Malcolm Gladwell is an amazing storyteller, and treats people with generous respect and compassion. I'm 58, and if I ever grow up I want to be like him.
Moving. The story at the end caused me to hearken to a gospel song I used to hear on the radio as a kid. The lyric goes: I love the Lord. He heard my cry and he pitied every groan. Long as I live and troubles arise. I'll hasten to his throne." These kinds of accounts always put some abstracted sentiment from my youth an immediacy so very palpable and real. Thank you.
How is this insightful? How is this ‘touching’? In reality, this is heartbreaking. Regardless if you believe in God, this man claims that he does. Which means that this man not only supported, but, partook in condemning his son (& another man, which his son claims to love), as well as condemning himself. Nothing roughing about that. It is possible that the ex-Pastor will allow God’s grace to show him his immense error, & reconcile back to God before his death (but, this would require a whole lot of humility; which is unlikely since he had known God, but chose to reject Him). His son may also come to repentance, but since his dad did not behave like a loving father by showing his son the way, the truth, this also will be a very unlikely road of self reflection & humility he will journey, to reconcile with God.
I burst into tears at the mention of Chester Wenger bursting into tears. What a beautiful, moving, joyful story. “With that act, Chester Wenger made his family whole.”❤ He sacrificed so much for his precious child. What an extraordinary man.
I'm surprised Gladwell didn't give credit to McLaren for the term, but perhaps he came by it himself honestly enough. I appreciate his perception of the balance that can exist between being generous and orthodox, but I'm afraid my assessment of what is "balanced" doesn't agree with Gladwell's. I also appreciate his willingness to call strikes on those with whom he seems to identify when he tells the story about Princeton.
Gladwell's suggestion of what the student should do at Princeton is exactly with David Chappelle said the women in Hollywood needed to do to make real change. I agree, but that would require a person of very mature soul. It would be a person who would give up the worldly possession of an ivy league credential.
Thank you. Generous Orthodoxy has been one of my highest values and this podcast captures wonderfully that balance. Always thought provoking, always challenging, you (all involved) make a great contribution to a thinking world.
? Balance? If one believes in God of the Bible, then partaking in support of behaviors that go against God is NOT being balanced. Balance would be to reject the behavior that goes against God-> not supporting Theft, Murder, Gossip, Greed, etc, because you love God & believe His Word, thus, you love the individual as the individual was also created by God and has His image w/in Him.. and because you love God & love the individual, you have to reject any behavior that is offensive to God, offensive to that which is Good & Holy. This Pastor believes he chose love for his son, but he did not. He chose sin, and chose to support his son in living in sin, rather than choosing to Love his son, by doing what is hard through being steadfast in his faithfulness to God, in his Love for his son, by showing his son that same sex marriage is not a thing (just as 2 negative charged poles can not form a strong bond), and by guiding his son that while marriage may not be the will God planned for him, he will help his son find purpose/ & a fulfilled life, w/ meaningful relationships with God and thru God by other ministries for the community. Living a celibate life is not empty.
What would Jesus Do? He would show compassion, empathy, and he would forgive the activity of sin. But he would also *say,* "go, and sin no more." He says that to the prostitute, but he also says the same phrase to the lame man at the pool, which indicates he may have self gratification habits, or engage in financially underwritten intimate physical exchanges with females of the implied and aforementioned profession. He may be referring to other types of sin the lame man might be engaging in, or multiple. I don't know. But belief and faith are not the same. You demonstrate your faith by what you say and do. If you SAY things contrary - in fact, mannerisms, tone, invective, or say them with hostility or violent verbal imagery, you are conducting yourself in an antithetical manner to The Way, or The Life Path. If you SAY all the sound things soundly and in concurrence, but you LIVE a secret or public life contrary to The Way, you are conducting yourself antithetically to The Way. Jesus would do all the good things a compassionate, empathetic person would Do, but he would also say, in effect, "restrain yourself from antithetical activity." It's an answer almost no one will like, but the evidence supports itself.
My favorite Mennonite story was when I was a surgical resident in York, PA. (I was kicked out of the program in my 2nd year). Anyway, there was a young single Mennonite lady RN who worked at York Hospital. The story is that she wouldn't date you unless you bought the farm, i.e., had a farm already purchased and ready to be worked on. That is to say, that is the level of commitment one needed to show her in order to even date her.
Call contra-biblical religion anything you want, except Christianity. Christianity is defined by the Bible, Old & New Testaments, soundly interpreted using sound hermeneutical principles.
If one believes in God, and the scriptures, then such a person is not being ‘generous’ nor offering a ‘master class’ on anything by rejecting God for self worship. This is far more common in the history of mankind then those who remain faithful, principled, & true to their beliefs. Humans are great at picking self over other; pleasure over sacrifice/ or even slight discomfort; in convincing ourselves of the morality/ virtue of something we want than being someone of integrity. Lust/ hedonism/ selfishness/ homosexuality/ abortion/ etc, are NOT progressive, nor new.. They are all very regressive & ancient.. And everytime a culture embraced such behavior from the ruling elites to the poor, that culture did not have much longer before it collapsed.
Reconciled to whom? The writers of this episode seem to believe that religious community is about peace and inclusion with one another. Some deity got left out of the editorial conversation.
Not sure how you can reconcile a Lie that leads to death to that of Truth that leads to life? Can you ‘reconcile’ oil & water? No. Or reconcile evil and holy? No. Reconciliation only comes by admitting the action was wrong, being sincere in your sorrow and seeking to reconcile w/ the one wronged by seeking to sincerely not partake in that action again.
Frankly, I don't think that a 98 year old minister losing his licence to officate hardly compares with the suggested sacrifice of a 20 year old's giving up a place at Princeton
Sure it does. That man's career was his life, in an incredibly insular community. He can't just go somewhere else, and his whole life was tied around his congregation. That girl can leave and get an education at any other school she wants, and she's just getting started in life. She has way less invested.
I like Gladwell's style and voice, but his reasoning and conclusions are so flawed... He compares apples to oranges. A true analogy would be if the church accepted gays only to have them protesting the existence of heterosexual founders and demanding their cancellation.
