Your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.
Articles of the Week
How the Prosperity Gospel Hurts Racial Reconciliation, Russell Moore. “When a prophet calls down fire from heaven, it’s wise to stand to the side. That’s how I felt a few weeks ago when John Perkins, the revered preacher and civil rights activist, brought up prosperity gospel pastor Creflo Dollar during a live interview. Perkins lamented that there are so few accredited African-American evangelical schools in the United States while at the same time Dollar is asking for money for a $65 million dollar private jet. ‘That’s almost witchcraft,’ he said. The more I’ve thought of that over the past few weeks, the more I’m convinced that Perkins is right. The prosperity gospel is a barrier to racial reconciliation.”
Three Ways to Shut Down Gossip, Erik Raymond. As Raymond aptly puts it, gossip is like a devilish Ponzi scheme, a way for powers of darkness to get rich on “verbal assassination.” Everyone—the gossip speaker, the gossip subject, the gossip hearer—loses when gossip is allowed to flourish. But how can we begin to root it out?
Would the Apostle Paul Listen to Lecrae? Brandon Smith. This article is worth your time if only for this one wonderful little gem: “I’d prefer a Trinity-centered Gregorian chant over an ambiguous Christian pop song any day.” (Those Gregorian chants don’t get very much air time these days, sadly.) But Smith isn’t here arguing for a return to ancient worship styles. Quite the contrary: he thinks that if Paul were around today, he’d be completely fine with some—by no means all—contemporary Christian music.
DC Talk & the Influence of “Faith-fortifying” Songs, Trevin Wax. Speaking of contemporary Christian music (CCM, for those in the biz), Wax offers another helpful reflection, this one focused on one of the most popular Christian bands of all time: DC Talk. I (Chris) still remember listening to “In the Light” after becoming a believer, and thinking that what was previously cheesy was (now) really encouraging. Wax would agree: there may be a lot of garbage in the CCM world, but DC Talk was a bright spot.
Three Myths About Women’s Emotions, Sharon Hodde Miller. In the most anti-climactic announcement of 2015, Hillary Clinton announced that she’s running for our nation’s top office in 2016. Her official declaration led many to swiftly and publicly announce why they wouldn’t be voting for her. Some of those reasons, of course, are good and right. But our friend Sharon takes on one of the more suspect “reasons” – Clinton would be a bad leader because she’s a woman, and women are emotional. There’s a whole bundle of error in that statement, and Sharon helpfully sorts some of it out.
On The Lighter Side
Out of the mouth of babes…
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.”
