Parts of Speaking Publishing

1. Still mad; maybe a tad more merciful and understanding, but still mad at him and the system that does not hold celebrity voices in the church accountable. However, Yancey would probably say he was a journalist and not a theologian or preacher/pastor. No matter; he purported to interpret the Bible and the faith for readers.  2. I recall that his last book was about his mother, brother, father's death, and hard upbringing in the fundamentalist subculture. It was heartfelt. Many of us can relate to such stories, such truths. I have struggled to shake off those fundamentalist teachings and really, those burdens. They hang like scales on our eyes, affecting our sight; they stay like a parasitic voice that says "judge first; look for sin; blame yourself because you must be wrong; don't stop working; all that matters is ministry, gospel, the Bible, service, church." They tell us to love but only parts of people, not their wholeness. It cuts us off from humanity.  3. But w...

About the news of Philip Yancey's affair of eight years with a married woman, during which time he wrote and spoke as if credible and walking with God. I have several of his books and benefited from his work. He has made a lot of money by hypocrisy.  This is about the same as the Ravi Zacharias debacle. Well, not quite as bad. Celebrity is a sin in the church. Being unknown is better. I want to write and be read. I just watched a video on how to be more famous for writing, so I am part of the problem.  God has a different plan.  

1. That the millions of exiled/refugee Venezuelans can go back to their homeland. For their sakes, not ours.  2. That the government that is ELECTED (not installed) there can protect human rights, including private property, election laws, freedom of expression, and rule of law.  3. That no lives are lost in a war against . . . well, whom? It's not clear who the potential "enemy" or opponents to the U.S. would be, but that doesn't mean there is none.  4. That no lives are lost in a Civil War between Venezuelans. 5. That this was not something Trump just thought of Friday but something that has been in the works a while. It appears that Maduro accepted it although I am sure he will fight jail. Everyone would.   6. One might also hope for a non-nationalized oil industry, but that is another matter. The people should be able to benefit from their resources; we do here, indirectly (lower oil prices). In Alaska the citizens get money from the oil industry. A few peop...

Truth 1: Venezuela is in terrible shape economically; 8 million Venezuelans are refugees; there is great hardship there.  Truth 2: Maduro caused this and had stolen two elections. (Ironically, Trump tried to do so.) Truth 3: Venezuela does not have the financial, governmental, legal, and cultural  infrastructure the U.S. does to support democracy.  Truth 4: Venezuela benefited from massive investment by U.S. oil companies and those companies were forced out when the oil industry was socialized.  Truth 5: President Trump's legal authority to do this is tenuous at best. Yes, War Powers Act. Yes, lots of other presidents have done similar actions, such as Bush in 1989. That doesn't seem like rock solid justification.  Truth 6: President Trump says he's not into regime change but this is clearly regime change.  Truth 7: Since this was a covert, special forces operation, we don't know as much as we think we do.  Since I don't believe these truths are debata...

 My FaceBook feed now sends me everything that Jason Pargin posts. He is pretty interesting.  I like this one:   https://www.facebook.com/reel/866042226032381 If you think you are going to make money writing independently, it's a reality check.  Many of the famous writers of the past either: 1. were independent wealthy 2. were married to a wealthy person (Hemingway, I'm talking about you) or dependent on family 3. lived in penury 4. died young (Brontes, Austen) 4. had a day job A very minor percentage, or percentage of a percentage, made a living at it. Today that is even more impossible. Someone like Dickens wrote installments for magazines and made it work for him, but he made real money (as did Twain) on the lyceum or lecture circuit.  Pargin makes a case for how the "day job" actually makes one a better writer, anyway. 

A lot of people I listen to and admire, namely Russell Moore (although I have some questions for him) and a former colleague, really love Wendell Berry. On the website "Christians Who Don't Suck," Berry is listed as one of those Christians who don't offend the website's owner, an ex-evangelical, sensibilities.  And I have some of his books and am working through Life is a Miracle. He's a fine writer, especially his poetry (I did not find one of his novels I read that compelling, but I can try again).  But the admiration some have for him eludes me, especially some of his activism and advocacy.  He is all about the family farm and environmentalism, and therefore he is all about anti-industrialized farms. He is against coal-fired plants and nuclear energy.  I think he's living in the wrong century. In a country of 340 million people, how are we to feed them only on the basis of current family farms? And how do we provide energy for them solely on hydro-elec...