“No matter the provenance of the recent interest in Byzantium from America’s white supremacists and conspiracy theorists, one thing is clear: It is based on a very warped idea of the Byzantine Empire that has emerged out of the empire’s fraught place in our histories, caught between ancient and medieval, spirituality and bureaucracy.” - The Conversation

“We live in a highly individualistic culture. Of all the cultures that have ever existed in the history of the world, this is the most individualistic. Our natural pragmatism asks, ‘What’s the most efficient way to get things done?’ and the local church doesn’t look the most likely vehicle for changing the world.” - Colin Smith

Reposted from Rooted Thinking

Eighteen-year-old Sarah Hall curled up in her New England home, her legs tucked beneath her voluminous 1700’s skirt.¹ Neither the chill of the room nor the hardness of the wooden chair distracted her from her book. She barely noticed her younger brothers and sisters as they noisily went about their business in the common room. The hardbound volume, stiff with newness, recounted the life of the recently deceased missionary Samuel Mills.

“Many believe that work is a curse, but the reality is that God made work, and it was part of the very good earth before Adam’s fall from grace. It is only after Adam’s sin that work is cursed” - IFWE

“The question assumes a foundational biblical truth that is often pushed aside in these times: namely, that a Christian may not do evil that good may come out of it (Rom. 12:21). In a day when ‘lesser of two evils’ ethics and ‘whataboutism’ have upended Christian witness, with Christians affirming much that they previously denied in order to justify remaining loyal to their temporal tribes, we should be thankful, at least, when the right questions are asked.” - Russel Moore

“In the new journal Five Questions Every Church Leader Should Ask About Digital Prayer, Barna, partnering with Alpha, reveals that more than two-thirds (68 percent) of Christians express openness to participating in prayer time during online worship. Yet only 28 percent report actually being involved with a digital prayer service during the pandemic” - C.Leaders

“If we do not move to protect female sports from biological males who have an unfair physiological advantage, we will eventually no longer have female sports” - Daily Wire

“Zegan displayed the statue at the Conservative Political Action Conference hoping to sell it for $100,000, and while Trump and his Magic Wand was a popular backdrop for photos at the conference, the viral image above is the product of Photoshop.” - The Dispatch

Read Part 1.

Some Problems with Strict Subscription

While I respect the good intentions behind those who advocate this mode of subscription, I believe this mode of subscription is unwise and potentially unhealthy. In particular, I see at least three problems.

Tried to comment on the Sam Horn thread and I get this error:

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The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.

Experienced this in Chrome logged out and back in and also tried from Safari with the same result.

“In all of this, Evangelicals come across to the general public as mean-spirited, hypocritical in their claims to be moral, and insincere in their professed allegiance to Jesus. I’m not saying this is accurate–I think it shows great misunderstanding–but this is the perception.” - Veith

“Nobody’s right all the time, and nobody’s wrong all the time, either. But in public discussions we act as though that simple principle isn’t true.” - Olinger

“It’s not ‘lived experience’ getting erased in the students’ minds. It’s the obvious difference between assigning blame for an act already committed and forestalling an act that might be avoided. Could it be that some victims and their advocates are not merely camping out on victimhood, but identifying as victims?” - Janie Cheaney

“The Lord is our shepherd. He has already defeated death and is walking us to green pastures. This week, those green pastures may take the form of a timely diagnosis and an effective antibiotic that saves Jacob’s life. Another time, the Shepherd may have a more lasting pasture in mind” - TGC

The new “denomination will not be officially launched until the UMC General Conference, scheduled for 2022, passes a separation measure known as the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation. The Protocol, which will be up for debate at the General Conference” - C.Post

Related…

“What is the significance of work? Dorothy Sayers gave an address on the subject in 1942 titled Why Work? In that address, she stated that in respect of an intelligent carpenter, ‘The very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.’” - Acton

“The largest Christian adoption agency is now calling on ‘Christians with diverse beliefs’ as it aims to serve more children under a new inclusion policy.” - C.Today

“If we fail to realize our embeddedness in a world of work, one of two things can happen. On the one hand, we may overvalue our jobs, which can lead to an inflated sense of ourselves and our work… Not seeing our embeddedness in a world of work can create a second, opposite problem—an undervaluing of our jobs, which can lead to a deflated sense of ourselves and our work.” - TGC

“We are often despised not so much for following Jesus, but for NOT following Jesus, though we say we do. What I’ve heard is accusations that Evangelicals do not really believe what they say they believe.” - Veith

“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families” - AP

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

This post will be the last set of recommendations for those whom one might call “beginning students.” I had said that I would do Church history and biography, but first let me say something about the apologists Francis Schaeffer and C. S. Lewis. Surveying some of the works of these men does not mean that I endorse everything about their methodology or substance, but the importance of their work speaks for itself.

“Such claims are so numerous, we’ve been unable to examine all of them—but Lindell’s video provides an opportunity to look at several in more detail. For the most part, Lindell’s claims aren’t new. Journalists, public officials, and experts have already disputed or debunked much of the video’s purported evidence of fraud or foreign election interference.” - WORLD

“Having served as a pastor for 33 years and a police chaplain for six years, my respect toward these two important professions is immense. Conversely, my disrespect against someone from either profession who preys on those they’ve promised to protect is also immense.” - LifeWay

“Home has become our stadium and athletic arena. We have become accustomed to viewing sporting events rather than attending them…. home has become our fitness center, since we elected to buy a Peleton bike rather than keep our gym membership. And, of course, the home has become an office for millions…. We are in a post-place world.” - Thom Rainer

“Yes, to be sure, it had its flaws, but I have no regrets about growing up in the movement and spending my whole life in the thick of it. Except, I deeply regret that I am seeing it crumble and fail. I am not sure there even is such a thing as an American evangelical movement anymore.” - Roger Oleson

“In her most recent book, Why Science and Faith Need Each Other: Eight Shared Values That Move Us Beyond Fear, Ecklund proposes that Christians and scientists can find common ground around eight virtues that play a vital role in both faith and the practice of science: curiosity, doubt, humility, creativity, healing, awe, shalom, and gratitude.” - C. Today

“These conspiracy theories, however, are not rooted in reality. Indeed, many of them come from the same sources that previously told us that the coronavirus itself was a hoax or, even worse, a ‘plandemic’ mapped out by the government for some purpose or another. These sources told us that no more would die from covid than from the seasonal flu or that after the presidential election we would hear no more about covid or social distancing or masking.” - Russel Moore & Walter Kim

Read the series.

Where should discerning Christians get their information? Whom should we “trust”?

Arguably, Christians shouldn’t “trust” sources at all, other than the Bible. We should consult sources on different sides of an issue and always engage our critical thinking skills. But there’s a reality we have to grapple with: nobody has enough time to personally research every important topic. Even if we were never lazy, we’d end up with favorite information conduits we draw from on a regular basis.

https://docsandlin.com/2021/02/26/james-white-postmillennialist/

Key quote:

But the biggest factor was 2020, the year when it became clear that a global, purposeful movement headed straight into secular technocratic totalitarianism was on the fast march. The pandemic panic, combined with a CCP-style totalitarian mindset, was causing a rapid slide directly into a dark abyss, and I began thinking very seriously about what this meant to the faith, and, especially now as I have grandchildren, the oldest of which is heading into her teen years, how we can communicate the faith to the generations yet to come.

Hello, Sharper Iron.

This topic was created to foster discussion on the existence of Fundamentalist biographies. I have been collecting Fundamental Baptist biographies for eight years now, but it has only become a passion for me since last March when everyone was confined to their homes.