Links To Go (October 18, 2017)

Students Walk Out After Teacher Orders: Speak ‘American’

Students staged a walkout on Monday after a cellphone video appeared to show a New Jersey high school English teacher reprimanding three students for speaking Spanish and telling them to speak “American.”


A growing share of Americans say it’s not necessary to believe in God to be moral

Most U.S. adults now say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values (56%), up from about half (49%) who expressed this view in 2011. This increase reflects the continued growth in the share of the population that has no religious affiliation, but it also is the result of changing attitudes among those who do identify with a religion, including white evangelical Protestants.


Idolatry at the Office

During these years, I worked so feverishly, not to serve God, but to relish the approval it brought me — and because I feared the implications for my identity should the praise fall silent.
Our world, it seems, condones such idolatry, and even trains us in it. Modern professionalism demands an impeccable standard of performance from its adherents. Amid the pressure, many of us depend on labels such as thorough, hardworking, diligent, tireless, and strong to substantiate our worth.


Steps to Opening Your Door to Your Neighbors

So how do we overcome our fears? Here are some practical pointers that may help.

  • Pray and ask God to help you overcome any fear you may have and replace it with love. Fear of the other person is overcome by love for the other person.
  • Hang out where you can meet others. Jesus was in the marketplace, at the temple, in the village…places where he could see people and get to know them.
  • Give invitations. Jesus did. He said, “Follow me.” “Come and see.” He opened up his life to others. Learn to invite people to your house. You might just start with one neighbor. Like Matthew, they might open the door to others.
  • Accept invitations. Jesus did. To weddings. To houses. To parties. If you get invited, go!

Bivocational Ministry as an Evangelism Opportunity

Through engaging co-workers on family, entertainment, politics, and culture, pastors can trade in their own tired stereotypes for a more robust and nuanced understanding of people outside their church. No longer present solely to solve their co-workers crises before quickly moving on, pastors can better understand and dedicate the necessary time to be true missionaries in their secular vocation.


The Five Choices of Declining Churches

At its basic levels, declining churches really have one of five choices. And if a church makes no choice, it has really decided to choose the “do nothing” option, the worst of the five choices.


Is it really God speaking to you?

This is why I’m really shy to say “God told me” unless it’s something that I can clearly back up with Scripture. That’s not saying that God only speaks to us by His Word. But it is saying that the only certain guide that we have is God’s Word. That voice in my head must submit to the ancient words and ultimately to the Lord Himself.


Mobile phone companies appear to be providing your number and location to anyone who pays

Without rigorous consent standards, mobile companies may as well be selling the data indiscriminately the same way they were before advocacy groups took them to task for it. For now there doesn’t appear to be a way to officially opt out — but there also doesn’t appear to be a clear and present danger, such as an obvious scammer or wholesaler using this technique.


Gardener, 62, got so fed up with his wife’s nagging he went to live in the woods for TEN YEARS

A gardener got so fed up with his wife’s nagging he ran away from home and lived in the woods for ten years.
Malcolm Applegate, 62, was married to his wife for three years before upping sticks after the relationship reached breaking point.


Hilariously Unphotogenic Animals That You Will Feel Guilty For Laughing At

Guess what? Animals can be those guys too. No matter how hard they try to be photogenic, they just can’t quite pull it off. Bored Panda has compiled a list of otherwise majestic and graceful animals, captured in less than flattering moments. If there were an animal Facebook (Snoutbook?) these clumsy creatures would be bugging their buddies to untag them NOW!


Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.