As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
All humans are political and ideological. We’re political in the sense that we have beliefs about the groups we’re part of—what those groups ought to have done in the past, ought to do now, ought to do in the future, and what sort of people should lead them. And we certainly have strong views about the groups we’re not part of.
“Christlikeness looks different in different domains. Just consider: Christ offers particular commands to women and others to men; some to masters and others to bondservants; some to fathers and others to children; some to young men, others to old men, and still others to older women; some to pastors and others to church members.
“Taking a walk around my rural neighborhood, I’m fortunate that my circuit involves a significant elevation gain. The physical exertion of climbing slows my mind’s chatter. I’m working my body, but my mind rests.” - Intellectual Takeout
Main points:
“The resulting delay, which we’ve called ‘redundant deliberation,’ happens when people take too long to make a choice between difficult options. We’ve found indecision is the most dangerous aspect of a high-stakes situation. ” - The Conversation
“If reasonable arguments can be made exegetically then perhaps we ought not to anathematize people who believe differently than we do on issues such as this. Perhaps someone can believe that David and Bathsheba committed adultery and still support the #metoo and #churchtoo moments.” - Dave Miller
“See, your truth (and my truth) may not the be the truth—and that’s not just my truth but the truth.” - TGC
“A ‘conspiracy theory’ is a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot, usually by powerful conspirators…. These conspiracy theories are not simply restricted to a fringe population.
“When a person gets all their news and political arguments from Facebook and all their Facebook friends share their political views, they’re in an epistemic bubble. They hear arguments and evidence only from their side of the political spectrum. …An echo chamber leads its members to distrust everybody on the outside of that chamber.
“No matter the theological issue, we can be sure that a litany of quick-fire responses often only exacerbate the issue for those who are in need of biblical instruction and theologically nuanced clarity. To that end, I would suggest that the antiquarian tripartite modes of persuasion (i.e.
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