Here are a few articles that I read, found interesting, noted and filed this week – which could be worth your own interest.
When Having Black, Rotting Teeth Was Cool: 10 Bizarre Status Symbols from the Past
These are great little tidbits of old indulgences. Rotting teeth – and sixteenth century follies. You’re life won’t change by reading about them – but they are interesting (and probably sermon illustration-worthy) in the future.
White House Women Want to Be in the Room Where It Happens
While the article traces how women are becoming more essential in how the White House functions, it also shows the inevitable world-view clash between the value motherhood and pursuing a career. Scripture is not silent on all of this and trying to be politically powerful and domestically influential will clash every time.
Where Are the Happiest Europeans? Not in big cities, survey says.
Major European cities, often cited for the joy of their progressive ways, are the cities with the least satisfied people. Go to the smaller provincial cities to find people satisfied with life. Perhaps a noted gospel opportunity. The gospel can flourish where society is significantly broken.
David Brooks directs his appeal to high school football players, appealing to them to see the value of honoring their country during the the playing of the national anthem, even if and when they are struggling with its moral compass. While I can’t see a lot of high school football players interacting with Brooks’ NYT’s opinion piece, it’s worth the read in this present debate.
What San Francisco Says About America
The utopia for progressive thought, San Francisco appears to be full of the very economic and social divisions liberals say their views should be curing. Fascinating.
Actually, Income in Rural America is Growing Too
Definitions of what is urban and what is rural seems to be more fluid than we might think and yields the reality that smaller populated areas are growing and not retreating in income. Before suggesting that America’s less urban populations are fleeing to the cities because that’s where life thrives, we should make sure our definitions are accurate and not discount that, perhaps like the article on European rural happiness, the less populated places are growing also – and worthy of equal gospel efforts.
Anti-gay Pastor Barred from South Africa: Its Not Really That Cool of a Place
Stephen Anderson is no faithful representation of Scripture, Jesus, or the gospel. He’s beholden to his own self-promotion and not that of Christ. There are better pastors to engage than this charlatan.
Colin Powell, in Hacked Email, Calls Trump ‘National Disgrace’
Uh oh. It seems that Powell’s email has been hacked and what he really thinks about Hillary and Donald is not all that positive. Regardless of what we think he thinks about our presidential candidates, this is a real reminder of Jesus’ words about what is hidden will one day be revealed (Luke 8:17), but ultimately in front of an ultimate judge and his eternal decisions.
Young Women Get Buzzed, on Their Own Terms
While initially positing this as a story on style and independence, the article can’t stay away from the modern penchant to try and erase gender distinctiveness – another fruitless pursuit of the sexual revolution.
This Election’s Faith-based Candidate
Do you want to see how the liberal and irreligious are trying to hijack the definitions of what Jesus meant in the Bible and what true biblically based religion really looks like, look no further than E. J. Dionne’s article.
A history professor attempts to correctly understand and teach what John Calvin meant by what he said about predestination. However, the professor just can’t keep his own world view from being the interpretational grid from which to define Calvin’s meaning. In other words, the professor promotes more about himself than he actually does Calvin. Unfortunately, he teaches his students more about his personal world view than correctly portraying Calvin’s.
Marriage Falls in China, Transforming Finances and Families
It is not just the United States that is seeing a rapid reversal of respect for marriage in general, let alone a biblically defined marriage. As individualism is enshrined in China, and as family (the one child policy) has been governmentally dictated, so marriage is now devalued – and it is having an economically negative impact on their society.
Perhaps this is a reaction from the traditionalists to the story from last week about the Newspaper Association eliminating paper from its name. While the article may show some statistics about the value of how a traditional newspaper is arranged compared to that of online news media, it doesn’t leave me longing to read an oversized, finger-blackening, piece of paper – longing for the return of the old days. If anything, this article shows how online media can be better formatted and that online consumption is more a matter of habits of focus than the primacy of paper.
Coffee 80 Times Stronger Than Espresso Could Keep You Up for 18 Hours
This story scared me as much as it intrigued me.
