I don’t have a lot of interaction with Twitter but I am on it and sometimes scroll through the feed of people and pages that I follow. There was an ad from the Ark Encounter, linking to an article about which type of cubit Noah used (a royal cubit is a little bit longer than what we typically think of as a cubit, around 20 or 21 inches). I made the mistakes of reading the comments. However you feel about a global flood or Old Testament historical accounts aside; there were hundreds of comments about how it doesn’t matter what he used because there was never an ark/never a global flood/the ark should have been a box not a boat/foolish Christians that believe in fairytale stories and such like. There was not one defender of the faith or Christian apologist in the multitude.
Pastor, author Tony Evans – I wrote Tuesday morning that I was in Augusta, GA for the bicentennial meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention. There had already been a missionary sending service on Sunday evening, a preaching conference Monday afternoon and the first session of convention meetings Monday evening. The Tuesday afternoon session features the convention sermon each year, brought this year by pastor, author, orator and radio/television host Tony Evans from Dallas, Texas. I don’t know the official seating capacity of Warren Baptist Church in Augusta but the attendance Tuesday afternoon exceeded that. I did have a seat in the sanctuary, in a row of chairs put out for the overflow crowd. The room was stuffed and I retreated to the lobby where I found a much more comfortable chair parked in front of a flat screen. A small group of us watched together and listened in to the remote broadcast and each time the crowd in the room broke into applause we could hear that for real. I did step into the back of the sanctuary to take part in the standing ovation at the very end. Anyone can stream individual sessions or the entire 3 day meeting from the GBC website.
Elon Musk has purchased Twitter. The on again, off again deal stayed on this time until it went through. Then hours later tweets like this began to appear, denouncing the platform and announcing departures like a commercial airlines flight. I don’t like cancel culture. I don’t like it when conservatives or liberals either one do it. The first time I ate at Chick-fil-A, in the fall of 1990, I didn’t know who owned it nor anything about their family. The politics of the founders had nothing to do with my decision going forward of which chicken restaurant to eat at. Marina Sirtis, Counselor Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation if you don’t know, says she cannot “be a part of anything owned by Elon Musk.” Twitter is a platform we use to reach followers. Leaving a social media platform silencing your own voice, not anyone else’s. Who buys and sells the company is or should be a non-issue, imho. The irony is the reversal that has taken place just in the past 20 or 30 years in our culture. In the late 80’s Clorox pulled their ads from the 30 minute sitcom Cheers. They didn’t want to support (and purchasing commercial time really is support) the attitudes and behaviors prevalent among characters of the show. Similar protests and boycotts happened when The Simpsons premiered. I had an 8th grade teacher that practically ground his teeth while telling us about a Bart Simpson t-shirt he saw that simply said “Underachiever.” We probably all remember the Southern Baptist boycott of Disney in the mid 90’s. Maybe now there is something worth avoiding but it was hard back then for families looking for kid friendly shows and movies to avoid all things Disney across the board. The irony is that today it’s liberals who seek to avoid or silence anyone that doesn’t think, act and speak like they do. The people who used to tell us if it feels good do it and the same people that claim to want the freedom of choice for everyone will turn around and limit your choices if you choose wrongly, by their double standards anyway. Alright, that’s my soapbox for the day. On to other stuff.
Then he bought Twitter. Maybe it’s my age, the rural setting I live in or the fact I’m not a celebrity type with a million followers but I just don’t get people freaking out about his acquisition of a social media platform. Jameela Jamil said in what she vows is her last tweet: “I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck.” George Takei pledged to stay, Tweeting “Should this place become more toxic, I pledge to strive even harder to lift up reason, science, compassion and the rule of law. The struggle against fascism, misinformation, and hate requires tough fighters.”
Introduction bits and pieces: Maise is a bushland terrier. Facebook, Twitter, and what is low information action ratio? Critique of Mark Driscoll (keeping in mind this was recorded in 2009, Driscoll did not resign from Mars Hill until 2014.)
Longer discussion of celibacy in Roman Catholicism and evangelical married life. Father Alberto Cutié did in fact become an Episcopal priest.
Update: Issued resolved, links have been restored.
I’m having a bit of a tiff with Facebook. It’s probably not enough to make me give it up for good but at this time I am unable to post links to this blog. I always link new blogs on the Mater’s Table Facebook page and occasionally, though not very often, link from my personal Facebook profile. I was hoping to spread a little Happy Monday cheer but Facebook rejected the post and claimed it violated their community standards on spam. They also removed all links to this blog from the Master’s Table FB page. That page has 178 followers. It was created for several reasons but perhaps the biggest thing at the time was so that I could post links each time a new blog post was up without constantly irritating my Facebook friends. Every new blog post was linked from the FB page and like I say only occasionally from my own profile. Currently the only links on the Master’s Table FB page are to Paul Wilkinson’s Wednesday Connect posts. Continue reading →
I’ve been blogging since 2008. Back then everything was about blog rolls. If other bloggers listed you that was a good sign. I worked to build a useful blogroll so that readers could interact with my blog friends and vice versa. Today blogs have integrated with social media. There are over 150 followers of the Master’s Table Facebook page and sharing any blog post with Facebook or Twitter is as easy as one click.
For those of you who follow – via email, RSS feed reader, social media or what-have-you – thank you. That’s all. From one Christ follower to another, peace and God bless.
UPDATE: Book details, review summaries, ordering information and more here.
A few weeks ago I announced a forthcoming book. There is not an official release date but right now it looks more like June 1st than July 1st. Clicking the thumbnail at left will open a full size image of the front cover.
143 Facebook users like The Master’s Table Facebook page. There is now a God is Near Facebook page as well, for those so interested. You can view the front and back cover, read the Wholesaler’s Summary and get more frequent updates. Twitter users can follow @Godisnearbook for announcements and teasers.
Chances are that if you were in the “blogging is a waste of time” camp you wouldn’t be reading this one right now. While I may be preaching to the choir, what I plan to do is share my reasoning on how the Internet is a tool that can be used by churches to support their ministry, build community and share the Gospel.
I have personal friends in real life that have deleted their Facebook accounts because they are a waste of time. “There’s nothing but junk on there” was the reasoning. I know Christians that lament having wifi and DSL in their home because it distracts them from studying scripture. Unplugging your internet is much worse than evangelicals who tossed out their t.v. sets in the 80’s. Television only works one way; the Internet is a two way street. Continue reading →
Update: Issued resolved, links have been restored.
The Master's Table 