W4YW: Magic Words, Terror in Paris, & Our Response to Refugees

Wisdom For Your Weekend: your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.

Articles of the Week

In Light of the Paris Attacks, Is It Time to Eradicate Religion? Miroslav Volf. It’s become vogue to equate violence with religion, as if the latter caused the former. Volf points out that the data simply doesn’t support that theory. In fact, more often than not, religion acts as a force deterring violence.

Should We Pray for the Defeat of ISIS, or Their Conversion? Russell Moore. This was from February, but is just as relevant in light of recent events. The response to terrorism is often a muddled one, but Christians should offer a gospel answer. As Moore points out, there are two parts to our prayers—a plea for justice and a plea for mercy. We may think they’re contradictory. They aren’t.

Building Jesus’ Church in a Refugee Crisis, David Crabb. The specific question of how to politically handle a refugee crisis is too broad to dive into here. But Crabb offers some sober-minded reflections on the church’s response. Christians must not let our desire for safety drive out the clear command of Christ to love others and advance the gospel. (If you’re here at the Summit and want to help refugees resettling in our area, find out more here.)

Five Words That Weaken Every Sermon, Jason Allen. I’m not so sure that “thing” should be as categorically panned as Allen makes out (First Things, for instance, is a wonderful and academically rigorous journal). But for the most part, he’s got a point. Certain words should only be trotted out with extreme rarity. Avoid these words unless you possess a special license.

Four Magic Words for Your Next Argument, Erik Raymond. So you’ve now got five words to avoid. But let’s be a little more positive: here are four words you need in your next argument. I (Chris) really wish we heard them more often.

On The Lighter Side

Funniest Animal Photos of 2015, Oliver Smith. It’s been a rather heavy week in the news. So we hope this collection of photographs from the “Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards” (yes, a real thing) can lift your spirits a bit.

Wisdom For Your Weekend is presented to you by Chris Pappalardo, with occasional guidance from J.D. Greear. This is our attempt to reflect Proverbs 9:9: “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”