Wisdom for Your Weekend is your regular installment of what we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web. Presented to you by Chris Pappalardo, with guidance from Pastor J.D., this is our attempt to reflect Proverbs 9:9: “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” While we do not always agree with everything these authors post, we share these resources because we find them challenging and enriching. As we often say around the Summit, when it comes to reading, “Eat the fish and spit out the bones.”
Articles of the Week
Nine Ways to Make Social Media More Christian, Karen Swallow Prior. We all need a good Emily Post etiquette guru in our lives. Sadly, Ms. Post didn’t stick around long enough to offer her wisdom on the modern phenomenon of social media. Enter Ms. Prior, who would like to introduce a measure of social media sanity into an often maddening system.
Can Someone Be Spiritually Healthy and Still Experience Mental Health Challenges? Brad Hambrick. The answer you give to this question matters. But the way you get to that answer matters just as much. Loved this line: “We want to avoid the twin errors of (a) being passive towards a weakness we could strengthen and (b) feeling shame for a weakness we cannot. Neither of these responses honors God.” Amen.
The Sacred Trust of Pastors and Christian Leaders: Accountability and Consequences for Sexual Abuse, Randy Alcorn. Most people in most churches agree that their leaders should be held to a high standard of ethics. We know it is deplorable when pastors misuse their position of spiritual authority for sexual conquest. And yet it keeps happening. Worse, it keeps getting covered up, denied, and generally handled terribly. It’s time—well past time—for the church to learn how to respond to charges of sexual abuse among its leaders.
Why Are We So Politically Polarized? Trevin Wax. Mostly because of the jerks on the other side, right? (If you answered with a hearty “yes,” this article is definitely for you.) Many of us might accuse the media of creating the fractured political landscape around us. Or perhaps social media. But Trevin sees other factors at work—factors that might actually put you and me on the hook just as much as CNN or Fox News.
Most Women Who Had Abortions Are Pressured into It, Gene Veith. Those who defend the right of women to choose elective abortion call themselves “pro-choice.” After all, who wants to be anti-choice? Recent abortion statistics, however, show that many women who had abortions felt pressured into that decision by others. How many? A staggering 74 percent of them. Our hearts should break over this.
On the Lighter Side
Celebrity Pastor Fantasy Draft, John Crist (and friends). Can’t argue with the numbers.
