Wisdom For Your Weekend: your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading around the web.
Book Review of the Week
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green. Reviewed by Tim Challies. “As I read The Fault in Our Stars, I found it very difficult to understand why so many young people are raving about it. I read Twilight and immediately understood why young women had responded to it so strongly; I read The Hunger Games and immediately understood why both young men and young women enjoyed it. But The Fault in Our Stars? What sets it apart from the billion-and-one other teenage romance dramas? It is much less clear to me. But I do have a theory.”
Articles of the Week
A Christian Perspective on Mental Illness, Brad Hambrick. “Everyone is affected by mental illness; either personally or someone they love. The vocabulary of mental illness (i.e. depression, bipolar, addiction, etc.) is common vernacular. For you the phrase ‘mental illness’ may be a safe haven of explanation, a label that carries stigma, or a mystery that is misunderstood. This is why mental illness is a subject that must be discussed in the church; otherwise, our silence on the subject hurts people by leaving them to struggle in silence.”
Americans Still Want Their Kids Marrying “Born-Again” Christians Instead of Atheists, Kate Tracy. A new Pew Research poll asked parents how they would feel if their child married people from various backgrounds—Christian, atheist, college-educated, of a different race, etc. The findings indicate that when it comes to a future in-law, American culture still values the Christian label more than many others.
12 Things TED Talk Speakers Do that Preachers Don’t, Nicholas MacDonald. “Ever seen a TEDx talk? They’re pretty great. I’ve wondered for a long time, ‘How in the world do each of these talks end up consistently blowing me away?’ So I did some research, and found the TEDx talk guidelines for speakers. Some of the advice was basic – but some of it was unexpected. Much of it, I think, is a welcome wake up call to preachers who are communicating in a 21st century postmodern, post-Christian context. Obviously, some of this doesn’t fit with a preacher’s ethos: but much of it does.”
#HowOldWereYou: Origins of a Heartbreaking Hashtag, Karen Swallow Prior. “Lest my story be taken as some sort of anomaly, I posed a general question to the Twitterverse: How old were you when you were pursued sexually by an adult authority? I knew in posing the question that it would prove right to cast it not as ‘if’ but ‘when.’ . . . My sense about the pervasiveness of the problem was, sadly, proven correct over the next several hours. The responses on Twitter were—and continue days later to be—overwhelming. It’s time for the church to stop being shocked and face reality with open eyes.”
On The Lighter Side
The World Cup of “Everything Else.” Wall Street Journal. How would the World Cup play out if it weren’t about soccer, but were about murder rates, number of Starbucks, or cellphones? The Wall Street Journal has done the homework and created those brackets for us. Greece would top everyone based on smoking, Russia based on drinking, and the U.S. takes the cake on, well, taking the cake.
