Weekly Links: Planned Parenthood, Obergefell, earthquakes, and more!

So very, very many links for you this week. (Possibly because I took a week or two off!)

Enjoy the good words of people so much smarter than me.



"After Obergefell": I always find it heartening when smart, godly people give good counsel on what to do (as opposed to the disheartening feeling I get after reading an article that's a mere wringing of the hands):

Churches must take responsibility for marriages and families. The argument that we need to protect marriage for children is true in principle, laughable in practice. In sections of America, marriages aren’t steady enough to protect anyone. The best argument for traditional marriage is a thriving traditional marriage.

"The Really Big One" - Terrifying. (And makes me happy to be a bit east and a bit south of the region they're talking about. But still, as some one close to the Pacific and very sincerely in earthquake country? Terrifying.)

"10 Foods that Regrow in Water Alone" - Here's a break from the doom-and-gloom: things still grow! And better and more easily than you might have guessed!

"The End of Sexual Ethics: Love and the Limits of Reason": charity and logic applied to sexual ethics and identity.  God bless you, Matt Anderson.


"Arms Wide Open":

I am the type who rehearses life. I plan. I practice. I think of every possible thing that could go wrong, and I set aside provisions for them. I am careful and fearful and shy. But my daughter? She is brave.

"Planned Parenthood and the Atrocity of Corpse Selling": This is really horrific.

"I, Racist":

You are “you,” I am “one of them.” 

"How We Do Family Devotions":

I read slowly and expressively with just enough drama to cut through their early-morning fog. I pause to tell my daughter to remove her hands from around her sister’s neck, and keep reading. When I have come to the end of our passage I briefly explain something from the passage (and by “briefly” I mean a minute or less). Sometimes I have to cheat by quickly consulting the study Bible notes so I’ll have something worth saying. Then I try to come up with a question or two I can ask the kids—a question of comprehension or of application. And I explain why calling your brother “a stupid idiot” is inappropriate during a reading of 1 Corinthians 13. And that’s our Bible reading.

"Non-Competing Theories of the Atonement":

As I told my veteran pastor of my plans to do graduate studies in the doctrine of the atonement, a wry smile creased his face as he asked: "So...which theory of the atonement do you believe in?" I responded, "All of them!"

Easter earthquake

I was just standing outside talking to some neighbors, when I started feeling slightly seasick. "Do you feel that?" my neighbors asked. And I realized I did, and it went on and on and on, a horrible rolling motion that made me feel like I was on a boat out on the open sea.

It was long, and then when we thought it was over, it started again.  And I said, "that was big, and it wasn't close," because when they're close, earthquakes are terribly jerky, and when they're far away, they roll. But if they're far away and they're small, you don't feel them. So something that easy to feel, with that rolling motion, had to be big and far. 

When I came in, I googled it, and came up with a 6.9 in Baja. Yep. Far and big. And then I thought, wow, it's weird to have been in SoCal long enough to know how to interpret earthquakes.

But my immediate next thought was the people in Baja, where it hit. It's only about 10 minutes ago that it happened, so I don't know if it was in a populated area or not, or how much damage it did. But now I'm praying for them on this Easter Sunday. Would you too?

peace of Christ to you,

Jessica snell