Let me say for starters that I don’t watch Duck Dynasty, don’t agree or disagree with anything about their statements for absolute sure (having no real context for it) save in the important right in our society to speak freely about issues. Were the network producers horrified to...
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May 18, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Society
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In my post, “Confessions of a Troglodyte,” I attempted to share my frustrations as a biblical scholar trying to teach or dialogue with those who are quintessential Millennials, those who represent in mind and attitude all that has come to characterize those born around 1980-2000 as they are...
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May 11, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
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I remember a heated discussion I had in the 90’s with an African American friend of mine over race, culture and prejudice. I often contended genetic innocence for American slavery every time he tried to tar me with that brush because during those years my ancestors were in...
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May 9, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
It seems to me that a phenomena I have been witnessing for years in ever increasing regularity goes well beyond prejudice right into manic meltdown. All that is needed to create it is to mention certain topics to the wrong person while being the wrong person… one whom...
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April 9, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
In an earlier post, “Progressives Don’t Want to Help the Poor to escape Poverty—Entitlement Programs aren’t Charity or Charitable ” I began a discussion on the misguided equalizing of Biblical laws of charity with modern entitlement programs. The problem with this equation is one part poor understanding of...
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March 23, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
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One of the frustrations I face as a biblical theologian is the confusion that biblical laws regarding the poor cause Christians who cannot tell the difference between charity and entitlement programs sustained by governmental confiscation and redistribution of personal wealth. This confusion is created, I believe by two...
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March 21, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies, Society, Theology
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I regard myself, perhaps wrongly, as a decent communicator, even if a bit snarky at times. I’ve dedicated most of my ministry energy to explaining complex ideas in biblical studies to determined church attendees. I’ve always liked to think that I could explain anything to anyone… until now....
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March 14, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
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The problem with most race conversations is that, at the core, the message is wrong. It’s the same wrong message that we preach as a society to everyone who feels they’ve gotten a raw deal in life. We are encouraged to believe (meaning demanded to believe) that the...
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July 14, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Society
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Words have a lot more than just a definition. Words have associations. Words have rich emotional content. That emotional content is a powerful tool in communication. Choosing the right word at the right time can take a sentence from blah to TADAH!!!! And just to prove that I...
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March 4, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
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Let’s make one basic point. Equality is both an essential truth and a complete fallacy. “Now, wait a minute, Bub. Equality is the bedrock of our nation… the most noble pursuit in the history of man. Equality is the morality of our new age. It’s right up there...
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February 26, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Society
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In a recent post, “Worst Nelson Mandela Quote Ever,” I proposed that one of Mandela’s most famous quotes about poverty exemplifies a disastrous understanding of reality,[1] particularly for a political figure with the power to establish policy. It sounds good on the surface, especially in regard to the...
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February 15, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Society
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The great audacity of the western worldview is the idea that progress and independence are virtues to be cultivated at almost any cost. Each generation tends to regard “the world that is” as a trap from which to escape… into more progress, more independence.[1] Many think they can fix the...
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January 22, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Society, Theology
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Benjamin Corey is a once upon a time “fundamentalist” who shifted to being a “Christian Progressive” when he began attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2008. He accredits this shift not to GCTS, which is conservative, generally, but to his increased reading of Scripture, citing a recent Christianity Today...
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January 23, 2014 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Communication, HAGALAH, Society
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Here is just one expert from a true philosophical masterpiece on issues of social justice. Thomas Sowell in The Quest for Cosmic Justice pages 78-79 considers the dangers of misguided envy as promoted by warped visions of reality in many pursuits of Social Justice. “For the currently less...
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January 13, 2014 Andrew Sargent
Society
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In his book THE QUEST FOR COSMIS JUSTICE, Sowell discusses the internal demand by many to forcibly equalize every inequality, even natural inequalities. Equality has become, not about processes and essence of humanity, but about final outcomes. Some pursue this form of “social justice,” with abandon, as if...
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December 19, 2013 Andrew Sargent
Society
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http://sarahchristineschwartz.com/2013/11/06/brothers-i-am-sorry To the author of “Brothers, I am Sorry,” which you can read at the above address. Dear Sarah, you are young, and have much to learn about the difference between reasons and excuses, what we wish about reality and what is reality. While I, like you, was not...
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December 5, 2013 Andrew Sargent
Society
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