All tagged Jesus-y street smarts
No one is born with diakrino, a Jesus-y street smarts. It has to be developed and trained. Last week I offered goodness as a telos for discernment. This episode tracks with truth as a guide for discernment. To contemporize the topic of discernment I ask the questions, "are you a racist?", and "are all whites racists?" Along the way we see what the Bible means by truth, and what history and empirical data have to say about racism. The show begins with a holiday reflection from the Bible, "it doesn't have to be like this." Come laugh and think with me.
Western Civilization is cracking and creaking. There are obvious signs—educated people celebrating rape, slaughter, and genocide—and there are subtle signs—someone being sent to prison for 10 years for posting a snarky meme. But we will miss both signs if we are lacking discernment. In order to catch nuance and practice discernment (a Jesus-y street smarts) we need a telos—a path that guides us toward a target—that informs the whole of our lives. The Bible holds out goodness for us as just such a telos. Come think and laugh with me.
Two thousand years ago a Roman centurion observed yet another Jewish rable-rousing "messiah" being crucified. Compared to the many taunting passersby, that soldier discerned that something unusual was transpiring. Seeing it all, he uttered an epic historic statement. Truth is, discernment takes time. Catching the nuance takes practice. In this episode I begin building out several ways by which we can build our discernment. How can we recognize political propaganda? My aim is to help us develop a Jesus-y street smarts. I also work through rhetorical self-defeaters: phrases that are commonly uttered which, supposedly, are show-stoppers. What can we do and say when we hear something like, "well, there are no absolutes"? Come laugh and think with me.
