Amanda

“…The whole world, with Athens and Greece, has already become the domain of the Word.” - Clement of Alexandria || @Baylor alum || @SBTS Ethics + Public Theology

[Amanda @agwunder]

"Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness; I am Your sin. You took on You what was mine, yet set on me what was Yours. You became what You were not, that I might become what I was not." - Martin Luther

[Amanda @agwunder]

@AndrewTWalker @JDVance Congratulations!! This is amazing!

[Camus @newstart_2024]

Jordan Peterson made a profound point on Chris Williamson’s podcast.

When God dies, a lot of unexpected things die with Him, including science.

Science isn’t some purely neutral, secular tool. It rests on deeply religious assumptions: that truth exists, that it’s knowable, that pursuing it is good, and that the universe makes sense.

These aren’t scientific claims, they’re metaphysical, rooted in a religious worldview. The universities themselves grew out of monasteries.

Without that deeper foundation, science eventually stops being about truth and becomes just another tool for power, ideology, or convenience. You lose the reason to be honest when the data gets inconvenient.

Do you think science can survive long-term without any belief in objective truth or a higher moral order?

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Political violence is a feature, not a bug of progressivism.

Because progressivism is built on top of a Critical Theory lens that sees the world through "Oppressed vs Oppressor" categories rather than a Christian Theology lens of "Right vs Wrong", it trains people to see opponents not as mistaken, but as evil oppressors.

If you believe someone is mistaken, you try to persuade them (what @charliekirk11 did).

If you believe someone is an evil oppressor ("literally Hitler!", "fascist", "existential threat to democracy", virtually everything and everyone is "racist"), you will feel a moral obligation to stop them.

This is why there is radically disproportionate violence emerging on the Left.

[J.R.R. Tolkien @JRRTolkien]

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien

[Dan Burmawi @DanBurmawy]

Christianity in the West is not just another religion. It is the moral infrastructure of the civilization. And the atheists who can’t wait to see it disappear will one day regret their contribution to pushing it out, just as their master, Dawkins, did last year.

If Christianity goes, it does not go alone. With it goes everything it produced and then secularized: human dignity, equality before the law, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, limits on state power, the idea that rulers answer to something higher than themselves.

These did not fall from the sky. They were not discovered by pure reason. They were not produced by biology or evolution. They were born from a worldview.

What makes a king and a homeless man equal? Nature does not, power does not, history does not. Only one idea does: that both are made in the image of God.

What about freedom of speech? Why should anyone be allowed to say what they think? Because in the biblical worldview, conscience belongs to God before it belongs to the state. Because truth is not created by authority.

That is not Greek philosophy, or Roman law, or modern science. That is Judeo-Christian theology translated into politics.

What about limited state power? Why shouldn’t the state control everything? Because in the biblical model, the state is not divine. It is not sacred. It is not the source of morality. It is restrained because God stands above it. Remove God, and the state has no ceiling.

So when people say:“Human reason produced these values,” they are confusing inheritance with invention.

You did not invent them, you were born into them.

Societies that abandon Christianity keep the language of rights but lose the substance. They still say “human dignity,” but they can no longer explain why humans have it. They still say “freedom,” but they redefine it as appetite. They still say “equality,” but they replace it with grievance.

When we defend Judeo-Christian principles we are defending the moral architecture of the West.

A society can survive anything except the destruction of its moral foundation. Those who cheer the death of Christianity believe they are freeing society. In reality, they are removing the load-bearing walls.

And when the roof collapses, they will discover too late
that what they hated was what was holding everything up.

[Megan Basham @megbasham]

Yes! It’s not about demanding that pastors get political. It’s about so many avoiding topics where the Bible clearly speaks because it might be read as political. @conservmillen did an excellent job in this interview with @DouthatNYT (and kudos to him for hosting her—between this and the MacArthur obituary, NYT actually having a pretty good week!)

[Jeremy Wayne Tate @JeremyTate41]

AI can do your homework, write your emails, and pass the bar exam.

That’s why classical education matters more than ever—because only humans can learn to love what is true, good, and beautiful.

[Allie Beth Stuckey @conservmillen]

In November, Arizona passed Prop 139, which enshrined the “right” to late term abortion. Its name is demonically ironic in light of Psalm 139, the go-to passage pro-lifers cite to prove the innate value of babies in the womb: “you knitted me together in my mother’s womb… I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

But evil will not win in Arizona, and God is using pro-life pregnancy centers there to make sure of it. Hands of Hope Tucson is one of those centers. They provide free resources to pregnant moms in need. You can donate baby items via their registry here: Hands of Hope Tucson's Baby Registry https://t.co/kZU3rJQnTa

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Life is a snow day.

Powerful illustration from @Bobby_Jamieson.

[Andrew T. Walker @AndrewTWalker]

Basically every word of the tweet below is wrong. The Reformation sought to remove the accretions of Catholicism that had no basis in Scripture or the early apostolic tradition. The Reformation sought resonance with a mere catholicity, not Catholicism.

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Stephen Hawking: “Religion is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.”

John Lennox: “Atheism is a fairy tale for people afraid of the light.”

[Andrew T. Walker @AndrewTWalker]

A great time welcoming a bunch of @SBTS students over to my house tonight! Such a fun crew!

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Satan gives Adam an apple, and takes away paradise. Therefore in all temptations consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose.

— Richard Sibbes

[Amanda @agwunder]

@conservmillen says politics matter because policy matters because people matter. God has given us new political leaders who will enact policies with greater respect for the natural law—Any policy that reflects the NL is a policy that promotes goods which lead to human flourishing and one for which we should give God great praise!

As Christians living in a temporal and broken world, despite the brokenness, it is still our job to pursue and support and make the building blocks of our lives those lower, quantifiable goods that are in service of the highest Good- God. These are natural law goods like life, justice, family, and vocation.

I am rejoicing that, despite its flaws, we have a new government who will better promote these intrinsic goods. This is an unprecedented act of common grace and mercy, not just for America, but for Israel and the world, and for the rule of law. God deserves great glory and praise for that. Let us, with all of the saints, rejoice!

הללו יה

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[Amanda @agwunder]

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to respond the reactions on the Left over the election results— from profane meltdowns on the internet to threats on the lives of self or others, it’s quite shocking and disconcerting. Here are a few thoughts on seeing these reactions:🧵(1/6)

[Amanda @agwunder]

Fourth, do not let brokenness keep you from rejoicing! It is good and right to lament brokenness, and at the same time, the very recognition of brokenness should push us to even greater thankfulness for the One who heals it.

And until He comes again to judge the living and the dead, God sees fit to give us great gifts of common grace- let us again praise him!

The outcome of this election is a gift of common grace. I am unapologetically happy for the new Trump administration and for my country. But even more importantly, I rejoice in what I think will be a greater promotion of the good than we have seen in recent years. Let us always rejoice in promoting what is good, even in our temporal lives, because goodness here points to and reflects to the ultimate Good. I’m not happy because “my guy won.” I am joyful, because the country I love has a better chance now of upholding what is Good and True and Beautiful.

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Jeremiah 29:7

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