The Sunday Refill – 7 Links For Your Weekend (5/2/17)

We’re back on a Sunday, and here’s your seven. Seriously, there’s some gold-dust here, so you better log-off Facebook real quick and get yourself comfortable…

1) When scatology informs theology: The bowels of the Reformation – I loved this from Lee Gatiss. The great Reformer Martin Luther was known for his toilet humour, and this post gives a window into why, whilst also taking us to the crux of the Reformation. And it definitely wins this week’s award for highest puns to words ratio…

2) Why Our Son Doesn’t Have a Smart-Phone – The fact that a title like this is going to be so controversial means it is definitely worth a read.

3) Free e-book: Church in Hard Places by Mez McConnell & Mike McKinley – I’ve really enjoyed digging into the paper copy of this, so picking up the free e-book version is a no-brainer.

4) People criticize pro-lifers for focusing so much on abortion. But there’s a reason we do. – Matt Lee Anderson is always worth listening to. In light of the recent controversy stateside, e.g. with the Women’s March and the March for Life, he explores why ‘pro-lifers’ are pro-life. And I couldn’t resist a snippet:

We cannot shed ourselves of the sense that there is something too powerful, something too good about the human being, to make its life or its death a matter for our choice. … For the pro-lifer, there is no clearer instance of the marginalized, the voiceless, and the vulnerable than in the womb…

5) Take Back Your Brain From Social Media – Ok, another week, another post on how we engage with social media. But we need them because we simply become blind to how much it impacts us. Keep thinking; stay intentional.

6) A Response to GS 2055: ‘Marriage and Same Sex Relationships After the Shared Conversations’– We had a bunch of links on last week’s Refill regarding the recent Bishops’ Report, but since then Martin Davie, former theological advisor to the House of Bishops and absolute brain, has written this careful and thoughtful response piece. If you’re an Anglican this is well worth twenty-minutes of your time.

7) Don Carson on Subtle Ways to Abandon the Authority of Scripture in Our Lives – What’s the phrase? Smashing it out of the park? The Don shows exactly why his parents gave him that name…

And On the Blog this Week:

A Better Story: God, Sex and Human Flourishing by Glynn Harrison – A Review