I share a book I’ve read recently on the fifth Tuesday of each quarter of the year. I highlighted “mustard seeds,” which impressed me. I hope you find one or two that will be helpful to you.
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For more information or to purchase this book on Amazon, click on the picture below or this link:
Here are the “mustard seeds” I highlighted:
If churches continue to ignore ethical reflection, then Christians will continue to be shaped by a culture that is openly hostile to Christian faith (page xvi, Kindle Edition).
Moral evaluation should be based on more than our subjective feelings or the received wisdom or majority opinion of our community (page xvi, Kindle Edition).
Ethics is the branch of philosophy that considers the moral life and deals with character formation, decision making, and behavior (page 5, Kindle Edition).
“Everyone’s for it” and “everyone’s doing it” do not constitute sufficient reasons for any meaningful choice, and they are terrible reasons for thinking something is good or moral (page 11, Kindle Edition).
A long time coming, 2015 seemed to be the year of the transgender. In popular culture, unsurprisingly, this fad was not accompanied by thoughtful consideration of whether transgender identity is beneficial for those who so identify or what the consequences might be for society. The cultural message was clear: “Don’t ask those questions. If you’re not already on board with transgender identity, you better get that way” (page 92, Kindle Edition).
The unmistakable biological differences between male and female bear theological significance, especially in the context of marriage and procreation. To blur the differences or seek to eliminate or change one’s sex is to reject something God-given, natural, and foundational to one’s identity (page 93, Kindle Edition).
To acknowledge the binary nature and the integrity of each sex is not to deny the phenomenon of intersex individuals and their struggles with gender identity. It is extremely rare to be born with indeterminate organs, but it does happen. The biological anomaly, however, does not negate the biological norm or provide a justification for anyone and everyone to repudiate or seek to change their sex (page 94, Kindle Edition).
It is no longer uncommon to hear of parents raising gender neutral children and, in some cases, keeping the child’s sex a secret for as long as possible, referring to the baby as a “theyby,” all to let the child decide its gender (page 94, Kindle Edition).
For more information, encouragement, and entertainment, check out my new podcast, Gleaning Mustard Seeds. Click on the picture or link below:
Encouraging a person in his gender dysphoria—who thinks he is a woman trapped in a man’s body—by calling him a woman and recommending surgery is like encouraging an anorexic girl in her dieting. Both of these disorders bear many similarities to body integrity identity disorder (BIID), or body dysmorphic disorder, in which an able-bodied person identifies as disabled and thus wants to amputate a perfectly healthy limb because he feels it should not be a part of his body (page 95, Kindle Edition).
It is difficult to tell a man suffering from BIID that he cannot have his arm surgically removed while a man suffering from gender dysphoria can have his penis removed by a physician (page 96, Kindle Edition).
Compared to the general population, people who undergo sex reassignment surgery are three times more likely to need psychiatric hospitalization, five times more likely to attempt suicide, and nineteen times more likely to die by suicide (page 97, Kindle Edition).
I contend that “screens”—including, but not limited to, cinema, TV, internet, social media, and smartphones—are indeed a moral issue (page 141, Kindle Edition).
The use of screens can easily lead to or provide occasion for lust, greed, consumerism, time-wasting, sloth, hatred, anger, pride, envy, slander, despair, and so on (page 141, Kindle Edition).
Giving children a phone with no limits is like storing booze in their bedrooms. Even if we tell them not to partake, we cannot be shocked when they do (page 145, Kindle Edition).
Why are we using social media? Is it to connect with others? Or are we seeking validation from other people? Do we get a kick out of seeing people in conflict with one another? (page 145, Kindle Edition).
The Spirit places us within a Spirit-filled community and points us to the Spirit-inspired Word of God. The most reliable way to resist becoming too comfortable with vice, being led by fleshly desires, and mistaking evil for good is to return to Scripture and submit to its guidance (page 196, Kindle Edition).
Now, how often do we think of the Christian life as a battle, a war? I will go out on a limb and say that most American Christians do not. Do you ever wake up in the morning and think, “It’s time for battle”? It’s time for battling traffic and fatigue, perhaps battling the boss or coworkers, your children or pets. But does it feel like a spiritual battle? (page 204, Kindle Edition).
In light of that last question, here’s another question. What is boot camp? Even if you’ve never been to boot camp, you probably have an idea based on movies or on reports from people you know. How would you describe boot camp? What do you expect from it? Boot camp is not for the faint of heart. It is a time of difficult preparation and basic training for the vocation ahead (page 204, Kindle Edition).
I imagine that literal boot camp felt a little different in 1943, at the height of World War II, than it does in 2021. The principles may be the same, but there was more urgency then. Everything was at stake (page 206, Kindle Edition).
Servant of Jesus, husband to Gail, father to Jerrie Wayne Barber, II and Christi Parsons, grandfather, great-grandfather, Interim Preacher, Shepherd coach, Ventriloquist, barefoot runner, ride a cruiser bicycle
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