As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“There’s no racial or ethnic superiority to be found in one place versus another. Instead, what makes one culture superior over another is what it recognizes as true about people, and which of our instincts need to be governed and controlled.” - Breakpoint
“Before seeking medical care, LeClair performed his last ministerial duty in Vietnam, officiating a soldier’s funeral despite the intense pain.” - Baptist Press
“your neighbor who voted differently than you may not have the power to destroy or save democracy as we’ve been told. Correspondingly, any pride you feel in what your own vote accomplished must be mitigated as well.” - Hannah Anderson
(Repost from 2022)
A confession: Veterans Day is not a holiday that usually ranks high in my awareness. There’s no tradition of family gathering, no feasting, and almost no special decorations or merchandising. Most people don’t even get the day off.
So, these reflections are partly a kind of penance. I want to compensate a bit for my customary Veterans Day obliviousness—and maybe help a few others do the same.
When I give it some thought, reasons to be thankful for veterans come quickly to mind. These are just a few.
“But before I start digging deeply into the relationship between religion and fear, I wanted to help orient us to how fear is distributed in the public on a number of demographic variables like age, race, and education.” - Ryan Burge
“Voters in 10 states were asked to decide whether legalized abortion would be protected in their state constitutions. Here’s how they voted—and what it portends for the pro-life cause.” - TGC
“Despite the dire warnings of an imminent and existential threat from Christian theocrats, it’s important to note that this kind of discussion, of the limits of the religious influence on the state, could only happen in a culture widely shaped by Christianity.” - Breakpoint
“Though all elections have consequences—some more than others… they reflect more than they determine. Their outcomes matter, at times greatly. Still, these outcomes result from larger trajectories.” - Breakpoint
On the whole, I’ve written a lot less about the voting choices before us in this particular election cycle. From my point of view, it’s pretty much 2020 all over again, only with more clarity about the cultural and character factors.
More clarity? I’m sure many don’t see it that way. I’m not saying people are seeing more clearly. Subjectively, things seem more muddled than ever. Objectively, though, the character and positions of the candidates are even more clear than in 2020.
“If true Christians would vote for their biblical values, we would live in a very different country today. Some Christians have biblical values but do not vote. Some Christians do not live or vote by biblical values.” - P&D
Discussion