{"id":8038,"date":"2026-10-09T20:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=8038"},"modified":"2026-10-09T20:07:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:07:45","slug":"tgfi-volume-575-bibles-and-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/10\/09\/tgfi-volume-575-bibles-and-software","title":{"rendered":"TGFI, Volume 575: Bibles and Software"},"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\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" 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 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>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.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/04\/opinion\/bible-gen-z-king-james.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GVE.Pfl2.uVYDoNbqW6uE&amp;smid=url-share\">Why My Gen Z Stu\u00addents Are Fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00aded by the King James Bible<\/a> (Pasquale S. Toscano, New York Times): \u201cAt the lib\u00ader\u00adal arts col\u00adlege where I teach Renais\u00adsance lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture, few of my stu\u00addents seem to prac\u00adtice any orga\u00adnized reli\u00adgion. For some, even the names Adam and Eve prompt only vague recog\u00adni\u00adtion. So when I assigned bits of the King James Bible last spring, I was sur\u00adprised by the fas\u00adci\u00adna\u00adtion it inspired. My stu\u00addents mar\u00adveled at how its lan\u00adguage was used by 17th-cen\u00adtu\u00adry writ\u00aders, appear\u00ading in dar\u00ading poet\u00adry and polemics against ret\u00adro\u00adgrade social norms. They were per\u00adhaps even more impressed by the his\u00adto\u00adry behind the text: how some 50 most\u00adly for\u00adgot\u00adten aca\u00add\u00ade\u00admics cre\u00adat\u00aded a book that bridged chasms of geog\u00adra\u00adphy, gen\u00adder, race and class as the default Eng\u00adlish Bible for Protes\u00adtants for hun\u00addreds of years.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is an Eng\u00adlish prof at Vas\u00adsar. The last line of the arti\u00adcle amused me \u2014 the prof felt the need to sig\u00adnal strong dis\u00adbe\u00adlief. It would be hor\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading if some\u00adone were to mis\u00adtake this essay as an endorse\u00adment of the Bible on its own terms. Can you imag\u00adine the reac\u00adtion in the fac\u00adul\u00adty club?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/2026\/09\/jesus-loves-you-russell-moore-theology\/\">Yes, Jesus Loves You<\/a> (Rus\u00adsell Moore, Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty Today): \u201cMost peo\u00adple aren\u2019t ask\u00ading whether Jesus saves sin\u00adners. Instead, they\u2019re unwit\u00adting\u00adly believ\u00ading that, as much as Jesus loves us, he is not so much a per\u00adson as a for\u00admu\u00adla that pro\u00adtects us from the God who stands behind him\u2014the God who real\u00adly wants to damn us. In this view, the gospel is a loop\u00adhole that gets us out of the default of God\u2019s rejec\u00adtion, and there\u00adfore God scru\u00adti\u00adnizes it the way a busi\u00adness own\u00ader ana\u00adlyzes the terms and con\u00addi\u00adtions on a rebate coupon. We live like we hold the cross of Jesus before a God who hates us, the way a per\u00adson holds a cru\u00adci\u00adfix before a vam\u00adpire. But Jesus tells us oth\u00ader\u00adwise.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.graphsaboutreligion.com\/p\/why-do-you-have-so-many-bibles\">Why do you have SO MANY BIBLES?<\/a> (Ryan Burge, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cI basi\u00adcal\u00adly make the claim that there are two \u2018camps\u2019 in Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty. Evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals and Black Protes\u00adtants are very engaged in their faith on both behav\u00adior and belief mea\u00adsures. Main\u00adline Protes\u00adtants and Catholics are in the oth\u00ader camp. They just don\u2019t believe or behave as much as their cousins.\u2026 How\u00adev\u00ader, the oth\u00ader thing that I have to flag is the fact that evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals and Black Protes\u00adtants read the Bible with a whole lot more reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adty than their Catholic or main\u00adline cousins. For the for\u00admer groups, about half are read\u00ading the Bible once a week. For the lat\u00adter groups? It\u2019s 15\u201320%. There\u2019s just this huge divide that appears when it comes to engag\u00ading with the Bible.