Finding a faith that is stronger than death — or my family’s rejection by Min Read

Finding a faith that is stronger than death — or my family’s rejection by Min Read

When I lost the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I ultimately gained everything. Those 25 people taking care of me? Two atheists, a Muslim, a Jew, gay people both churched and not, and traditional church folks like me. None of them would have been accepted by the faith I left behind — where salvation was only for a chosen few. I want an afterlife like my life has been: one like Revelation 7:9, a great multitude of diverse people existing together in love of each other and their Creator. It’s not up to me to say who qualifies.In my search, I left behind conditional, behavior-based love and traded it for the unconditional grace shown by a true family, whose bonds have nothing to do with DNA.And I’m dying grateful for that.

What a fascinating and yet very sad article. I’m very sad that the author passed away, especially at my age. But it was an interesting insight into somebody who “found faith I could do business with.“ She found a Christianity without any real need for Christ. She’s so eloquent and so clear and now she’s gone. Very sad

Trans: The Sexual Revolution Turns Totalitarian By Rod Dreher

Trans: The Sexual Revolution Turns Totalitarian by Rod Dreher

Believe what you want to believe about Ukrainian diplomacy, health care policy, immigration, and so forth. There is almost nothing more fundamental to a society than the way it regards males and females. Does it not trouble you even a little bit that we can’t have a public discussion about transgenderism beyond talking about whether it’s one of the greatest things in history, or absolutely the greatest thing in history? 

One of my favorite thinkers sounding the alarm over a subject that can only end badly.

Why Tolstoy and Dostoevsky Matter Now More Than Ever by Tim McIntosh

Why Tolstoy and Dostoevsky Matter Now More Than Ever by Tim McIntosh

Nevertheless, Christianity was “the dominating force” in the works of both novelists (William Lyon Phelps, Essays on Russian Novelists, 1911). Both knew something neglected by the best of modern novelists: The human heart inhales hope for transcendence. Both novelists portrayed their heroes and heroines as wandering hearts, unprotected by doctrinal armor, exposed to the same tribulations and rewards that God visited upon Job. Both novelists obsess over eternal questions — giving their work a fresh relevancy in our culture preoccupied with an ethics of utility.

Good thoughts for the study of Dostoevsky and Utilitarianism

What Scares Me about Classical Education by Joshua Dyson

What Scares Me about Classical Education by Joshua Dyson

This leaves us as classical educators in the role of total dependence upon God. We are putting “all our eggs in this one basket“ and trusting that God will come through with His Grace. I remember hearing a preacher ask, “What are you asking God to do that only He can do, so that when He does it He will get all the glory for it?” That is indeed what we are asking and needing God to do for our students. Because if God doesn’t come through for these students, this whole classical education project will go down as one of the most harmful endeavors to the world ever promulgated by Christians.

A sobering read.

Conservatives Should Watch More Television by Kevin D. Williamson

Conservatives Should Watch More Television by Kevin D. Williamson

The conservative movement in the United States, which identifies itself too closely with the Republican party, is at a low cultural ebb (it is certainly fashionable to be anti-Trump), but American popular culture for the past 20 years nonetheless has been suffused with deeply conservative sentiment — even though conservatives often fail to understand or appreciate it. We should watch less cable news and more drama and comedy.

I love Kevin Williamson's take on most things. He's certainly always original!