Song Lyrics Getting Simpler, More Repetitive, Angry and Self-Obsessed—Study
Researchers analysed the words in more than 12,000 English-language songs across several genres from 1980 to 2020.
For the study in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers looked at the emotions expressed in lyrics, how many different and complicated words were used, and how often they were repeated. “Across all genres, lyrics had a tendency to become more simple and more repetitive,” Zangerle summarised. The results also confirmed previous research which had... Continue Reading
A Review of Kevin DeYoung’s ‘Impossible Christianity’
Through the saving work of Christ, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, and the compassion and love of our Heavenly Father, it is indeed possible to run our race with faithfulness and freedom.
The subject matter of ‘Impossible Christianity’ is important and weighty, but DeYoung has a winsome way of communicating, and a few times I laughed out loud. Though a small book of 128 pages, it contains much food for thought, and the book might be better digested by reading it with others and discussing it together.... Continue Reading
Why Modern Prophecy Is False and God’s Word Is Inerrant and Sufficient: A Response to Sam Storms
I am concerned by the ongoing practice of using the Lord’s name in vain and attributing to the Holy Spirit utterances of the flesh and words that originated in the mind and heart of a man rather than God himself.
Today, it’s a common thing to hear people claiming to hear messages from God. The “God told me” language is a cancer within the body of Christ that must be rooted out. This language is published in books, repeated in powerful stories by conference speakers, and is embraced as normative practices in many local churches... Continue Reading
Jesus Calling: The PCA’s Yuck Factor
My previous two articles are designed to get two fingers in the back or our own throat– to confront ourselves publicly, rather than ignore our evangelical brethren politely.
Jesus Calling isn’t what we do in the PCA. PCA ministry doesn’t do that. Let’s just drop it. It is pointless. Who needs to dwell on things vaguely unpleasant? Methodists are Methodist, and they are Christians. Who should judge another man’s servant? I’m busy doing God’s work. That book doesn’t belong in my sphere of... Continue Reading
When “Helping” Kids Hurts Them
Why the generation accessing the most mental therapy is the most mentally unhealthy.
For Christians who understand that human beings are more than matter that can be molded and medicated, the need for a book like this is even more obvious. Divine revelation and millennia of insight suggest that much of what passes for “psychological trauma” today is spiritual brokenness. Spiritual healing can take the form of counseling... Continue Reading
Steeped in Fragility
Jonathan Haidt describes how a smartphone-based childhood works against making children resilient.
For the vast majority of children, mental-health treatment will not be necessary. Kids are resilient. Just as a smoker who quits will immediately boost his life expectancy, kids who spend less time and attention on platforms designed to be addictive and anxiety-inducing have a chance to bounce back. Haidt’s proposals can help give them that... Continue Reading
Testament: The Story of Moses
Netflix’s attempt at a documentary-style Biblical epic misses the mark concerning Moses’ importance.
The series purports to offer a history of Moses, but it’s a history lacking in scholarly rigor because it grants any source that mentions Moses equal authority regardless of authorship or date of composition.People unfamiliar with the Bible will finish this series confused about who the Moses of Scripture was, but Christians firm in the... Continue Reading
Adapted Excerpt from Radical Discipleship: What is Christian Discipleship?
We must be radical for Christ in separating ourselves from this world and imitating God, knowing that our time here on earth is short and this world is not our home.
The focus of our gaze must be upward and forward, not backward or around us. There must be a longing in our hearts for the beautiful city of God, combined with a holy indifference to the things of this world that we always will all inevitably leave behind us. Even the good things in our... Continue Reading
Raising Neurotic Wrecks
A Review of Abigail Shrier’s Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up
Bad Therapy should shake parents out of the world’s therapeutic parenting ideology. Then, of course, Christians will have to replace the worldly wisdom Shrier debunks with sound Biblical teaching. God is gracious and when we walk by faith and parent according to God’s design, we can be confident that we will raise godly children capable of... Continue Reading
The Receding Tides of New Atheism
Book Review—"The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God," by Justin Brierley
The story of the West is so bound up in the story of Christianity that it is easy to forget the water we are all swimming in. This is true of the moral values we deem worth fighting for: “when we exalt humility and compassion, or champion the equality and dignity of every human being,... Continue Reading
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