Wrong<\/a> (Josh John\u00adson, YouTube): two and a half min\u00adutes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar pro\u00adduced shrewd war\u00adriors \u201cwho under\u00adstood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (1 Chron 12:32). In a sim\u00adi\u00adlar way, we need to become wise peo\u00adple whose faith inter\u00adacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may con\u00adtin\u00adue the tra\u00addi\u00adtion of Issachar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chi Alpha is not a par\u00adti\u00adsan orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion. To para\u00adphrase anoth\u00ader min\u00adis\u00adter: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agen\u00adda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agen\u00adda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agen\u00adda. Hav\u00ading said that, I read wide\u00adly (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal Tur\u00ading test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fair\u00adly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI dis\u00adagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI under\u00adstand\u201d) and may at times share arti\u00adcles that have a strong par\u00adti\u00adsan bias sim\u00adply because I find the arti\u00adcle stim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with every\u00adthing an author says in an arti\u00adcle I men\u00adtion, much less things the author has said in oth\u00ader arti\u00adcles (although if I strong\u00adly dis\u00adagree with some\u00adthing in the arti\u00adcle I\u2019ll usu\u00adal\u00adly men\u00adtion it). And to the extent you can dis\u00adcern my opin\u00adions, please under\u00adstand that they are my own and not nec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adi\u00adly those of Chi Alpha or any oth\u00ader orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion I may be per\u00adceived to rep\u00adre\u00adsent.\n\nAlso, remem\u00adber that I\u2019m not report\u00ading news \u2014 I\u2019m giv\u00ading you a selec\u00adtion of things I found inter\u00adest\u00ading. There\u2019s a lot hap\u00adpen\u00ading in the world that\u2019s not mak\u00ading an appear\u00adance here because I haven\u2019t found stim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading arti\u00adcles writ\u00adten about it.\n\nIf this was for\u00adward\u00aded 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 Inter\u00adest\u00ading On Fri\u00addays I share articles\/resources about broad cul\u00adtur\u00adal, soci\u00adetal and the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal issues like\u00adly to be of inter\u00adest to Chris\u00adtians in col\u00adlege. Be sure to see the expla\u00adna\u00adtion and dis\u00adclaimers at the bot\u00adtom. I wel\u00adcome your sug\u00adges\u00adtions, so if you read some\u00adthing fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading please pass \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/06\/19\/tgfi-volume-560-faith-still-winning-7-1\" class=\"more-link\">Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cTGFI, Vol\u00adume 560: faith still win\u00adning 7\u20131\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"0","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[124,219,160],"class_list":["post-7989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-24R","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989","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=7989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7990,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions\/7990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}