douthat on 50 shades

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The New Atheist, Muslim Killer

Dreher

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Does God Talk To Katy Perry?

No “God Talk” Please

I completely understand the reason the secular west attempts to exclude “god talk” from public conversation. “God talk” is problematic.

Katy Perry was raised in a Pentecostal Christian home, loves speaking in tongues and sees her spirituality more as evolving rather than being confined by the Christianity she grew up with (list of links).

Before her Superbowl performance she heard God reassuring her “you got this and I got you.” She knows enough to know that every feeling you have isn’t necessarily God talking so she looked around for confirmation so when random guy who looked her in the eye and said “you got this” she knew it was a word from the LORD.

How does one approach this? 

We tend to approach based on our biases and worldview.

  • Secular: this is an example of superstitious god talk that causes religious conflict, violence, discrimination. At best it’s foolish and in bad taste. At worst it encourages religious people to justify their own action with divine authority.
  • Spiritual but not religious: God is everywhere, always giving us encouragement to do our best and to be our best. It’s so cool that Katy received this word and except for the left shark gave a great performance. God is there to help us have a good time and realize our dreams.
  • Sectarian (Christian or other religions): God speaks through authorized parties. “By their fruits you shall know them.” According to how we judge Katy Perry’s life and expressed beliefs we will determine whether this word from God is “authentic” or not.

When God Talks Back Continue reading →

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Relevant Magazine’s 12 Books that will shape your theology

Relevant

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A Psychologist’s Take on 50 Shades of Grey

Link

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CS Lewis on the UnDemocratic God

We, with our modern democratic and arithmetical presuppositions would so have liked and expected all men to start equal in their search for God. One has the picture of great centripetal roads coming from all directions, with well-disposed people, all meaning the same thing, and getting closer and closer together. How shockingly opposite to that is the Christian story! One people picked out of the whole earth; that people purged and proved again and again. Some are lost in the desert before they reach Palestine; some stay in Babylon; some becoming indifferent. The whole thing narrows and narrows, until at last it comes down to a little point, small as the point of a spear— a Jewish girl at her prayers. That is what the whole of human nature has narrowed down to before the Incarnation takes place. Very unlike what we expected , but, of course, not in the least unlike what seems, in general, as shown by nature, to be God’s way of working. The universe is quite a shockingly selective, undemocratic place out of apparently infinite space, a relatively tiny proportion occupied by matter of any kind. Of the stars perhaps only one has planets: of the planets only one is at all likely to sustain organic life. Of the animals only one species is rational. Selection as seen in nature, and the appalling waste which it involves, appears a horrible and an unjust thing by human standards. But the selectiveness in the Christian story is not quite like that. The people who are selected are, in a sense, unfairly selected for a supreme honour; but it is also a supreme burden. The People of Israel come to realize that it is their woes which are saving the world. Even in human society, though, one sees how this inequality furnishes an opportunity for every kind of tyranny and servility. Yet, on the other hand , one also sees that it furnishes an opportunity for some of the very best things we can think of—humility, and kindness, and the immense pleasures of admiration. (I cannot conceive how one would get through the boredom of a world in which you never met anyone more clever, or more beautiful, or stronger than yourself. The very crowds who go after the football celebrities and film-stars know better than to desire that kind of equality!) What the story of the Incarnation seems to be doing is to flash a new light on a principle in nature, and to show for the first time that this principle of inequality in nature is neither good nor bad. It is a common theme running through both the goodness and badness of the natural world, and I begin to see how it can survive as a supreme beauty in a redeemed universe.

Lewis, C. S. (2014-05-20). God in the Dock (p. 85). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

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Consent Isn’t Enough

Emma Green on 50 Shades

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The Day We Invent Marriage

It strikes me that as the rape conversation progresses at some point we will adopt a social custom where written, public, legal consent is secure prior to sexual intimacy. Because paperwork is so unromantic other symbols such a jewels and rings will be used as tokens and people will host celebrative ceremonies to mark the occasion. Once finally legal sanction and protection is secured intimacy can safely be commenced. Of course, many will not be able to or want to achieve such a standard but the norm will be set as the best or safest way to proceed. We’ll look around for a word to describe this new state of affairs. Someone will look in a dictionary to find an old word and suddenly “marriage” will be “the new thing”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-stanford-undergraduate-and-the-mentor.html

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The Stanford Undergrad and Her Mentor

NY Times

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The Internet is for Public Shaming

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