this week 4/22

"God liberates us in order to rule us, and he rules us in order to liberate us."  (Michael Horton, Pilgrim Theology)

Why I gave up on Twitter and went back to Feedly.  Feedly is a news (and blog) aggregator that receives and organizes posts as they are published. 
It's simple, chronological, and straightforward ("just the facts").  Twitter has become a social media platform which enhances the promotion of persons, organizations, and responses among them (example: "here's what so-and-so said about my book and how I replied, with a picture of me and a quote from me, too.").  So, I'm back to "just the facts" and I click on the links of interest and skip the online debates.  This lowers one's blood pressure too!  Get Feedly here.  

The real reason for declining attendance?  Often polls and surveys are used to suggest that declining church attendance can be reversed with a few easy, organizational steps, things that can make our services more attractive, and thus, attractional.  As helpful as these may be, this assessment by Warner Wallace is probably closer to the mark:  "If our sense of informational and moral autonomy continues to increase, fewer of us will turn to religion for answers or direction... Religions make moral proclamations that transcend individual belief and cultural consensus. They also make moral claims that require our submission. Unsurprisingly, as America shifts toward moral autonomy, fewer Americans rely on religious systems that make transcendent, unchanging, ethical claims and demands."  

Theology: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  Tim Challies writes, "It’s when people who have been Christians for a long time reveal that they have only the smallest amount of theological knowledge or, even worse, reveal their belief that theological knowledge is an unnecessary or even evil thing. This is sadly common and always tragic."  Kevin DeYoung adds, "We live in a culture which is much more comfortable emoting than arguing. We like to shame people on social media more than we want to produce evidence and facts and actual arguments."  

John Z gets a wake up call.  "At moments like these, my little Darwin emerges and whispers reassuringly: 'Maybe it’s all nonsense. Maybe we just get born and then … just die. Endless, dreamless sleep, where nothing matters and you have nothing to fear.'”  Story here.   

More on the Sri Lankan bombings.  Not only Christian nationals but also Americans died at the hand of an international network of terrorists. 

Two rediscovered messages by Francis Schaeffer from 1981-82 are being made available by SEBTS:  "Changing the Course of History" (1981) 
and "Answers to a Generation that has no Answers" (1982).  

That's this week!