Your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.
Book Review of the Week
After Acts, by Brian Liftin. Reviewed by Tim Challies. Early church history is an interesting animal. Accounts of what happened to the apostles (and other early church noteables) are legion, but often chock full of obvious legend. Did Thomas actually make it all the way to India? Was Peter actually crucified upside-down? Whatever happened to Jesus’ mother and brothers? Liftin assigns grades to each “fact,” helping us sift the legit from the . . . somewhat less so.
Articles of the Week
How Should We Think about Sin That Has Become Part of Our Identity? Rosaria Butterfield. “Unbelievers don’t ‘struggle’ with same-sex attraction. I didn’t. My love for women came with nary a struggle at all. I had not always been a lesbian, but in my late twenties, I met my first lesbian-lover. I was hooked and believed that I had found my real self. Sex with women was part of my life and identity, but it was not the only part — and not always the biggest part.”
Two Real Reasons People Don’t Go to Church, Aaron Earls. There are more reasons than these, of course. But Earls is right: dig deep enough, and you’re bound to find one of these at work 95% of the time. And Earls doesn’t just identify what’s keeping people away. He tells us—in part—what we can do about it.
What Would Jesus Wear? Sharon Hodde Miller. Okay, don’t be so literal. Obviously he’d be wearing the tan-colored, uncomfortable looking, toga-type thingy he’s always wearing in pictures. (And Birkenstock sandals, it appears.) But really: every few months or so, our Christian sub-culture explodes with fierce argument about modesty and fashion. Here are some mercifully wise principles. May they guide you through the perilous shoals of the next modesty battle, whenever it arises.
Six Ways Corporations Act Religiously, Chris Horst. As Horst points out, we should be incredibly thankful that our country continues to allow most business owners to act according to their religious principles—even if that often seems at risk. What he offers here is an interesting survey of religion-in-business. Warning: his survey is quite a bit broader than Christianity. (Point #5, for instance, is downright strange. I agree with him that hedonism functions as a religion, but I’m just not sure it enhances this list.)
On The Lighter Side
The Ultimate Dad Joke Duel, Chomp Chomp Comedy. Live by the pun, die by the pun.
Wisdom For Your Weekend is presented to you by Chris Pappalardo, with occasional guidance from J.D. Greear. 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.”
