Jeffrey L. Samelson

I’ve lived enough and learned enough that I have lots of things to say. Pastor. Writer. Podcaster. Thinker. Wonderer. Wanderer.

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

Also accessible at: https://t.co/ozOMBJtRLt

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

"It's exactly the same thing, only it's better because it's different!" sums up so many false Christologies:

THE PARABLE OF THE VEGANS AT THE BARBECUE
The Meatpackers Association in a certain state held a barbecue competition. The cook-off had been around so long many people just assumed it had always existed as it was.

While its goal was to include as many competitors as possible, the association still enforced one simple but strict rule: your dish or dishes had to include meat.

People had trouble remembering the last time anyone’s team had been disqualified according to this rule, but anyone who knew the competition’s history was aware that it had happened in the past.

Then a new team attempted to enter the contest and was rejected. They went to the competition’s registrar and appealed the decision. “This isn’t fair! Every other meat-loving team is included. Why are you singling us out as unqualified?”

“We would think that should be pretty clear,” the official replied. “We’re all about meat. And you’re vegan.”

They persisted. “That’s not really true, though! We use meat in all our dishes: ‘Vegan Meat Ribs’, ‘Vegan Meat Brisket’, ‘Vegan Pulled Meat’. How could we be any more explicit about how much we love meat? It’s right there in our name: ‘The Club of Vegan Meat Lovers and Cooks’!”

“Yes,”, the registrar answered, “we can see all that. But none of that changes the fact that your vegan ‘meat’ is not, in fact, meat. It’s made from plants, not animals. It may bear a resemblance to the real thing, you may call it the real thing, you may want and insist that it’s the real thing, but it is not meat.”

“Well,” they sputtered, “you’re just using an arbitrary definition of ‘meat’!”

“No, that would be what you’re doing. We’re defining ‘meat’ the way ‘meat’ has always been defined, by the standards that have always determined what meat is. You’re the ones saying, ‘This is different, but it’s the same thing!’”

“But our vegan meat is better than your meat! It’s easier to digest. The people who eat our kind of meat are healthier than those who eat your kind—you can see it, and they’ll be happy to tell you all about it!”

The registrar paused to collect himself. “And yet, it’s still not meat. Better or not, healthier or not, vegan meat is not meat and is therefore against the one simple rule for inclusion in our competition. How can it be any clearer than that?”

The vegans continued to insist that their meat was the same thing, only better because it was different, so they were sent away. They hadn’t met the only requirement for entry, so the door wasn’t going to open for them; they would have to knock on another.

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

@JonahDispatch 'Merica! Cool! (Though I'm afraid the flag will touch the ground before the parachutist will.)

[Weapon 𝕏 @HellRaz0r1776]

Ok. Hear me out…

A Breaking Bad reboot starring these two

[Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome]

Good job, America.

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

Definitely not a good development.

[Karen Vaites @karenvaites]

We are witnessing a drop in pleasure reading and a rise in the share of kids reporting no homework.

Also, the share of students taking Algebra in 8th grade has dropped from 34% to 23% since 2012.

This can’t end well.

@ChadAldeman reports:

"A small amount of homework that specifically reinforces what kids are learning in school can produce learning gains. It can also help students form productive habits and routines."

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

This is a really good look at the real state of things.

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

"Having successfully navigated the institutions of American meritocracy, many young American Muslims have rejected the quiet gratitude that one associates with immigrants and their children of earlier eras.

Instead, they have undergone what the political scientist Robert Leiken has called 'anti-West westernization' or 'adversarial assimilation': a process by which incorporation into American institutions produces not attachment to patriotic narratives of American freedom, individualism, and benevolence but hostility toward them."

An absolute must-read from @reihan ⬇️
https://t.co/iuPzk0UGG0

[CLR @christianlifere]

Faithfulness is easy until it costs you. Fidelity is not just a feeling, it is a commitment to a real standard. Our latest Life Challenges conversation gets practical fast. Will you measure your life by God’s Word? https://t.co/wQUKcpvaXZ

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

You don’t “improve” a girl by making her more like a boy and you don’t “improve” a boy by making him more like a girl. Educational policies or parenting principles that either don’t recognize the differences between the sexes or treat one as the ideal and the other as inferior will be ineffective at best — and harmful at their worst — for both boys and girls (and the men and women they grow up to be, and the culture we all live in).

We are male humans and female humans, which means we are different. The differences matter and should not be diminished or diluted. They are instead to be appreciated and protected. We are less as a society or nation if men’s manhood is adulterated or women’s womanhood is debased.

Yes, we can learn from the other sex. But a man learning to be less savage or more aware of his feelings is not becoming woman-like; he’s becoming a better version of the man he is. And a woman learning to be more assertive or less accommodating is not becoming man-like; she’s become a better version of the woman she is.

It should go without saying—but today needs to be said—that no one will become a better human by becoming something other than the sex they are. No girl or woman can become a boy or man, and any changes made in pursuit of that goal will not be improvements — they will always be subtractions from what makes her who she is, not additions or completions. And no boy or man can become a girl or woman, and any changes made in pursuit of that goal will not be improvements — they will always be subtractions from what makes him who he is, not additions or completions.

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

@EWErickson The public library in the town where I live (Grafton, WI) is named for the USS Liberty, but I haven't been here long enough to know whether that name choice was more about honoring the men who died or…something-something-something about Israel. I like to think it was the former.

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

@HansFiene That's a good illustration!

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

https://t.co/1uuoV955HA

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

God is *What*?!! -- Recently a candidate running for the US Senate has received some attention for having asserted that “God is trans” or “non-binary” — you may have read or seen something about it.

Many Christians have responded with incredulity or hostility, but they shouldn't be surprised. This is pretty standard in the progressive church. BUT there’s an acute intellectual inconsistency in such claims that, logically speaking, should invalidate their assertions about God’s nature and names.
[Link to blog post in replies]

[Robert P. George @McCormickProf]

People with Down Syndrome are human beings. They are, as such, bearers of profound, inherent, and equal dignity and the right to life. To target them for extermination on the basis of their condition is as wicked as targeting people on account of their race, sex, or ethnicity.

[PUNS @ThePunnyWorld]

What’s the difference between bird flu and swine flu?

One requires tweetment…

The other needs an oinkment.

[CLR @christianlifere]

“Non-viable embryo” sounds medical, but what if it’s just a loose label with no standards? We dig into IVF ethics and the money-driven fertility industry. Listen now and share: what questions would you ask a clinic? https://t.co/TFMCqMhnpd

[Billy Binion @billybinion]

Nothing could have prepared me for this correction. Throw me a funeral. I am deceased.

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

@HansFiene A simple redirect to the Book of Concord would fix everything, right?

[Jeffrey L. Samelson @ThWriteSamelson]

We rightly correct children when they act as though their complaints should change our answers about what is and isn’t: that’s not the way the world works.

Yet there are also many adults who seem to think that their deep feelings, their preferred ideologies, the popular will, or the loudly proclaimed opinions of the “right” people are enough to change reality to what they wish it to be.

Just as wanting the weather to be different, your destination to be closer, or to flap your arms and fly does nothing to alter the physical realities of our existence, so also biological, economic, and historical realities are entirely indifferent to personal desires, academic theories, and fashionable grievances.