Wisdom For Your Weekend: your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading around the web.
Interview of the Week
The Tragic Prevalence of Sexual Assault, Tim Challies, interviewing Justin Holcomb. “Though the incidence of sexual assault is high, the rate of conviction is low. The majority of sexual assault goes unreported and the majority of those who commit sexual assault go unpunished. While the law needs to protect those who are unjustly accused, in cases of sexual assault it seems like the process of law can actually re-victimize the victims. And this helps explain why victims can be so hesitant to report the crime, and why accusations can take many years to come to light. The sin is awful and the aftermath can be excruciating.”
“Pastor Justin Holcomb has given a great deal of attention to this topic over the past few years, and I recently spoke to him about sexual assault in light of today’s headlines.”
Articles of the Week
Dear Mr. Anxious, Kyle Borg. “Mr. Anxious, I would have you always remember this one great truth–all that concerns a believer is in the hands of God. You were not made the recipient of every spiritual blessing in Christ that you might fret and fear, worry and be anxious. That’s a burden you aren’t meant to bear. I know the world will laugh at this. ‘Blind faith’ they cry! ‘Irrational,’ others will say. But let me remind you, faith is a shield and no soldier is mocked for bringing a shield to the fight. May God grant you what the world cannot.”
Six Things Foster Care Has Taught Me, Jason Johnson. As a church, we at the Summit have identified five areas of great need in our community. We want to consider these people our people, going to them as Christ came to us. One area we hope to grow in is foster care. Most kids in foster care have living family members, but have been removed due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Foster care is as messy as ministry gets. But as Johnson points out, it has much to teach us, too.
The Strange Oprahfication of Rob Bell, Samuel James. “Those who most benefited from Bell’s ministry are not the people who instinctively turn to Oprah Winfrey and Joel Osteen for spiritual guidance. I feel a measure of sadness for those people; they have to feel a bit betrayed right now. Even if he was wrong in crucial ways, there was a time when Bell had something to say. I don’t think that’s the case right now.”
How Do You Sleep? Jen Thorn. Charles Spurgeon once said that there are only two ways people sleep: with unholy presumption or with holy confidence. As it turns out, the way we rest hints at the way we view God. Sleep, it would seem, is about much more than just recharging our bodies’ batteries. Thorn helps explain what Spurgeon was getting at. Have a read to decide if that afternoon nap is in order.
On The Lighter Side
The Facebook Song, Rhett and Link. This is a classic, and it’s simply wonderful. “If the internet crashed all across the land, or my Facebook account, was deleted by ‘the man’…I’d carry around a picture of my face, and a summary of me typed out on a page.”
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.”
