Podcast: Listeners to the Word Matters podcast that I do with Brandon Smith will be excited to subscribe to Brandon’s new podcast, Church Grammar. The first two interviews (Tom Schreiner and Lynn Cohick) are enlightening and edifying.
Kindle Deal: The Good Book: 40 Chapters That Reveal the Bible’s Biggest Ideas by Deron Spoo. $0.99.
Seven of the best articles I came across this week:
1. Breakpoint Symposium – The Pro-Life Movement in 2019. Some have said that America has never been closer to reversing Roe vs. Wade, but a pro-life culture — in which abortion is not just illegal but unthinkable – appears to be as elusive as ever. How would you describe the state of the pro-life movement today, including its promises and hurdles?”
2. Hannah Anderson – How Discernment is Like Thrifting. Because we can’t custom order our lives, we must become people who can spot goodness wherever and whenever we encounter it.
3. Malcolm Gladwell – Is Marijuana As Safe As Some Think? Gladwell asks difficult questions about the push for legalization, including the irony in many people ruthlessly opposing the trend of vaping among teenagers while simultaneously pushing for fewer restrictions on pot.
4. Akos Balogh – Why Christians Should Not Be Optimists. On the difference between pessimism, optimism, realism, and especially—hope.
5. Lily Kuo – In China, they’re closing churches, jailing pastors – and even rewriting scripture. China’s Communist party is intensifying religious persecution as Christianity’s popularity grows. A new state translation of the Bible will establish a ‘correct understanding’ of the text.
6. Francis Beckwith – Bad (But Not Entirely Bad) Pro-Life Arguments. Some well-meaning pro-life advocates present arguments that are emotionally moving but shift the focus away from the essence of the sanctity of life ethic: it is always, everywhere, morally wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human person.
7. Rowan Jacobsen – Is Sunscreen The New Margarine? Current guidelines for sun exposure are unhealthy and unscientific, controversial new research suggests. How did we get it so wrong?
