Aaron Wilson

This Week's Recommendations

This Week's Recommendations
  1. Almost a quarter of the world feels lonelyEllyn Maese shares, “Global results indicate that the lowest rates of feeling lonely are reported among older adults (aged 65 and older), with 17% feeling very or fairly lonely, while the highest rates of feeling lonely are reported among young adults (aged 19 to 29), with 27% feeling very or fairly lonely.”

  2. Q&A about assisted reproductive suicideAaron and Jennifer Wilson tackle some difficult issues here, “In the United States alone, there is an estimated surplus of 1 to 1.3 million human embryos—many of whom are available to be adopted.”

This Week's Recommendations

This Week's Recommendations

1. How Early Christianity Was Mocked for Welcoming Women: Michael Kruger reminds us that while only one-third of Rome’s citizens were women, women comprised two-thirds of the early church, “And it is this reality that sets the stage for the critics of early Christianity. If they were looking for a way to undermine this new religious movement (and they were!) then the involvement of women is an easy target.”

2. God is Not a God of Second Chances: Provocative article by Aaron Wilson. He begins by explaining, "A second-chance gospel reveals half of the good news—the half that says Jesus died for sins. The fact that God is merciful is a beautiful truth. But if Jesus only died to forgive sins, humanity is still in trouble."

3. Why Procrastination is About Managing Emotions, Not Time: Do you struggle with procrastination? You'll find this helpful. New psychological studies are revealing that, "The task we’re putting off is making us feel bad – perhaps it’s boring, too difficult or we’re worried about failing – and to make ourselves feel better in the moment, we start doing something else, like watching videos."

4. Homeschool Surge: Given the difficulty of online education, I’m not surprised that there is a big surge in homeschooling during this strange year. Esther Eaton at World reports, “A May survey found 40 percent of parents compelled to school at home because of COVID-19 said they’d be more likely to homeschool in the future.”

5. Who is Most Generous? Not Who You’d Expect: John Lee reflects on Barna findings that the three most generous cities in the US are located in one state. What state do you think it is? “Christians in these cities give on average $17,977 to charity annually.” Meanwhile, other cities give just over $3,300 a year. Lee then dives deep into what most powerfully motivates us to give.

6. How Presidential Debates Have Changed: A lot is packed into this six-minute video.

This Week's Recommendations

This Week's Recommendations

1.       Avengers' Infinity War and the Gospel: Aaron Wilson with a thoughtful reflection on Marvel's newest addition: "Thanos is an inverted version of Christ—a villain willing to save the world, but only through the sacrifice of others... Thanos tells another character it cost him everything to save the world. However, unlike Christ who emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, Thanos’ “sacrifice” has him seeking ultimate power by assuming the form of a God."

2.       What Every Passenger on Southwest Flight 1380 Forgot: Stephen McAlpine makes a connection between our inability to remember lifesaving practices with the gospel in our life, “In other words we prove that, despite our casualness when the flight is on the ground, despite our “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know that!” before turning to look at the dinner menu, we don’t have what we call “unconscious competence” when it comes to such a vital, life saving practice.”

3.       Reasons Not To Go To Church: Tara Beth Leach chastens, "Don't attend church if you're looking for a place to always and only be filled up, and never pour out. If you're coming to only consume, you're going to be sorely disappointed."

4.       9 Facts About John Calvin You Probably Don't Know: This is fun. Among the facts: "Calvin wrote the first edition of Institutes of the Christian Religion at age 25. He was converted at age 24."

5.       What Parts of the Country Are Religiously Engaged and Disengaged? It is surprising to see this visually. The West, Southwest, and Northeast are particularly disengaged. Arizona's disengagement might surprise some, but it doesn't surprise me, both from the numbers I've seen and anecdotally.