{"id":7996,"date":"2026-06-26T20:09:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7996"},"modified":"2026-06-26T20:10:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:10:39","slug":"tgfi-volume-561","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/06\/26\/tgfi-volume-561","title":{"rendered":"TGFI, Volume 561: church-leavers and wikipedia-gatekeepers"},"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.christianitytoday.com\/2022\/03\/small-church-attendance-decline-pandemic-pastor-200-people\/\">Two Hun\u00addred Peo\u00adple Left Our Small Church<\/a> (Ben\u00adjamin Vrbicek, Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty Today): \u201cIn sev\u00aden years, our church\u2014in terms of net attendance\u2014has grown from around 150 to 350. But in the same amount of time, our church has lost as many as have stayed. The loss\u00ades nev\u00ader occur rapid\u00adly, as though a lev\u00adee burst, but more as a steady trick\u00adle or slow leak. A few of our mem\u00adbers died. One went to jail. One wrote me an eight-page let\u00adter of griev\u00adances I was instruct\u00aded to share with the elders; anoth\u00ader wrote a chap\u00adter-length blog post sug\u00adgest\u00ading we\u2019re not even a church. Some parish\u00adioners didn\u2019t let the door hit them on the way out because they kicked it off the hinges and left us to pick up the shat\u00adtered pieces. These depar\u00adtures are by far the excep\u00adtions. Many of those who left told me nei\u00adther why they left nor even that they had left. I often find out via back chan\u00adnels like social media and oth\u00ader imper\u00adson\u00adal means.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is a fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading arti\u00adcle.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On a relat\u00aded note: one of a pas\u00adtor\u2019s love lan\u00adguages is near\u00adly always atten\u00addance. If you stop going to a church, pas\u00adtors assume that part of the rea\u00adson you stopped is that you don\u2019t like them. Even though they intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly know that is not always the case, it is nonethe\u00adless a felt real\u00adi\u00adty. It\u2019s not true of all pas\u00adtors, but I feel very con\u00adfi\u00addent say\u00ading it is true of most pas\u00adtors. Pas\u00adtors often feel great sor\u00adrow when remem\u00adber\u00ading peo\u00adple who qui\u00adet\u00adly depart\u00aded. Lov\u00ading peo\u00adple who don\u2019t love you back (or you assume don\u2019t love you back) is a man\u00addate of the Chris\u00adt\u00adian life, but it\u2019s not fun.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/acrosenthal.substack.com\/p\/i-read-the-entire-quran-all-the-hadiths\">I read the entire Quran, all the Hadiths, and the Sira. Here is what I found.<\/a> (A.C. Rosen\u00adthal, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cPlen\u00adty of ancient texts con\u00adtain things that make mod\u00adern read\u00aders uncom\u00adfort\u00adable, and the Bible is not exempt from that cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adry. The ques\u00adtion that changed every\u00adthing was struc\u00adtur\u00adal. It is this: in Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty, the founder is the stan\u00addard against which the insti\u00adtu\u00adtion is mea\u00adsured. When the church falls short, the accu\u00adsa\u00adtion is always: you are not liv\u00ading like Jesus. The stan\u00addard itself is not in ques\u00adtion. Jesus did not order raids. He did not arrange mar\u00adriages with chil\u00addren. He did not autho\u00adrize the exe\u00adcu\u00adtion of apos\u00adtates. He was exe\u00adcut\u00aded by the state, not empow\u00adered by it. Every\u00adthing the church has done wrong can be mea\u00adsured against what Jesus actu\u00adal\u00adly did and found want\u00adi\u00adng. The stan\u00addard holds. In Islam, the founder is the stan\u00addard. When you exam\u00adine the pri\u00adma\u00adry sources and find things that trou\u00adble you, you are not find\u00ading a gap between Islam and Muham\u00admad. You are find\u00ading Muham\u00admad.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rec\u00adom\u00admend\u00aded by a friend of the min\u00adistry. A sol\u00adid arti\u00adcle with a gen\u00adtle tone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/why-have-papers-one-history-s-most-famous-physicists-been-retracted\">Why have papers by one of history\u2019s most famous physi\u00adcists been retract\u00aded?<\/a> (Sam Kean, Sci\u00adence): \u201cIn ear\u00adly May, Yves Gin\u00adgras, a his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan of physics at the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Que\u00adbec (UQ) at Mon\u00adtre\u00adal, was brows\u00ading Retrac\u00adtion Watch, a web\u00adsite that cat\u00ada\u00adlogs fraud, data manip\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, and oth\u00ader sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic sins. He noticed a link that read, \u2018Retrac\u00adtions by Nobel Prize win\u00adners.\u2019 Were there real\u00adly Nobel lau\u00adre\u00adates whose papers had been with\u00addrawn from the sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture? After click\u00ading, Gin\u00adgras froze. \u2018That\u2019s impos\u00adsi\u00adble,\u2019 he recalls think\u00ading. The fourth name on the list, with two retract\u00aded papers, was Max Planck\u2014a leg\u00adendary pio\u00adneer of quan\u00adtum mechan\u00adics and the 1918 Nobel lau\u00adre\u00adate in physics.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Brief and worth the read. Super-inter\u00adest\u00ading.