By Graham Glover – We’re all guilty. You. Me. All of us. We’re guilty of political idolatry. More […]
ethics
By Graham Glover –
I love to debate. I mean, I love to really debate. I’m not talking about simple, quaint discussions concerning issues without much disagreement. I have in mind those passionate arguments and heated conversations in which tempers just might get a little out of control as each side tries to make their point.
By Cindy Koch –
I did something terrible this morning. I guess it happens all the time, but I am still ashamed even as I type these words. Like you, I am one who is shocked at the dreadful state of our world today, but then I go participate in their deadly games. A gentleman ran up to me today and offered to carry a heavy bag to my car, that was only a few feet away. Without thinking twice, I shot him down.
By Joel Hess –
I love Jesus but…
Only a Butt says I love Jesus but… These days we often hear people say, “I love Jesus but…I don’t love his words. I don’t like it when he tells me I commit adultery in my heart. I don’t like it when he says, ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’. He must not have said that because I don’t like it. I love Jesus but…”
By Jaime Nava –
“So natural, it would even deceive.” Filostrato spoke with passion in C. S. Lewis’ final novel in his space trilogy. To have aluminum trees that looked as real as an organic one, that would be magical in its own way. Once we discovered a way to clean the air chemically, we wouldn’t need organic trees anymore. We could create clean aluminum trees that looked real. We could move them wherever we wanted. What about the birds? Get rid of them too. “Consider again the improvement. No feathers dropped out, no nests, no eggs, no dirt.” He goes on to say that eliminating organic life is “simple hygiene.”
By Scott Keith –
President Ronald Reagan is often credited with coining the so-called eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” Reagan used the term many times to discourage infighting within the GOP. I think that there is something to be learned from Reagan’s insistence on knowing when and with whom to pick a fight. A quick scan of the good ole Interweb––even (perhaps especially) when scrolling through “churchy” sites––will indicate we are all obsessed with eating our own.
By Bob Hiller –
Well, thank you, Colin Kapernick. Really, I mean it. Thank you. Because of your big, brave stand (or sit), you have given sports talk radio hosts a feeling of self-importance once again. You’ve helped them feel like they are more than just dudes talking about last night’s game. You’ve given them the ability to become social commentators. The penetrating sociological insight one can gain from listening to sport’s talk is truly breathtaking. So thank you, Colin Kapernick, for giving a bunch of self-important voices with a platform an opportunity to demonstrate that they alone know the right answers to all of life’s struggles.
By Caleb Keith –
Before everybody thinks I am a jerk, let me just say that I care about how you feel in the proper sense of the word that describes your emotional status. If you are happy, I am glad you feel that way. If you are sad, I sympathize with your distraught. I don’t care about how you feel in what I will call the “weak” sense of the word, that is the sense of the word which attempts to replace knowledge and indicative reality with uncertainty and personal probability.
By Ross Engel –
In the Mel Gibson film The Patriot, there is a scene that I have always appreciated. The Colonial Militia solicits the men of a congregation to take up arms to fight against the British. Many men are motivated by the speech, grab their gear, and head off to fight. As this particular scene comes to a close, someone notices that the pastor is heading off with the Militia, musket in hand. When the question of his departure is raised, the pastor’s response is simple and direct, “A shepherd must tend his flock, and at times, fight off the wolves.”
By Joel A. Hess –
Western society is obsessed with living here for as long as possible. The manifestations of this focus at first seem grand and hopeful. We spend tons of money to cure diseases. We spend billions putting people on Mars. We can talk to our parents in Michigan while living in Prague. We can watch the Olympics in Rio from our living room in Ann Arbor. We have done so many cool things that many truly put all their hope in our endeavors, whether explicitly or subconsciously. “The sky is the limit,” exclaim the progressive achievements of man! Yet what a limit it is!
By Ross Engel –
Like so many of you, the Olympics have dominated evenings and conversations in my house for the past two weeks. My oldest daughter has decided that she doesn’t only want to “grow up to be a nurse and a mommy.” She is also going to be an “Olympics girl” and win gold medals in swimming, diving, gymnastics, and shooting “maybe.” Both my girls have been keeping track of the medal counts with their own homemade chart, specifically watching USA, Canada, and Germany (we thought we’d teach them a little something about the lands of their ancestors). And my eleven-month-old son has mostly just enjoyed laughing at his sisters as he watches them run around the house chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
By Caleb Keith –
In my day-to-day life, I like to think I write more than the average person, not because I have more to say but because it is the nature of being a student to write. During the school year, I write papers, essays, short-answer responses, and the like. My work also requires me to write. At 1517 the Legacy Project, I write Facebook and Twitter posts, emails to co-workers, and the copies for the Thinking Fellows podcast. Then there is The Jagged Word, which I write for once a week, supplying a short blog for your viewing pleasure.
