Discernment

“As QAnon and other conspiracy theories begin to lose traction, pastors and church leaders face a decision. We can pretend that conspiracy theories were never really a threat to our congregation and simply move on unchanged…. Or, we can engage our people refocusing their attention back to the gospel and learn how we need to disciple better.” - Stetzer & McDonald

“This brings me to another question of discernment, viz., the question of falsifiability, or, ‘What would it take to change my mind?’” - Snoeberger

“My point here is not to say that we must believe everything that the scientific community says about masks and social distancing and recommended shutdowns and vaccines. It is possible that there are some very terrible mistakes being made. But if so, they are just that: mistakes.

“With Christians split on the issue, some urge vaccination as a form of neighborly love, while others leave it up to conscience.” - CToday

“Piercey used his involvement with Bethel Church in Redding to draw people into investing in his scheme… . experts believe groups like churches are particularly vulnerable to such schemes…refer to the phenomenon of con artists targeting church groups as ‘affinity fraud.’” - CLeaders

“If you put your faith in President Trump’s claim of a presidential election stolen through massive alteration of votes through the use of voting software, and in the legal skills of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, I am sorry to tell you that you have been conned.” - N. Review

“The application is obvious, isn’t it? We have the sober and sobering responsibility to be careful—so very careful—about who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we allow to influence us.” - Challies

“…we express ourselves by passing on some claim that we got from someone who agrees with us, and we don’t check it because it’s obviously true. And within minutes scores of our ‘friends’ congratulate us for being so brave and insightful and smart” - Dan Olinger

“Narcissism isn’t a new issue, but I’m often overwhelmed by how prevalent it is. It seems to be tolerated, perhaps at times celebrated, even among self-proclaimed Christians. Pragmatism rules the day so that if someone “gets the job done,” then we’ll turn a blind eye to their narcissistic ways.” - James Williams