Your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading around the web.
Articles of the Week
How to Read the Whole Bible in 2015, Justin Taylor. For most people, the biggest snag in their well-intentioned plans to read the Bible is, well, not having a plan. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, though. Taylor has compiled all the best reading plans out there. Seriously, it’s an embarrassment of riches. Don’t drown in the options. Pick one up and run.
What Did We Learn from “The Year of Bible Movies”? Tyler Huckabee. Speaking of Bible, it was a good year for the good book in Hollywood. Or it might be more accurate to say: it was a good year to make movies that start with biblical characters and then blast off from planet Bible to worlds unknown. Huckabee asks, “Why did these Bible movies flop so hard?” Media execs would be wise to take note. And we, too, would benefit from his look at the peculiar Bible films of 2014.
Texting Acronyms Every Parent Needs to Know, Kim Komando. Remember when we were kids and laughed at how out of touch our parents were about new technology? Well, the tables have turned. Kids have mastered the science of texting, and while that can often be innocuous, it also provides a way for children to hide dangerous information from their parents. Komando offers some tips, so that KPC (“keeping parents clueless”) doesn’t happen to us. IMHO (“In my humble opinion”), this is a must read. LMK (“Let me know”) if you agree.
I Am Not Charlie Hebdo, David Brooks, New York Times. “Healthy societies don’t suppress speech, but they do grant different standing to different sorts of people. Wise and considerate scholars are heard with high respect. Satirists are heard with bemused semirespect. Racists and anti-Semites are heard through a filter of opprobrium and disrespect. People who want to be heard attentively have to earn it through their conduct.”
The Longest Sermon Ever…Literally, Trevin Wax. The next time you’re tempted to complain that our sermons are too long (or that any sermon is too long), think of Zach Zehnder, who recently preached through the entire Bible in the longest sermon ever—53 hours and 18 minutes. And he was still able to get people out in time for Sunday lunch.
On The Lighter Side
Mashup Illustrates How Many Country Hits Are Basically the Same Song, Sir Mashalot. Those who turn their nose up at country music often complain that “it all sounds like the same twang-y garbage.” As one who enjoys some country music and finds some of it atrocious, I (Chris) find this kind of “critique” a bit too universal. (People have leveled the same charge—in different ways—against pop, rap, classic rock, punk, jazz, blues, and even classical music.) But every now and then, a genre really does pump out near carbon copies of the same song. Sir Mashalot—a country music fan—does more than just point this out. True to his name, he mashes a few of country’s most recent hits together. The idea is intriguing, and the execution is masterful. Enjoy.
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.”
