Trevor Morrison

Citizen of Aotearoa. Self-consciously a Christian since childhood. Love theology.
Electrical engineer, then a tertiary lecturer. Learner re indigenous peoples.

[🗣 Free Speech Union ✊ @NZFreeSpeech]

Self-censorship rarely arrives as an official ban. It arrives as professional risk. 

A six-slide breakdown of how professional regulation is increasingly being used to police speech - and what that's doing to the voices we most need to hear from. 

If something here sounds familiar, we want to hear from you. Your story builds the picture. 

Policymakers can't fix a problem they can't see.

[Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox]

Sam Harris has written the best thing you’ll read today.

https://t.co/gI0wZZNH4m

[Trevor Morrison @TrevsDev]

This makes sense.
https://t.co/wIGzk6826c

[Rev. Bosco Peters @Liturgy]

Sometimes it’s still really worth being on Twitter

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

In Revelation 4, John describes his heavenly vision, but he does not invent new language and imagery to do so. Instead, he dips his paintbrush into the colors of the Old Testament.

In fact, almost every verse of Revelation 4 echoes, reflects, or draws directly from earlier biblical texts.

When John sees a throne set in heaven (Rev. 4:2), he is standing in the same place as Isaiah (Isa. 6:1), Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:26–28), Daniel (Dan. 7:9), and Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19). Like them, he is being shown the heavenly court where God reigns and from which he rules the world.

Ezekiel’s vision especially serves as a template for John’s description. The radiant throne, the gleaming appearance of precious stones (Rev. 4:3; cf. Ezek. 1:26–28; Exod. 24:10), and the crystal-like expanse before the throne (Rev. 4:6; cf. Ezek. 1:22) all echo Ezekiel.

Other Old Testament scenes are woven in as well. The rainbow around the throne (Rev. 4:3) recalls both Ezekiel’s vision of divine glory (Ezek. 1:28) and the post-flood sign in Genesis (Gen. 9:13). The lightning, thunder, and voices (Rev. 4:5) reflect Sinai, where God revealed himself in fire and power (Exod. 19:16). The seven lamps (Rev. 4:5) echo Zechariah’s vision (Zech. 4:2–6), symbolizing the Spirit of the Lord, whom Isaiah also describes in sevenfold fullness (Isa. 11:2).

The living creatures are likewise rooted in earlier Scripture. They combine the cherubim of Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:5–10; 10:12–15) with the seraphim of Isaiah (Isa. 6:2–3). Their six wings and their unending cry, “Holy, holy, holy” (Rev. 4:8), come straight from Isaiah’s temple vision (Isa. 6:3).

Finally, the worship of the one seated on the throne (Rev. 4:9–11) reflects a long tradition of heavenly praise scenes (Isa. 6:1; Dan. 7:9–10; Ps. 47:8), while the language of God’s eternal life echoes Daniel (Dan. 4:34; 12:7).

So did John see in a vision what he describes in Revelation 4? Yes. And to describe that vision, in all its parts, he used words and images deeply rooted in the Bible itself.

This chapter alone serves as a powerful reminder of how absolutely crucial it is to know the Old Testament if we are to read and understand Revelation.

[Seth Dillon @SethDillon]

No, Christianity does not promote or require socialism. And it is not at odds with capitalism.

The idea that socialism is a biblical model requires you to ignore the difference between willing generosity and forced redistribution. When the early church in Acts shared resources, it was voluntary; it wasn't mandated by the state. Peter acknowledged private property rights and so did the ten commandments. Stealing is only wrong if private property ownership is a given. Same with coveting.

All virtues require freedom, including charity. Socialism removes the freedom and kills the virtue. If the state takes your wealth and gives it to someone else, you've been taxed. You haven't been "generous" because it had nothing to do with your heart.

Capitalism creates wealth — so there's something to share — and respects our individual freedom to share it. The charity that results from the wealth that's created is real charity; it's actually an act of loving one's neighbor. And it isn't just theoretical or idealistic. Free markets paired with Christian values have produced the wealthiest, freest, and most generous societies in history.

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Coming to believe ~90% of the political differences among Christians boil down to a failure to distinguish between the Biblical roles of the individual, the church, and the State.

No, God did not command governments to forcibly redistribute wealth.

Yes, God commanded Christians as individuals to practice charity.

Individual Christians in Acts “gave willingly and not under compulsion.”

Christians in Acts did not vote for the Emperor to increase the marginal tax rate and call that “generosity.”

[Brianna Wu @BriannaWu]

The thing that Westerns don’t understand is Islamists do not think the way we do. It’s a death cult.

When I was taken to IDF base to see the secret October 7 footage, it opens with a father trying to save his two children from Hamas terrorists gleefully slaughtering civilians.

He takes his two children to hide in a shed. Moments later, an Islamist terrorist gleefully throws in a grenade. Later, a child comes out with his eye blown out by shrapnel, soaked in his father’s blood. Weeping, he manages to grab his brother’s hand and escape.