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/he-went-to-prison-now-he-is-in-charge\">He Went to Prison. Now He Is in Charge of Them.<\/a> (P.G. Sit\u00adten\u00adfeld, The Free Press): \u201cJosh Smith, 51, spent this past Christ\u00admas in prison. Just like he did for five years after being caught at the age of 21 in pos\u00adses\u00adsion of a kilo\u00adgram of cocaine and 150 pounds of mar\u00adi\u00adjua\u00adna. The dif\u00adfer\u00adence? Smith wasn\u2019t behind bars any\u00admore. A year ago this month, he was sworn in as deputy direc\u00adtor of the fed\u00ader\u00adal Bureau of Pris\u00adons (BOP), one of the world\u2019s largest prison sys\u00adtems.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading pro\u00adfile of a Chris\u00adt\u00adian in pub\u00adlic ser\u00advice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/larry-sanger-wikipedia-co-founder-banned\">I Co-Found\u00aded Wikipedia. Now I\u2019m Banned for Life.<\/a> (Lar\u00adry Sanger, The Free Press): \u201cIn exas\u00adper\u00ada\u00adtion, I point\u00aded out that the mob was not fol\u00adlow\u00ading due process. There was no des\u00adig\u00adnat\u00aded pros\u00ade\u00adcu\u00adtor, but rather many self-select\u00aded ones. There was no list of charges, and what\u00adev\u00ader any\u00adone said became an action\u00adable charge. There was no assigned judge, because my accusers were also my judges. And of course there was no pre\u00adsump\u00adtion of inno\u00adcence, no jury, and no require\u00adment of deco\u00adrum that would for\u00adbid prej\u00adu\u00addi\u00adcial state\u00adments. I knew Wikipedia\u2019s dis\u00adci\u00adpli\u00adnary process\u00ades were bad\u2014but I had nev\u00ader expe\u00adri\u00adenced them myself. I was tried by a face\u00adless mob. I learned that their great\u00adest anger is reserved for those who refuse to bow in awe of their mighty pow\u00ader.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sanger is, inci\u00adden\u00adtal\u00adly, a rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly recent con\u00advert to Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty, as <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/02\/14\/volume-491-a-philosopher-converts-a-christian-cyborg-and-a-comedian-riffs-on-pastors-who-scam\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/02\/14\/volume-491-a-philosopher-converts-a-christian-cyborg-and-a-comedian-riffs-on-pastors-who-scam\">I men\u00adtioned last year<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/schroodle.com\/p\/science-raises-more-questions-than\">Sci\u00adence rais\u00ades more ques\u00adtions than it answers<\/a> (Sarah Sal\u00advian\u00adder, Sub\u00adstack): \u201c[Skep\u00adtics] have <em>faith<\/em> (not entire\u00adly unwar\u00adrant\u00aded on their lim\u00adit\u00aded knowl\u00adedge) that nat\u00adur\u00adal the\u00ado\u00adries will even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly fill every gap, not real\u00adiz\u00ading that the gaps tend to widen and mul\u00adti\u00adply the deep\u00ader we go. The ratio of what we know to what we don\u2019t know keeps shrink\u00ading, and I sus\u00adpect that\u2019s by design. What\u2019s an athe\u00adist to do once they ful\u00adly grasp this? I don\u2019t know\u2014maybe just accept that the uni\u00adverse is fun\u00adny that way. But they should stop accus\u00ading Chris\u00adtians of a \u2018God of the gaps\u2019 fal\u00adla\u00adcy when we invoke God for what is tru\u00adly unex\u00adplain\u00adable by nat\u00adur\u00adal means.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rec\u00adom\u00admend\u00aded by an alum\u00adnus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/admitted-lords-supper\/\">Who Should Be Admit\u00adted to the Lord\u2019s Sup\u00adper? 4 Views<\/a> (Davy Elli\u00adson, The Gospel Coali\u00adtion): \u201cToday, the table is cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00aded less fre\u00adquent\u00adly and more lan\u00adguid\u00adly by many. It shouldn\u2019t be so\u2014everyone (but espe\u00adcial\u00adly church lead\u00aders) needs to con\u00adsid\u00ader the supper\u2019s fre\u00adquen\u00adcy, sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcance, and ben\u00ade\u00adfits. I want to help you think more deeply about who should be admit\u00adted to the sup\u00adper. If com\u00admu\u00adnion is a pre\u00adcious and pro\u00adfound priv\u00adi\u00adlege, who par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpates is impor\u00adtant.\u201d \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author comes to a wrong con\u00adclu\u00adsion, but explains some posi\u00adtions that you might not know exist\u00aded along the way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\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\/26\/tgfi-volume-561\" class=\"more-link\">Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cTGFI, Vol\u00adume 561: church-leavers and wikipedia-gate\u00adkeep\u00aders\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":[131,124,194,279,120,123,281,199,176,338],"class_list":["post-7996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-academia","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-communion","tag-criminal-justice","tag-famous-christians","tag-islam","tag-physics","tag-prison","tag-science","tag-wikipedia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-24Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7996","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=7996"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8000,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7996\/revisions\/8000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}