By Ross Engel –
Something I recently wrote was “borrowed without attribution.” (I have reached out to the author, apologies and forgiveness were exchanged, edits were made, and a round of drinks promised. The guy is a pretty talented writer and clearly he has good taste!) When I first read the article (before the edits), it seemed odd to read my words coming from someone else, though with minor adjustments here and there for personal differences (though, it appears we both root for the Redwings, so that did soften the blow some). Now that he has quoted me appropriately, I’ll admit that it seems just as odd to see myself being quoted!
By Jaime Nava –
Voting on mustaches and hearing weirdos compare the benefit of a resolution to a bag of bacon might seem like a waste of time to some people. It’s not. I didn’t expect to laugh so hard from the convention floor this week. Coming to tears with laughter reveals something about our church body. Although we’re doing serious work, we’re not taking ourselves too seriously. I think it’s a reflection of knowing we’re sinners who are forgiven, and that’s pretty cool.
By Graham Glover –
Your feelings mean very little.
I don’t much care about them.
In fact, you shouldn’t put a lot of stock in them either. They will betray you. They will deceive you. They will make you say and do things you will later regret. Their subjectivity is the source of eternal uncertainty.
By Jaime Nava –
According to this 2011 report, 0.2 to 0.3 percent of Americans consider themselves transgender. As percentages go, that’s not a big number. Our country loves to lift up the strong minority for the sake of some cause or another. Since gay marriage has passed, folks are now clamoring to support a new and shiny minority. I’m not saying that transgender people don’t face their issues. These are people who feel what is tangible isn’t really real. Anorexics feel the same way, too. They have their struggles and need support as anyone who feels that their body isn’t their reality. Interestingly, many feminists are finding issues with the transgender movement, as well.
By Joel A. Hess –
After the recent Supreme Court ruling knocking down Texas’ sanitary requirements for abortion clinics that are probably weaker than those used in poultry farms, we witnessed yet again the manifestations of a society that believes humans are really only animals.
That is the question of the age: is man an animal or something more?
By Joel A. Hess –
A couple of weeks ago, my kids enjoyed the movie The Truman Show for the first time. If you have been living with the Amish for the past year, I will summarized the movie for you. The film is about a man, Truman, who is part of an ultra-reality T.V. show that films him from his birth until death. It is set in a fake town underneath a large dome that even controls the weather. All the people except for Truman are actors. Everything is controlled except Truman. Truman’s life isn’t perfect; his dad traumatically dies in the surrounding sea and his first girlfriend disappears. Yet, overall he lives a fairly carefree and easy going life until he realizes it is all a conspiracy.
By Jaime Nava –
A pastor friend posted on Facebook that a religion’s beliefs are in line with their founder. So someone calling themselves a Buddhist will follow Gautama Buddha and his teachings. Christians find themselves following Christ. Do Muslims follow the teachings of Muhammed, and do those teachings contain the violence we have seen from recent attacks? Fort Hood saw the deaths of 13 when a psychiatrist proclaimed “Allah Akbar” in 2009. The Boston Marathon was attacked by religiously motivated Chechen Muslims, killing 3 and maiming or injuring another 264 in 2013. San Bernardino suffered the deaths of 14 and another 17 injured at the end of 2015. Now we have Orlando with 49 dead and 53 injured. Are these people claiming to follow the teachings of the Koran, or are they on the fringe?
By Caleb Keith –
It is times like these that I really hate social media. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other internet crap explode at the nearest sign of tragedy. Everybody has something to say when a massacre like that in Orlando happens. Most individuals mean well when they post platitudes and hindsight on their pages and walls as if they are experts in the fields of gun control and terrorism. The same sensation was true during the Cincinnati Zoo incident. As soon as a boy fell into a gorilla pit, everybody on the internet miraculously became an expert zookeeper. The result is a week of endless noise, under informed arguments, and mild personal gain.