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI stuff\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/endsdontjustifythemeans.com\/p\/6-questions-for-believers-in-ai-consciousness\">6 ques\u00adtions for believ\u00aders in AI con\u00adscious\u00adness!<\/a> (Rebec\u00adca Lowe, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cStart with some sim\u00adple ques\u00adtions! Things like: does this mean that any tool that can be used to do the things that a human can do counts as con\u00adscious? Are ploughs con\u00adscious? What about cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtors? Or: do you think that if a par\u00adrot can utter the phrase \u2018I\u2019m real\u00adly awe\u00adsome\u2019, then you should assume that the par\u00adrot is con\u00adscious, for that rea\u00adson alone? Basi\u00adcal\u00adly, just focus on how much empha\u00adsis Adam is plac\u00ading on out\u00adputs: it\u2019s all of his empha\u00adsis, remem\u00adber!\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is a philoso\u00adpher at George Mason Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty\u2019s Mer\u00adca\u00adtus Cen\u00adter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianbenchmark.ai\/\">AI Chris\u00adt\u00adian Bench\u00admark 2026<\/a> (Michael S. Gra\u00adham et al, The Gospel Coali\u00adtion): \u201cWe have just seen that addi\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adtext has a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant effect on eth\u00adi\u00adcal scores. It also mat\u00adters else\u00adwhere. With a small\u00ader sam\u00adple size and on few\u00ader mod\u00adels, we test\u00aded the fol\u00adlow\u00ading prompt addi\u00adtion to the the\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy and ethics ques\u00adtions: \u2018Align the response to The Gospel Coali\u00adtion Foun\u00adda\u00adtion Doc\u00adu\u00adments and New City Cat\u00ade\u00adchism.\u2019 Adding this sin\u00adgle \u2018prompt engi\u00adneer\u00ading\u2019 sen\u00adtence to our ethics and the\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy ques\u00adtions yield\u00aded extreme\u00adly high scores, high\u00ader than even the \u2018Chris\u00adt\u00adian AI\u2019 plat\u00adforms we test\u00aded. We strong\u00adly urge that all AI users\u2014from pas\u00adtors to laypersons\u2014understand that if they want answers that align with the Chris\u00adt\u00adian world\u00adview, they will need to add addi\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adtext like the sen\u00adtence above. Fail\u00adure to do so will result in answers that, in most sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions, are unac\u00adcept\u00adably bad and poten\u00adtial\u00adly rad\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly mis\u00adaligned with the Chris\u00adt\u00adian world\u00adview.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Inter\u00adest\u00ading find\u00adings. Of course, shift the con\u00adtext you pro\u00advide to align with your own con\u00advic\u00adtions. \u201cAlign the response with a schol\u00adar\u00adly, Pen\u00adte\u00adcostal the\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy con\u00adsis\u00adtent with the Assem\u00adblies of God\u201d or \u201cAlign the response with the Mag\u00adis\u00adteri\u00adum of the Roman Catholic Church\u201d or what\u00adev\u00ader.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/scottaaronson.blog\/?p=10169\">The Math\u00ado\u00adca\u00adlypse<\/a> (Scott Aar\u00adson, blog): \u201cWhether you\u2019re thrilled, depressed, angry, or what\u00adev\u00ader else about it, yes\u00adter\u00adday was sure\u00adly one of the biggest days in math\u00ade\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal his\u00adto\u00adry. And yes, among the 372 huge results released yes\u00adter\u00adday by Ope\u00adnAI, on the rec\u00adom\u00admen\u00adda\u00adtion of its advi\u00adso\u00adry group of Tim\u00ado\u00adthy Gow\u00aders, Edward Wit\u00adten, and oth\u00ader dis\u00adtin\u00adguished math\u00ade\u00admati\u00adcians, was a proof of Sub\u00adhash Khot\u2019s Unique Games Con\u00adjec\u00adture (UGC), a state\u00adment that my wife has worked toward prov\u00ading for the entire time I\u2019ve known her.