Is Anyone Listening?

The more I listen to news commentary, read social media posts, and peruse other forms of media, the more I realize that the art of listening carefully, and reading closely, is extremely rare these days.

Just this week, I saw a Facebook post where the author was lamenting the fact that when, in an effort to better understand the arguments on all sides of the LGBTQ+ debate -- specifically where people use the Bible to support their positions -- he asked people for recommendations of books, articles, podcasts, etc. on both sides of the issue, almost immediately people started to label him as "affirming," when he had already stated that he held to a traditional Christian view of sexual morality. People didn't even bother to carefully read his post -- they simply saw that he was looking for resources, and proceeded to jump on him with allegations that were unfounded. 

Who or what is the "real you"?

 I saw the following posted by someone on Facebook back in April:

Never forget- you are not a carnal creation who has momentary spiritual experiences. You are a spiritual creation who is living a momentary carnal experience.

I have also often heard (usually at funerals) statements such as,"That's not the real Brother Johnny, that's just a shell."

Were the tribes of Gad, Manasseh, and Reuben Out of God's Will?

In the past few years, I have sometimes heard (or read on social media) that the Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh were disobedient to God's command and will for them when they took as their possession the lands of kings whom Israel conquered on the east side of the Jordan River, rather than settling in Canaan with the rest of the tribes. Well-meaning people have tried to use these three Transjordan tribes as examples of people who didn't "press into all God had for them," and instead settled for a lesser relationship/blessing.

Totalitarianism Isn't Only a Tool of the Left

 

On a recent episode of the Alisa Childers podcast, Alisa interviewed Rod Dreher, author of several books, including his latest, Live Not By Lies. Their discussion centered on totalitarianism, and how immigrants from the former Soviet bloc point out that they see things happening now in the United States that they witnessed 40-50 years ago in the countries they fled, specifically the “increasing inability to say what you really think without risking your job, without risking your personal reputation, or some kind of terrible blowback.”

Dreher defines totalitarianism as “a system in which everything is politicized to where you cannot escape politics.”