In a Nutshell
Tidbits - December 2018
Feminism’s two errors
“ the heresy that women and men are not fundamentally different and that women ought to be as much like men as possible, especially as selfish and aggressive as possible. The two most ridiculous errors about men and women are unisexism and male chauvinism. The unisex feminist says that women and men are not different in value, therefore they are not different in nature. The male chauvinist says that men and women are different in nature, therefore they are different in value.”
- Peter Kreeft, as interviewed by Marvin Olasky in “Dangerous Waves”
Context is key
There are many an inspirational bible text that turns out to mean quite something else when read in context. Two of the more famous are:
1) I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me
Philippians 4:13 is used to inspire Christians to take on difficult or even impossible tasks. In context, we can see Paul is speaking not to all he can accomplish in Christ, but he is speaking here of how in good times and bad (which includes beatings, shipwrecks, and prison), God has taught him to be content. It might be better understood as "I can endure all things in Christ who strengthens me."
2) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 is used as a frequent college graduation verse or marriage verse to alert the graduate or couple as to the material good God has in mind for them in the near future. But the context of this verse is God telling Israel that it will take 70 years before He returns them from exile.
A meme making its way around the Internet offers up the very best verse to illustrate the importance of context. Luke 4:7 reads: “There if you worship before me, it shall all be yours.” Seemingly just the thing for an inspirational bookmark or piece of wall art, it is, as the meme notes, “less inspirational if you know who said it.”
Spurgeon on who’s leading whom by the nose
“I believe that one reason why the Church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the Church.”
- Charles Spurgeon
Fake news won’t cover it, but God is pouring out his blessings
The media makes its money telling us about all the horrible things going on in the world. But while examples of Man’s total depravity abound, we should not lose sight of how God’s restraining hand is at work, and his blessings abound. As Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan report in their chapter of FEE’s Essential Guide to Navigating the News what the public perceives, and what actually is, can be very different. For example, over half of Americans think gun violence is getting worse in their country. But Davies and Harrigan note:
“According to the FBI, the rate of firearm deaths today is half — and the rate of non-fatal firearm crimes is one-quarter — of what they were just 20 years ago. Even with mass shootings, gun violence today is a shadow of what it was a generation ago.”
And if you’re under the impression that violence is increasing around the globe, consider this:
“During World War II, 300 out of every 100,000 people on Earth died annually in war. During the Korean War, the number dropped to 20. Today, it is 1.”
The good news continues:
“Humans are not only eradicating violence, they are also eradicating poverty. The number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped from 70 percent of all humans in 1900, to 55 percent in 1950, to 35 percent a generation ago, to less than 10 percent today.”
Worldwide child labor rates have been halved since the 1950s, and education rates, longevity, and income, have all “risen almost 20 percent over the past generation” by United Nation measures. The world isn’t perfect – not by any means – but we shouldn’t let the media blind us to the blessings God continues to shower on this world.
Don’t be change-resistant
In 2008 Barack Obama promised “Hope and Change.” The slogan resonated – voters’ hope was that the change he brought would be an improvement. And while it was undeniable he brought change, in 2012 he got ten million fewer votes. This bloc of voters concluded change and improvement are hardly synonymous.
When we look around us at an ever more liberal Western Church and increasingly pagan culture, we might be tempted to believe that change is synonymous with decline. But just as we shouldn’t support change for change’s sake, we mustn’t resist change for resistance’s sake. “We’ve never done it that way,” is a reason to proceed with caution, but it is not (as some treat it) a discussion ender. “Thus says the Lord” is a final word with no appeal (if indeed the Lord has said thus) but we must never give “That’s the way we’ve always done it” the same sacred status.
Whole lot of change going on
“We obviously live in a changing world. Consider a few of the following realities: the world’s largest taxi company, Uber, does not own one vehicle. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Alibaba, the world’s largest retailer, owns no product. Some fairly significant changes in the world order, the way we do business.”
– Tim Van Soelen, “The Seven Last Words of a Dying Church ?”
English is…interesting
- Words that should rhyme: cough and tough, boot and foot
- Words that shouldn’t rhyme: Pony and bologna; money and funny
- Words that don’t rhyme with anything at all: bulb, angel, silver, purple, husband, and woman
