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Wyatt Graham

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Put Worship First in Your Life

March 17, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

“Heart” by Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“Why do what you do?”

A simple question. But with a not-so-simple answer.

“What makes you happy or fulfilled?” might be another way to ask the question. Do you work to pursue material success or work out of a fear of failure? Do the long hours that you put into work find their justification because you have a nice home, car, and electronics? Does the pursuit of happiness in your marriage and family have some purpose behind it? Or is it arbitrary?

Another way to ask the question is “What’s your goal in doing what you do?” If you cannot answer that question apart from saying, “Well, family is a good thing” or “I need to work or else I won’t have money,” then I fear that you will have missed the mark in this life and will perhaps head into ruin. [Read more…] about Put Worship First in Your Life

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: God, Heart, Idolatry

The Benedict Option: What is It?

March 15, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Author. 1825. Public Domain
Author. 1825. Public Domain

Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option has gained a foothold in the minds of many. David Brooks from the NYTimes calls The Benedict Option “the most discussed and most important religious book of the decade.” What makes The Benedict Option‘s influence striking is that it made such a big splash before the book was even released.

For many, however, the Benedict Option (BenOpt) is an unknown entity or fuzzy concept. In light of these factors, I will explain what the BenOpt is and will try to explain why the BenOpt has gained so much attention over the past few weeks.  [Read more…] about The Benedict Option: What is It?

Filed Under: Books, Culture Tagged With: Benedict Option, Rod Dreher

Tim Keller on Raising Kids in Christian Identity

March 9, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Tim Keller recently recorded a short clip on “How to raise your kids in Christian identity.” Take a listen to it here:

 

 

Filed Under: Culture, Theology Tagged With: Children, Family

Millennials Like Traditional Religion

March 8, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Monica Arellano-Ongpin, CC-BY
Monica Arellano-Ongpin, source,  CC-BY 2.0

In 2005, Christian Smith published his work Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. He interviewed teenagers across the USA to get a sense of their religious life. He found that very few teenagers are seekers or are spiritual and not religious. In fact, the opposite tends to be true. Teenagers are part of traditional religious communities.

Smith explains:

Very, very few American adolescents appear to be caught up in the much discussed phenomenon of “spiritual seeking” by “spiritual but not religious” seekers on a quest for higher meaning. Neither Joy nor Kristen, nor most teens we interviewed, had even heard of the expression “spiritual but not religious,” much less knew what it meant. Contrary to popular perceptions, the vast majority of American adolescents are not spiritual seekers or questers of the type often described by journalists and some scholars, but are instead mostly orientated toward and engaged in conventional religious traditions and communities. (27).

The situation in 2017 may be different than when Smith wrote in 2005. But experience tells me that it is not. Of course, everyone knows a spiritual-but-religious person. But the majority of people that I know of are not spiritual seekers. They are either traditional religious adherents or those who are not very religious—however they define that.  [Read more…] about Millennials Like Traditional Religion

Filed Under: Culture, Theology

How Twitter Rescued a Westboro Baptist Church Member

March 7, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Coffee, pencil, with the words "DeTrinitate Wyatt Graham"

Westboro Baptist Church member, Megan Phelps-Roper, explains how engaging others in Twitter changed her whole life. Through her online interactions, she came to realize the error of her ways. She learned that her cult’s teaching contradicted the Bible’s teaching.

The point of her talk, it seems, is that we must engage in civil dialogue with others in compassionate ways. Her story shows that the way we engage with people over the internet is important. Our rudeness online is the same as being rude in person. We must be compassionate and kind in whatever context that we find ourselves in. Listen to this fascinating talk below:

Filed Under: Culture

Review: The Benedict Option by Rob Dreher

March 6, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Dreher, Rob. The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. New York: Sentinel, 2017. Pp. x + 262. ISBN 9780735213296. $29.98 CAN [Hardcover]. Source for Book Cover.

The Benedict Option may be one of the most important books of the next decade because it outlines a strategy for Christians to survive and thrive in a post-Christian culture. Dreher describes the Benedict Option with the iconic image of the Ark:

The image of the church as an Ark floating atop tempestuous waters of destruction is one of great antiquity in the history of the Christian faith. This iconic concept of the church’s self-understanding must be recovered with vigor. (238)

The church is an ark that withstands the waves of a collapsing culture. Is is also a wellspring of life (238). The church must withstand the pressures of culture and also thrive on living waters. [Read more…] about Review: The Benedict Option by Rob Dreher

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Benedict Option, Culture, Post-Christian

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Wyatt is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition Canada. He enjoys his family and writing. You'll generally find him hiding away somewhere with his nose in a book.

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