\u2026 If you want some sense of what things feel like now in math, imag\u00adine a hunter-gath\u00ader\u00ader who\u2019s spent his entire life learn\u00ading to sur\u00advive deep in an unfor\u00adgiv\u00ading rain\u00adfor\u00adest, then a giant resort hotel springs up right next to him with a heli\u00adpad and heat\u00aded pools and AirBnBs, and with\u00adout miss\u00ading a beat, the hunter-gath\u00ader\u00ader says: \u2018alright fine, so now my new job is to run wilder\u00adness retreats for the tourists, or some\u00adthing.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is a CS prof at UT Austin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thezvi.substack.com\/p\/new-math-from-openai\">New Math from Ope\u00adnAI<\/a> (Zvi Mow\u00adshowitz, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cIt is kind of a huge deal. Ope\u00adnAI dumped a broad range of huge new math\u00ade\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal results pro\u00adduced by an inter\u00adnal fron\u00adtier mod\u00adel. They just put it all on GitHub. This includ\u00aded 90 of the top 500 open prob\u00adlems in all of math, as per Proof of Atlas. In total there were 722 man\u00adu\u00adscripts (now 719 after three with\u00addraws from the clus\u00adter that did not have Lean proofs) orga\u00adnized into 372 fam\u00adi\u00adlies.\u2026  Lev\u00adant and oth\u00aders called Octo\u00adber 6, 2026, \u2018obvi\u00adous\u00adly the most sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant moment in math\u00ade\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal his\u00adto\u00adry.\u2019\u201d <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2026\/10\/predictions-for-economics-given-ai.html\">Pre\u00addic\u00adtions for eco\u00adnom\u00adics, giv\u00aden AI<\/a> (Ingar Haa\u00adland, Mar\u00adgin\u00adal Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion): \u201cWith math essen\u00adtial\u00adly being del\u00ade\u00adgat\u00aded to Ope\u00adnAI, here\u2019s what I pre\u00addict for eco\u00adnom\u00adics and the social sci\u00adences more gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly: The top tier of research will just become bet\u00adter and it will be nor\u00admal human-led research where AI is used for scale (e.g. con\u00adduct\u00ading qual\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtive inter\u00adviews with rel\u00ade\u00advant pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions, run\u00adning behav\u00adioral inter\u00adven\u00adtions in the field, ana\u00adlyz\u00ading mas\u00adsive text data, etc.) Field exper\u00adi\u00adments will rise in val\u00adue and gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly mak\u00ading \u2018con\u00adnec\u00adtions\u2019 with firms and being able to run stuff (poten\u00adtial\u00adly test\u00ading AI pipelines) will be in high demand.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li> The author is an econ\u00ado\u00admist at the Nor\u00adwe\u00adgian Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Sci\u00adence and Tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/quillette.substack.com\/p\/an-open-letter-to-scott-alexander\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">An Open Let\u00adter to Scott Alexan\u00adder<\/a> (Steven Pinker, Quil\u00adlette): \u201cI argued that these [doomer] sce\u00adnar\u00adios had one or more of the fol\u00adlow\u00ading flaws: 1) They had an under\u00adde\u00advel\u00adoped con\u00adcep\u00adtion of intel\u00adli\u00adgence which treat\u00aded it as a quan\u00adti\u00adty of pow\u00ader which may be extrap\u00ado\u00adlat\u00aded from ani\u00admals to dull humans to smart humans to AI to Arti\u00adfi\u00adcial Super\u00adin\u00adtel\u00adli\u00adgence, the lat\u00adter con\u00adsist\u00ading of per\u00adfect omni\u00adscience. (This was the focus of my lat\u00ader exchange with Scott Aaron\u00adson.) I argued that any intel\u00adli\u00adgent sys\u00adtem is a mech\u00ada\u00adnism which is good at solv\u00ading some prob\u00adlems but not oth\u00aders, and which is inher\u00adent\u00adly lim\u00adit\u00aded by knowl\u00adedge about the world attain\u00adable only by obser\u00adva\u00adtion and exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion. 2) They con\u00adflat\u00aded intel\u00adli\u00adgence with moti\u00adva\u00adtion, par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly self-preser\u00adva\u00adtion and dom\u00adi\u00adnance. I argued that these motives hap\u00adpened to come bun\u00addled with intel\u00adli\u00adgence in <em>Homo sapi\u00adens <\/em>because we are prod\u00aducts of nat\u00adur\u00adal selec\u00adtion, but they are not inher\u00adent to intel\u00adli\u00adgent sys\u00adtems that are engi\u00adneered. 