I sometimes have nightmares of that child, eye gouged out, hands slick with his father’s blood, escaping through the side yard. Later the Islamist notices he’s gone and smiles at the horror he’s inflicted.

It’s the most evil thing I’ve ever seen.

Westerners who have never scrambled to run in a bomb shelter from a missile think of Palestinianism like the 1964 civil rights movement. This is a false categorization.

The reality is, it’s a death cult that will sacrifice themselves and their children to hurt Jews. They are not rational actors.

Once you realize that, you can understand the lengths Israel has to go through just to survive. You can’t make peace with someone who is so obsessed with hurting you, they don’t care if they live or die.

[Brianna Wu @BriannaWu]

Gender is not a spectrum and non-binary is a political idea, not a medical one.

This is academic, gender ideologist nonsense. It has literally nothing to do with transsexuals or our health care.

I was born with a mathematically rare medical condition. I went to a doctor, I got help. And I want to just live my life. Unobtrusively, beside women.

I do not wish to change language. I don’t want to eliminate sex from law. I do not want to play sports. I actually do not want my transsexuality to be something you even notice or have to accommodate.

The thing that horrifies me most about gender ideology is how it treats women as a political opposition that must be defeated. Not cherished friends we are hoping to earn acceptance from.

[John Cleese @JohnCleese]

I suppose the pyramids were build by volunteers

The ignorance is breathtaking

[Rod Dreher @roddreher]

https://t.co/piSoxiwSC3

[John Cleese @JohnCleese]

It is not sensible to expect people who adhere to these commandments to integrate with another culture

Where the Koranic culture is concerned there is no possibility of multiculturism, because' Any religion other than Islam is not possible '

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Also, take note:

There is 1 political party in America that is primarily pushing back against Islamic Nationalism and Secular Progressive Nationalism (which has become a mixture of LGBT ideology, Critical Race Theory, and open Socialism).

And there is 1 political party that is primarily pushing back against… *checks notes*… Christian cultural influence.

0 Christians should be voting for the 2nd one, and that should no longer be even mildly controversial to say.

[John Cleese @JohnCleese]

And maybe another minute for the 32,000 demonstrators Khamenei had killed

[John Cleese @JohnCleese]

The very word 'Islamophobia' is incorrect, as a phobia is an irrational fear

Like my fear of spiders, or the Islamic fear of dogs

People who criticise Islam are Islamosceptic

And their criticism is not racial - it's cultural

It's not racial to abhor Female Genital Mutilation !

Islam has chosen the word Islamophobic because it allows them to be seen as victims, when they are often
behaving as aggressors - especially towards women

[Oliver Burdick @oliverburdick]

Just three years ago, my mom wanted me to go on medication for depression and anxiety. I had multiple panic attacks, smoked weed every single day, and watched porn constantly. I was a college dropout and unemployed. I had no hope left in my life.

Then I found Jesus, and he gave me hope.

Now I’m happily married, working my dream job, completely sober, haven’t watched porn in years, and I’m actually excited about life.

Some people try to tell me that it was my own hard work that got me here, but I know that can only get me so far.

It’s all thanks to God and his amazing grace. Jesus found me when I needed him most and freed me from my sins. I’ve committed the rest of my life to him because there’s nothing better to live for.

Thank you for letting me share.

[Gospel in Life @gospelinlife]

A holy life means you integrate how you live. You know why you’re doing the things you’re doing, because you’re always thinking, “What is the meaning of my life?” And you have it in front of you. You’re always looking at what is right and wrong on the basis of the meaning in life, on the basis of who you know God is and who you know you are. There is an integration. Don’t live a life of ignorance. – @timkellernyc

Sermon, The Battle For the Heart
https://t.co/9Ap8AxLQEr

[John Cleese @JohnCleese]

What a pity !

I'm arranging a theatrical tour of Canada this Fall, and now I won't be able to risk doing any shows in British Columbia

I was really looking forward to coming

John Cleese

[Joseph Massey @jmasseypoet]

“If you do not worship God, you worship something, and nine times out of ten it will be yourself. You have a duty to worship God, not because He will be imperfect and unhappy if you do not, but because you will be imperfect and unhappy.”
—Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

[Brianna Wu @BriannaWu]

Here’s the truth.

As gender ideology exploded, so did the number of natal females believing they had gender dysphoria. They used to be 1/7th of cases, today they vastly outnumber trans women.

A population does not explode like that in a decade from natural causes. It’s politically incorrect to say, but this obviously is a social phenomenon.

When I listen to these gender-divergent natal females, their transition goals and distress do not sound like what I encountered.

The flawed studies we have show that the overwhelming majority of detransitioners are natal females.

I don’t understand why no one in the transsexual advocacy space is willing to say most of these people are not transsexual and should not be medicalizing. It’s extremely obvious they should not.

Trans men exist. Trans men can go on to have fantastic lives. But it does not help trans men to give their irreversibly damaging healthcare to confused young girls trying to escape discomfort with their bodies and structural sexism.