Morning Musing: Proverbs 17:22

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” (CSB – Read the chapter)‬‬

When Jerry Seinfeld is complaining about the modern state of comedy, you know there’s a problem. His recent complaint was linked to the fact that because of the scourge of wokeness and microaggressions and fears of offending someone, somewhere, resulting in being cancelled, many comedians are afraid to let loose and be funny. As the Joker once asked Batman, “Why so serious?” I was reminded recently just how good it is to be able to laugh. Even in the midst of a divided and partisan culture, when we can learn to not take ourselves so seriously and laugh together, then even when we disagree, we can still be friends and neighbors.

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 13:6

“Righteousness guards people of integrity, but wickedness undermines the sinner.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Graduation season is always an interesting time. The primary reason for this is that it gives us the chance to reflect on the parting words given to graduates by a whole variety of speakers. Every one of these invited guests is there to tell his or her audience the things they presumably need to know in order to experience success in life as they move on to their next chapter. Sometimes the advice is good and wise; sometimes less so. Sometimes the advice is fairly generic and bland, while other times it can generate reactions in the broader culture that are a bit…livelier. The graduation speech given by Harrison Butker, the superstar kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs seems to have fallen into this latter category. Let’s explore what he actually had to say, some of the ways the culture has reacted to it, and see what we can do with it.

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Digging in Deeper: 1 Peter 3:18

“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What is it that draws someone to the Gospel? A whole number of different things. Some are pretty good reasons. Others aren’t quite so good or reasonable, but thankfully the destination is ultimately more important than the path as long as you do indeed wind up in the right place. One of the most powerful draws to the Gospel historically has been the promise of God’s love as expressed through the substitutionarily sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus. This assurance that God values your life even more highly than His own is a pretty potent one indeed. As the apostle Peter put there, Jesus was willing to lay down His life in order to make it possible for you to get to God. The latest entry in what has become one of the most Gospel-soaked film franchises in recent memory offered up a picture of what this is like in one of the most powerful recruitment scenes I think I’ve ever seen. Let’s talk for just a few minutes today about the most recent adventure for super spy Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.

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Digging in Deeper: 1 Peter 2:12

“Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In the wake of 9/11 there arose a whole new generation of atheists. And while their arguments were not new at all, their boldness, their rhetorical cleverness, and their energetic hostility toward all religion and Christianity in particular put a pretty new dress and an attractive layer of makeup on an old model. And, thanks to the horrible actions taken by a handful of radical Muslim terrorists, they had plenty of ammunition for their argument that religion was the biggest problem facing the world. It is deeply ironic, of course, that most of them spent most of their time making their arguments from the comfort and relative safety of Western nations with a tradition of freedom of expression that that has only ever existed in cultures created and shaped by the very Christian worldview they loved to lampoon and not in places like, say, Iran where their comments could have easily gotten them arrested and killed, but we’ll leave that alone for now. Their hatred and ridicule has inspired a whole new generation of young atheists (who aren’t so young anymore…) who relish poking holes in the faith of their Christian friends and family members. The movement’s cultural power has largely faded in recent years, but every now and then one of the surviving original leaders of the movement will say something that makes a bit of a splash. Well, Richard Dawkins, the man who was always the leading highlight of the group recently said something in an interview that has gotten everyone talking again. But this time, instead of attacking Christianity, he was claiming it. Let’s talk some today about what he said and why it matters.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 22:18-20

“Do not allow a sorceress to live. Whoever has sexual intercourse with an animal must be put to death. Whoever sacrifices to any gods, except the Lord alone, is to be set apart for destruction.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The death penalty debate doesn’t rage quite as hot today as it did in the fairly recent past, but there are nonetheless still pretty strong opinions on both sides of the matter. The fact is, not very many people are put to death for crimes they have committed in this country as compared with where that annual number used to be. There are a number of reasons for this, some of which I personally find to be more compelling than others. In any event, one of the sources of support many death penalty proponents point to in order to justify their position is the Bible. Verses like this are often why. Not everyone, however, agrees. Let’s talk about what we see here and what we are supposed to do with it.

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