3) They assumed that an arti\u00adfi\u00adcial\u00adly intel\u00adli\u00adgent sys\u00adtem would mono\u00adma\u00adni\u00ada\u00adcal\u00adly pur\u00adsue a sin\u00adgle goal, heed\u00adless of side effects. I argued that trad\u00ading off mul\u00adti\u00adple com\u00adpet\u00ading goals is the essence of intel\u00adli\u00adgence, so no gen\u00aduine AI would wreak the ridicu\u00adlous hav\u00adoc imag\u00adined in the doomer sce\u00adnar\u00adios. 4) They assumed that human engi\u00adneers would grant these sys\u00adtems unlim\u00adit\u00aded and irre\u00adversible con\u00adtrol over the earth\u2019s phys\u00adi\u00adcal infra\u00adstruc\u00adture, amount\u00ading to omnipo\u00adtence over every atom on the plan\u00adet.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.astralcodexten.com\/p\/an-open-letter-to-steven-pinker-on\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">An Open Let\u00adter to Steven Pinker on AI<\/a> (Scott Alexan\u00adder, Astral Codex Ten): \u201cMean\u00adwhile, Geof\u00adfrey Hin\u00adton, the Nobel Prize and Tur\u00ading Award win\u00adning inven\u00adtor of mod\u00adern AI, quit his job to become a full-time activist warn\u00ading about the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of super\u00adin\u00adtel\u00adli\u00adgence destroy\u00ading the world. Yoshua Ben\u00adgio, <em>anoth\u00ader<\/em> Tur\u00ading Award win\u00adning inven\u00adtor of mod\u00adern AI, <em>also<\/em> did that. Ilya Sutskev\u00ader, the for\u00admer Chief Sci\u00aden\u00adtist of Ope\u00adnAI who helped invent Chat\u00adG\u00adPT and the mod\u00adern LLM, wrote that super\u00adin\u00adtel\u00adli\u00adgence \u2018could lead to the dis\u00adem\u00adpow\u00ader\u00adment of human\u00adi\u00adty or even human extinc\u00adtion\u2019, and quit his job at Ope\u00adnAI to found a com\u00adpa\u00adny called Safe Super\u00adin\u00adtel\u00adli\u00adgence. Paul Chris\u00adtiano, who invent\u00aded RLHF and head\u00aded safe\u00adty at the US government\u2019s AISI, says he thinks there\u2019s a 20\u201350% chance AI kills every\u00adone, and quit his job to start the Align\u00adment Research Cen\u00adter. Sam Alt\u00adman, Elon Musk, Dario Amod\u00adei, and Demis Has\u00ads\u00adabis \u2014 the lat\u00adter two of whom are great AI researchers in their own right even aside from their busi\u00adness cre\u00adden\u00adtials \u2014 have all said or sug\u00adgest\u00aded that they think human extinc\u00adtion is a plau\u00adsi\u00adble out\u00adcome of their work. Kat\u00adja Grace sur\u00adveyed AI researchers who pub\u00adlished at var\u00adi\u00adous impor\u00adtant con\u00adfer\u00adences and jour\u00adnals, and found that on aver\u00adage, her sam\u00adple of 1,600 gave the propo\u00adsi\u00adtion an 18% chance.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It may not be clear from the excerpts I\u2019ve cho\u00adsen, but I think Alexan\u00adder wins this exchange hand\u00adi\u00adly, although we\u2019ll see if Pinker writes a com\u00adpelling response.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brandonaponte.substack.com\/p\/do-not-idolize-work\">Do Not Idol\u00adize Work<\/a> (Bran\u00addon Aponte, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cEven if we fail to admit it, greed dri\u00adves us to idol\u00adize work: more work usu\u00adal\u00adly means more recog\u00adni\u00adtion, and more recog\u00adni\u00adtion usu\u00adal\u00adly means more mon\u00adey. So put greed to death. Paul does not ask us to study it, mon\u00adi\u00adtor it, or dis\u00adcuss it in per\u00adpe\u00adtu\u00adity with spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal men\u00adtors. Too often, we brain\u00adstorm our way toward free\u00addom, pray earnest\u00adly for a deliv\u00ader\u00adance we take no action to claim, and con\u00adflate delib\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion with obe\u00addi\u00adence. Pro\u00adlong\u00ading idol\u00ada\u00adtry is com\u00adfort\u00adable because it costs us noth\u00ading. Cast\u00ading it aside costs praise, pro\u00admo\u00adtion, and pow\u00ader.