Parts of Speaking Publishing

  https://georgiawriters.substack.com/p/the-inventions-of-others?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=570089&post_id=164360045&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2pwl1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email A good explainer on the issues of LLMs and our original writing. 

Wonderful essay in Christianity Today on Easter.  https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/02/book-word-contains-world-wesley-hill-easter-review/  

There is an interesting film Kingdom of Heaven, from 2005, which depicted, somewhat historically, the Crusades. This was a time most Americans don't know about but has far-reaching implications today for the Muslim world. Essentially, they are still mad about it, although I would say they are overlooking the fact they conquered and massacred Christians throughout Africa, the Middle East (Levant), and Southern Europe before that. But there is a wonderful line in it: "Christianity says choose; Islam says submit." There is a lot here, one of them being that to choose is to think, to consider, to reason, to actively make a choice.  I used to be a pretty strict Calvinist; unfortunately for some that seems to take away any human agency, which I have trouble with now.  Jesus from the very beginning--no, way back in to the Old Testament--the message is one of choice. Choose you this day whom you will serve.  Again, though, one must think--not react, not follow blindly, not be a d...

  Instead of our usual news item today, we hope you will take the time to read this excerpt from President Ronald Reagan’s Memorial Day remarks at Arlington National Cemetery,  delivered on May 26, 1986 . Notably, the speech came roughly three-and-a-half years before U.S. and Soviet leaders declared the end of the Cold War. I was thinking this morning that across the country children and their parents will be going to the town parade and the young ones will sit on the sidewalks and wave their flags as the band goes by. Later, maybe, they’ll have a cookout or a day at the beach. And that’s good, because today is a day to be with the family and to remember. Arlington, this place of so many memories, is a fitting place for some remembering. So many wonderful men and women rest here, men and women who led colorful, vivid, and passionate lives. There are the greats of the military: Bull Halsey and the Admirals Leahy, father and son; Black Jack Pershing; and the GI’s general, Omar B...

Is Evangelicalism Dead? On the Troubling Rise of "Pure Doctrine" and the Loss of Theological Triage, by Owen Strachen, May 14, 2025 You can find this by pasting that first paragraph into the browser. It's on a substack, a format I only vaguely fathom. Like a blog that people have to pay for?  Or subscribe to? The article is well done and fascinating, although I think there are some blindspots.  He is talking about how seminarians are being trained in theology mostly. Essentially, "triage" has to do with three levels of what is most important doctrinally. Identity of God, Christ, the Trinity; inerrancy; and the cross are first level. Church polity and women's roles and some other things are in the next two levels. In the heyday, only the first level mattered and there was room for debate on the other two. That debate is going away. There is no mention of political involvement and how that has hurt the evangelical or evangelical adjacent church.  That, I would...

  Yesterday I spent four hours at a local gift shop conducting a book signing. That description probably is glorifying it more than the reality. I sat in the corner of a small shop at a tiny table and talked to potential readers. I gave my sales pitch, weak as they are. I sold five books. I spoke with a lot of people and handed out my bookmark/card. I spent all of the sales and more buying gifts for people from the gift shop. Yet I consider it a good day because I connected with people. In these situations, because I am not selling many books or getting much traffic, I do enjoy my talks with people. I can hear their stories. I hear their desires to write or their marvel that anyone can write a book as thick as mine. I hear about their inability to sit and read any longer and how they watch Netflix instead. We talk about other books they like. I tell them mine are good, and what they are like. I give them advice on writing. And they ask about getting a book published, and s...

Are there Christian songs that you listen to and say, “that’s a great song, but….?” Maybe its doctrine is a little off, or you just don’t know what it’s talking about? People talk about “ 7-11” songs. Seven words song eleven times. One that makes me cringe is “ He was there all the time. Waiting patiently in line. “ As if Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, is codependent on our whims. Some songs are old and their tunes have been updated. “Before the throne of God above” ( words written in 1863, tune more recently ) is o ne of my favorites. Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea A great High Priest whose name is love Who ever lives and pleads for me My name is graven on His hands My name is written on His heart I know that while in heav'n He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart No tongue can bid me thence depart When Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within Upward I look and see Him there Who made an end...

