“Biblical” men don’t date? (A face-palmer from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

Normally I don’t see much of a point in engaging fundamentalist Christian entities like the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood because I suspect they aren’t particularly relevant to my readership. But a recent post by JD Gunter from CBMW really struck a nerve with me because it so plainly contradicts my experience of dating as a young adult in a way that ironically encourages irresponsible, sinful behavior under the guise of taking yourself very seriously. The only thing missing... Read more

Is authentic culture possible in an age of mirrors?

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

Please forgive me for mentioning the name Miley Cyrus again. In a recent MTV interview, she explained her infamous VMA performance by saying that she just wanted to “make history.” There’s something about that statement that explains a lot about the state of our culture right now in an age of mirrors when rock stars have brands that they strategically develop instead of actual idiosyncratic personalities that no PR consultant has had anything to do with shaping. What was it... Read more

The film Elysium and the conquest of Canaan

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

After reading a blog post by my brother Micah Murray, I decided to check out the film Elysium. It’s a very uncomfortable movie, and every American should see it. It’s helped me to understand the troubling Biblical book of Joshua, because Elysium is Canaan and America is Jericho. Under the ideology of manifest destiny, the American colonists illegitimately identified themselves with the Israelites taking over Canaan, but we are nothing like the runaway Egyptian slaves who illegally migrated across the... Read more

The dignity of work in an age of free

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

Does everyone have the right to work? It seems like a good question for Labor Day. I’m not talking about the sleazy use of the phrase “right to work” as a tactic to destroy labor unions. No, I’m asking: do we have a responsibility as a society to ensure that all who are willing to work have a means of doing so that will let them support their families? For the last thirty years, American society’s answer has been a... Read more

Something to read whenever you’re feeling trollish

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

I’ve been reading a book called You are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier, a pioneer in the IT industry who is very alarmed at the way social media has negatively impacted our culture. He talks about the way that structurally it tends to make us behave like trolls to one another. Even when I’m not completely anonymous, having interactions with people whom I don’t have to encounter face to face gives me much greater freedom to be a jerk... Read more

Things I read that made me think: 9/1/2013

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

I figured I would start doing a weekly post on things I’ve read during the week that you should check out because they made me think. I’m not good at ranking things so this list is purely in the random order that they came to mind. (more…) Read more

Who will save us from the white man’s burden?

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

“The White Man’s Burden” was a poem written by a British poet Rupyard Kipling in 1899 to describe the way that white people have made ourselves responsible for bringing civilization and democracy to the entire world at least for the last several centuries. In the 1800’s, this responsibility mostly belonged to the British Empire. Since World War II, the US has been in charge of the world’s salvation. If black conservative pundit Crystal Wright is correct in assessing that “Obama... Read more

Why the dream has been deferred (purity culture as the backlash against the civil rights movement)

Last updated on: January 19, 2015 at 12:05 pm By Morgan Guyton

You can’t say the N word anymore. You get sued if you racially discriminate in your hiring process. White kids grow up listening to rap music and (if they’re not too “Christian”) going to public school with the black kids. We have a black president. How dare you say that racism still exists in America? Right? White people are very defensive and paranoid about racism, which has come to mean little more than saying “politically incorrect” things when you’re drunk... Read more

Standing your ground, Jesus style #podcast

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

Last weekend’s sermon was on 2 Timothy 4 where Paul gives Timothy advice for how to handle “itchy” people who jump ship and find another teacher whenever they hear anything they don’t like. Paul tells Timothy to “teach with the utmost patience,” which means both that he can’t cave to the whims of the people but also that he won’t let them provoke him to anger. This stance could be called “Standing your ground, Jesus style,” and nobody in the... Read more

Robin Thicke, Miley Cyrus, and the death of eros

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm By Morgan Guyton

No, Will Smith and his family weren’t actually watching Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke grind it out during her Video Music Awards performance, but their expressions capture something priceless about what has happened to our entertainment industry. I’m not wanting to dis Miley Cyrus as a person or be a “slut-shamer” or anything like that. She is not the problem; Robin Thicke is not the problem; their choreographers are not the problem; the problem is the demonic worship system that... Read more