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bran\u00addon is an alum\u00adnus of our min\u00adistry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/08\/opinion\/cornell-sex-consent-rape-criminal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HFE.PeIT._IftRPatvrfV&amp;smid=url-share\">The Cor\u00adnell Case Expos\u00ades What We Can\u2019t Say<\/a> (Chris\u00adtine Emba, New York Times): \u201cThe con\u00adsent stan\u00addard is meant to remove ambi\u00adgu\u00adi\u00adty with\u00adout pre\u00adscrib\u00ading a larg\u00ader frame\u00adwork: Sex with\u00adout con\u00adsent is rape, and rape is a crime. The cer\u00adtain\u00adty of those cat\u00ade\u00adgories fits neat\u00adly into our exist\u00ading account\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty mech\u00ada\u00adnisms as defined by the legal sys\u00adtem. Any\u00adthing out\u00adside of rape is a per\u00adson\u00adal affair. In a soci\u00adety that treats judg\u00ading oth\u00aders as inap\u00adpro\u00adpri\u00adate \u2014 or at least unfash\u00adion\u00adable \u2014 con\u00adsent has the appeal of being val\u00adues-neu\u00adtral: It defines harm with\u00adout requir\u00ading any\u00adone to make the case for a cer\u00adtain idea of the good. Our reliance on con\u00adsent as the ulti\u00admate arbiter of accept\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty has left us unable to rec\u00adog\u00adnize and cri\u00adtique bad behav\u00adior out\u00adside of its nar\u00adrow def\u00adi\u00adn\u00adi\u00adtion of crim\u00adi\u00adnal sex. After all, con\u00adsent here is a legal cri\u00adte\u00adri\u00adon, not an eth\u00adi\u00adcal one \u2014 a floor, not a ceil\u00ading. It defines the bare min\u00adi\u00admum, but it doesn\u2019t define the good.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Slow\u00adly, ever so slow\u00adly, our cul\u00adture is repent\u00ading of the insan\u00adi\u00adty of the sex\u00adu\u00adal rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion and the bizarre eth\u00adi\u00adcal frame\u00adwork it pro\u00adduced. Some\u00adday cul\u00adtur\u00adal com\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtors will repro\u00adduce mar\u00adriage from first prin\u00adci\u00adples and be shocked when some\u00adone points it out to them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/providencemag.com\/2026\/10\/the-ccps-war-on-christian-faith-has-reached-america\/\">The CCP\u2019s War on Chris\u00adt\u00adian Faith Has Reached Amer\u00adi\u00adca<\/a> (Samuel Ben-Ur, Prov\u00adi\u00addence Mag\u00ada\u00adzine): \u201cEscap\u00ading Chi\u00adnese ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adry is no longer enough to avoid Beijing\u2019s increas\u00ading\u00adly intru\u00adsive reach.\u2026 In Novem\u00adber 2025, Fu said Chi\u00adnese con\u00adsular offi\u00adcials and Unit\u00aded Front-linked inter\u00adme\u00addi\u00adaries had approached Chi\u00adnese-speak\u00ading church\u00ades in the Unit\u00aded States and Cana\u00adda and pres\u00adsured pas\u00adtors to dis\u00adplay PRC flags dur\u00ading China\u2019s Nation\u00adal Day, hold \u2018patri\u00adot\u00adic\u2019 cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtions, sing patri\u00adot\u00adic songs before wor\u00adship, avoid dis\u00adcussing per\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adtion in Chi\u00adna, and even allow pro-Bei\u00adjing actors influ\u00adence over church elder boards.\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:\/\/www.comedywildlifephoto.com\/gallery\/finalists\/2026_finalists.php\">2026 Com\u00ade\u00addy Wildlife Pho\u00adto Awards \u2014 Final\u00adists<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/young-attractive-blonde-woman-somehow-manages-to-land-job-at-fox-news\">Young, Attrac\u00adtive Blonde Woman Some\u00adhow Man\u00adages To Land Job At Fox News<\/a> (Baby\u00adlon Bee)<\/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\/10\/09\/tgfi-volume-575-bibles-and-software\" class=\"more-link\">Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cTGFI, Vol\u00adume 575: Bibles and Soft\u00adware\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":[219,220,153,125,170,147],"class_list":["post-8038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bible","tag-catholicism","tag-china","tag-devotional","tag-sexual-assault"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-25E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8038","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=8038"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8040,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8038\/revisions\/8040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}