What is going on here? Paul extols the extent of God’s grace—let’s keep in mind it is to billions, not just the everlasting “ME,” so multiply the grace one has received (whether realized or not) times infinity. So why would we discount grace by sinning? And what kind of sin does he mean? Is it me getting distracted this morning by my husband's complaints and delaying my Bible study? I don’t think so. That is "modern middle-class evangelical Christian in Georgia Bible belt" sin. It is informed by hundreds of years of morning devotions being touted as the highest spirituality.  Real sin is first the sin of unbelief, which is always the first sin. Then despair, fear, at what we face in the world—that Paul's audience did, in Rome in 50 AD or so under nutsy, evil emperors. It’s falling back into the paganism. It’s materialism and ingenerosity and lying to God. We modern evangelicals can control our sexuality, perhaps, but the materialism is something we take for granted. ...

 Abraham’s faith was about what? That he would be the father of many? That his wife would have a child despite the facts of her age? That he would follow the only God rather than pagan gods? All—was it a package? He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. He believed God in all three, perhaps? “ Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace.” My husband learned this morning that Abraham did not walk through the cut animals; only God did. That is the grace. S o what is the point for me? Well, any vestige I had of my being and my actions and “works” as being meritorious should be gone by now. I should give my husband some grace. My Lord gave us so much. I should just listen patiently. What I don’t like is when he “pounces” on something I say in good faith and criticizes it, and when he call everything “evil” that he doesn’t like. I will relay his need to see the beauty and good, not the evil, immediately or by default, which ...

" God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs his light. Humanity needs him like a bridge to reach God and his love. You help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people always in peace." The new pope, Leo XIV (24th, for those who struggle with outdated Roman numerals, and I'm not sure why we still use them, except that the Pope lives in Rome!)  I agree with his spirit, but "Humanity needs Christ like a bridge to reach God and his love" is perhaps ill chosen. He is more than "like a bridge."  Good information found here:   https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-faith/pope-leo-xiv-catholic-church-pope-leo-xiii/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Pope%20Leo%20XIV%20and%20a%20New%20Age%20of%20%20New%20T...

What do we know about Ruth? List ten things you know about Ruth’s story. Setting: About 1100 or 1150 BC. Read chapter 1. Ruth is a Moabitess—not a good heritage. Why did Naomi and husband go there? What was their situation (they had land in Israel)? How is this tied to prophecy and Jesus? Genesis 49:8 Micah 5:2 I Chronicles 4:4 Why were they so poor? Why is Naomi bitter? No man. If Israel had been following the law, this would have been different, but individual and social bad choices hurt them. We shouldn’t judge Orpah. She did the reasonable thing to do; Ruth did the faith thing. Chapter 2 Why did Naomi tell Ruth to do that? (lie at Boaz’ feet when sleeping?) Hosea 9:1. Ruth 3:9. She was asking for him to redeem them. She is humble, not seductive, but it does imply she is willing to marry. Love was not the main thing to marriage in this case. What was Boaz’s role? (not levirate marriage, at least not mainly, Deut. 25:5-10) T...

  I’m down to three weeks of work. June 1 I am unemployed, at least for a while. People ask me what I am going to do. Rest and read books and get used to the idea of no stress from DSC and students. It hit me the other day when I turned in my last set of grades that I would not have to ever do it again nor would I have to set up my syllabi and class for summer. Slowly the stress is lifting.  I have had two parties so that’s over. Clean my house and really clean the house in Ringgold with a goal of selling it or using it for something else. This will takes months, maybe over a year.  Walk more. Go out to lunch with friends. Watch Annie more so her mom can work more; they need the income. Plan trips but not immediately. Get back into writing projects and work on my brand. Eventually I will be working with a publisher to edit and coach writers. Spend time with God. So, I’m not going on a month-long cruise, climb Mt. Everest, or anything heroic. I will reflect on my life and ...

I Samuel 1-3 This lesson is about three people, mostly, and some side characters. It would make a good movie, and the way the prophet Samuel wrote it it seems like modern storytelling. The three characters are an old man who is not a wise man: Eli, who was the priest in the tabernacle in Shiloh, where the Israelites came to worship. The second is Hannah, the first wife of a probably well-off man whose second wife was a fertile Myrtle while Hannah, for many years, had no child. So she was very shamed for that in her culture. And the third is a child named Samuel who would become an extremely important person in the Bible. Eli is someone who should have retired. He was insensitive to Hannah, did not hold his sons accountable, allowed corruption in the worship, an d ignored the message of God, so God had to use other means. Chapter 1:1-3. Family is the context here. They were known by ancestors and by offspring. Shiloh: We think of a Civil War battle in Mississippi, but S...