1. Intelligent design: A case study.
2. I’m not eagerly anticipating the upcoming “debate” between young-Earth creationist Ken Ham and Bill Nye the Science Guy. The debate I would like to see is between Ken Ham and a 6.5-meter core sample taken from a peat bog in Switzerland.
No, the core sample from the peat bog cannot actually talk, so that would be a bit of a disadvantage in most debate formats. But if Ken Ham is right about anything, then that core sample shouldn’t even exist. So really all it would need to do to win the debate — conclusively — would be to show up and confirm that it does, in fact, exist, and that Ken Ham is, in fact, wrong about everything.
3. Zack Hunt on the hermeutic lesson of Acts 10 and 11. This is the story of Peter’s vision of unclean animals, and how he took that vision to mean that — contradicting what the holy and authoritative scripture taught him — “God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.”
Do I mention this passage a lot? Yes, I mention this passage a lot. And I will keep doing so until I don’t need to anymore.
4. Jesus Jerks. Matt Barber and Mat Staver take the Lord’s name in vain for a living.
5. Thanks, Darrell Dow. Hadn’t heard that song in 25 years or more, but now it’s stuck in my head. Thanks a lot.
(Here’s my attempt at revenge: “10 and 9, 8 and 7, 6 and 5 and 4 …”)
6. Samantha Field has a great description of what it means to live in a fiercely tribal subculture where one’s words are constantly policed by tribal gatekeepers. The particular case she’s describing has to do with Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics blog — “the part of Christianity Today set apart for ‘the Christian woman'”:
So here’s Becker, writing about a feminist idea, advocating for it, and suddenly there’s a whole paragraph awkwardly placed slap dab in the middle that seems to scream “I KNOW I’M TALKING ABOUT A FEMINIST THING PLEASE NO ONE THINK I’M A FEMINIST BECAUSE I’M ABSOLUTELY NOT.”
That doesn’t just affect what these folks are allowed to write. It also affects what they are allowed to think. And what they allow themselves to think.
(And here’s Mary DeMuth with an example of what I like about Her.meneutics — trigger warning for rape and abuse.)
7. David Atkins: “Sometimes reality intrudes in spite of the bullshit”
People don’t want to think of themselves as oppressed workers but temporarily embarrassed millionaires, to paraphrase John Steinbeck. [Frank] Luntz’s words help them do that. Many whites don’t want to admit that they need government help just as much as poor minorities do, so Frank Luntz helps them build solidarity with rich whites instead. People like to see themselves as potential entrepreneurs rather than wage slaves. Luntz creates language to help keep people both financially oppressed but also emotionally satisfied, usually by thinking of themselves as better than some “other” group of people.
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