Blogaround

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Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Capitalism vs. Socialism? Get Serious. (July 6) "We’re not in a Manichean struggle between two monolithic systems. We’re just deciding where to draw the line between the private and public sectors of our economy."

2. JK Rowling deadnamed and posted 'upskirt' photo of trans woman on X (July 17, via) "It was true that Rowling posted a photo that could reasonably be considered an "upskirt" photo, meaning a voyeuristic image intended to show the crotch area of a person wearing a dress or skirt."

3.  "The Millipede March!" Bug Dance 🐛🐞 Insect Brain Break | Danny Go! Songs for Kids (2024) I have small children that like to watch these videos from Danny Go. They're high-energy music videos to get kids to dance and exercise. After watching a million Danny Go videos, I've been brainwashed into kinda liking them.

4. In Turn Each Woman Thrust Her Head (2018, via) [content note: misogynistic violence] "At the university, in my literary-nonfiction class, female students bring me their stories. They are eighteen, nineteen, twenty and should be writing about gathering friends, stocking a ship with provisions, going out to seek adventure. But too often, one will hand me an essay about being raped. I realize the ability for women to articulate these stories is new and should be celebrated, but they carry Odysseus’s judgments, Homer’s lens. The students wonder: Did they somehow give permission? Did they obediently mop up the blood? Did they put their own heads through the noose? And the male students described are clearly rehearsing instructions for what they think makes a man. I am overwhelmed by the tales of the maids."

5. It’s not ‘pick and choose.’ It’s pick a side. (July 24) So, the point that Fred Clark is making here, that the bible is a collection of arguments and as readers we choose which side we agree with- yes, I basically believe that, BUT I think this doesn't quite answer the "picking and choosing" accusation. 

When conservative Christians say progressive Christians are not legit because we are "picking and choosing" which biblical texts we agree with, that comes from a perspective where the whole bible is correct, the whole bible is in charge of us, the whole bible teaches 1 consistent thing, and where there appear to be differences of opinion in the bible, that's just because we need to work harder to understand it- it *does* teach 1 consistent thing, if understood correctly. You can't just believe that parts you like and ignore the parts you don't like. You have to believe and obey the whole thing.

But the "progressive" view that Clark is talking about here is different from that. He's saying, the bible presents different voices talking about these topics (inclusion vs exclusion is one of the big topics), responding to each other, and some of them are wrong. The bible is not in charge of us; instead, we read the bible and judge which arguments make sense. 

So in order for this "it's about picking a side" idea to make sense, we have to take a step back and talk about what the bible is. Is it just simply true? Is it teaching 1 thing? Is it in charge of us? No, no, and no.

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. These Are the Headlines That Elon Musk Says Don’t Exist (June 23) "Children are starving and people around the world are going without medical care that was being provided by USAID. People are dying as result of Musk’s action. And to deny this fact is to deny reality."