"For many Christians, taking precautions to avoid catching and spreading COVID-19 is embracing not a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment." - Lifeway
"...most people obtain their worldview by unconsciously absorbing it from the culture rather than consciously adopting it from Scripture. Identifying and mastering the components of the biblical worldview will strengthen the faith of any believer, help us to detect and refute error, and live consistent with the way the world really works." - P&D
"If your ‘news’ sources know what you believe and like (and they do) and you believe what you like to hear, then it should be no surprise that you are presented with more of it, magnified and deepened." - Ken Brown
"We live within a society (and sometimes even attend churches) that views law as intrinsically negative. Commands equal negative restrictions. ... But, a proper distinction between the law and grace does not conclude that the law is negative – only that it is insufficient to save us." - Zach Dietrich
(Posted in July of 2020)
My thoughts below predate COVID-19, masks, hydroxychloroquine, or churches defying public health emergency orders. Last fall, different controversies were exposing problems in how believers evaluate conflicting claims and decide what to believe.
But those problems are still with us, and the current raft of controversies is exposing them even more painfully.
Many Christians who claim to revere the Bible lack biblical habits for evaluating truth claims and consequently lack skill in judging the ethics of situations in a biblical way. It seems almost ubiquitous now—the habit of putting the political/culture-war lenses on first, and embracing or rejecting claims based solely on source classification (friend or foe). The result is that ideas are accepted uncritically if they’re perceived to be from “our people” and rejected reflexively if they’re seen as from “the other side.”
What’s missing is weighing ideas and claims on their own merits—on things like evidence and sound reasoning. Increasingly, what’s completely missing is any nonpolitical consideration of what Scripture teaches and what sound application requires of us.
More than ever, believers need to meditate on a genuinely Christian view of truth and on a genuinely Christian approach to evaluating truth claims. At least five principles are are fundamental that effort.
"Social media is a wonderful thing – IF you have the knowledge and skills to control it. Say what you like, but most people don’t have those skills and we’re seeing the deterioration happening in our culture every day." - Cooke
See also... The Resistance: Only Parents Can Challenge the Digital Empire
"In the essay, Lewis does eventually explain the reasoning behind his position. Before he does, however, he spends the first part of the essay explaining what moral reasoning is and how it works. In other words, he puts on a Moral Reasoning Clinic" - DesiringGod
"...counting our blessings and conjuring an attitude of to-whom-it-may-concern gratitude, Pollyanna-style is not enough. What do we do when cancer strikes -- I have two children battling it right now [2005]-- or when loved ones die, when we find ourselves in the midst of brokenness and real suffering? That . . . is where gratitude gets radical." - Breakpoint
