Monday, April 05, 2010

Thinking, Controversy and Fear


A few links to places that made me think a bit. 

First, Donald Miller takes on Black & White Thinking.  A quote that struck my fancy:

“Black-and-white thinking is attractive because it’s reductionistic, it simplifies everything so we don’t really have to comprehend. It allows us to feel intelligent without understanding, and once we are intelligent, we feel superior. People who don’t agree with us are just dumb.”

Next up, Ben Bartlett over at Christ and Pop Culture has a take on how controversial politics and the power of numbers are poisoning the church.  The blog note that got him thinking should also give us pause:

“A few days ago a prominent woman in my church posted a note on the internet for her friends to see. She stated that her 4 year old son liked to listen to Rush Limbaugh with her, and he had just told her “I hate liberals.” This excited her and she boasted of how proud she was of her little 4 year old.”

Which to me ties in with Chase Livingston’s take faith in the culture of fear.  A few samplers:

“When fear is our only language, we can’t read any other signs.”

And

“Fear sells as well as sex does. They even make fear sound sexy.”

Add to that the mention of comic books, and you can see why Chase’s article takes up space in my brain.

I find that all three of these articles feed each other.  How about you?

Just my thoughts,

Sean

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