Happy Friday,
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
The Apostle John
The term quantum leap is frequently misunderstood. Though many think otherwise, it’s a particle physics term referring to “the smallest move possible.” In like manner, I John 1:9 is frequently misunderstood. Though many think it means, “If I confess my sins, God will be merciful and forgive me,” it actually means something quite different. What John tells us is that if we confess our sins, Jesus will pay our moral debt. And after that happens, it would be unjust of God to bring it up again.
The State of Contradiction: Speaking of getting it backward, this report highlights the curious fact that some hold others to a lower standard than they demand of themselves. The reason this is important is because, while it may feel like an act of generosity to let others slide, it plays out differently in real life. What am I getting at? The report shows that many liberal elites advocate a progressive lifestyle but live a traditional one. The reason this is worth noting is because, in many cases, the progressive lifestyle does not work.
WOTW: Honorable mention goes to Poison Ivy (a dig at the East Coast elites caught up in recent scandals) and dry-tripping (which refers to self-medicating with psychedelics rather than alcohol). Honors go to loud budgeting, which has replaced quiet luxury as the new way to manage money. Loud budgeters say things like, “it’s not that I don’t have it, but I am choosing not to spend it.” Loud budgeters now think it is cooler to save than to have cool stuff. I’d like to quietly say that I have been a loud budgeter for a long time. Tragically, few recognize how cool this makes me. Perhaps I should be LOUD about that as well!)
IS2M: 1) If we see a few more reports like this about what happens when schools ban smartphones, many more will follow; 2) It’s hardly possible to believe we are approaching the fourth anniversary of COVID; and 3) Our inability to agree about the what and the why of COVID suggests we’re even less ready for the next pandemic than we were for that one.
Only OK: Last week, I saw Freud’s Last Session, the new release in which Anthony Hopkins plays the 83-year-old psychoanalyst and Matthew Goode plays a 40-year-old CS Lewis. There is no record that the two ever met, but this imagines that they did so in 1939, several months before Freud ended his life. I’d heard good things about the book that inspired the movie, but I can’t recommend it. Although well-acted — and although it features a few good moments — I found its dialogue heavy without managing to say much. Stay home, make popcorn, and read one of the Narnia Chronicles.
Without Comment: 1) According to this report, vaping is down; 2) According to this TED talk, though we need 10,000 hours to master a field, 20 hours is enough to gain competence in most things; 3) According to this survey, only 12% of US churches are stable, 54% are declining, and 33% are growing; and 4) Open Door’s annual report notes that while the persecution of Christians was down a bit in ’23; 365M Christians faced some level of persecution, 295K Christians lost their homes, 15K churches were attacked, 4K Christians were abducted, and 5K Christians were martyred. North Korea remains the worst offender, followed by Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan.
Overheard: 1) You know you’ve been in a moral revolution when: that which was nearly universally condemned is now nearly universally celebrated, that which was celebrated is now condemned, and those who refuse to celebrate are now condemned; 2) Many people no longer look to the news to inform them. They expect the news to affirm them; and 3) Though the 20th century began with the rejection of the past and an embrace of technology, in recent days, we seem to be doing the opposite. Paleo Diet, anyone?
Resource Re: Lewis:
- Click here to listen to Dr. Jerry Root’s lecture on CS Lewis and the Christian Imagination (which starts with his 30-minute lecture but continues with me asking him questions for the next 40 minutes)
- Click here to sign up for the CS Lewis class I start teaching next Tuesday
- Click here to attend a Lewis lecture in Naples, FL, on Feb. 22
Other Resources:
- Click here to listen to last week’s sermon, which was part two of my effort to explain the water we are swimming in.
- Click here to sign up for a News Rules talk in CO on Feb. 26
Worth Noting: 1) Jefferson did not initially write that it was “self-evident” that all men were created equal. He wrote, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable.” Benjamin Franklin revised it; 2) The New Testament does not teach that if we strive to love God and our neighbor, we are Christians. It says that if we are Christians, we will strive to love God and our neighbor. (The equation is not Faith + Works = Salvation but Faith = Salvation + Works.); and 3) though there are arenas in which moderation is a good thing, we must not moderate our love for God and others.
Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) “A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.” Winston Churchill; 2) “Sometimes, when it gets dark enough, people begin to see stars.” Ralph Waldo Emerson; and 3) “The game of life is hard, and a lot of us are playing hurt.” Anne Lamott
Closing Prayer: Loving and tender providence of my God, into your hands I commend my spirit; to you I abandon my hope and fears, my desires and repugnances, my temporal and eternal prospects. Though temptations should assail me, I will hope in you… You are my kind, compassionate, and indulgent Father, and I am your devoted child who casts myself into your arms and begs your blessing. Amen. Claude Le Colombiére, (1641-1682)