The rich really do steal candy from babies (and other illustrations from the web)

Here are four interesting reads from the last week.

1. Apparently the old saying is true, the rich really are more likely to steal candy from babies. The Huffington Post reports on a study published by the National Academy of Sciences that shows the wealthy are more likely to engage in unethical behavior than the poor including, yes, taking candy from babies.
2. It's an undeniable truth that many college students leave the faith during their early twenties. Is higher education the cause? Experts weigh in a USA Today article. The resounding answer is that the true problem is to be found in a "lack of 'a robust faith,' strongly committed parents and an essential church connection." 
3. What do high profile apologies have to teach us about our own acts of contrition? Chuck Warnock explores the possibilities in his blogpost "Why Rush Limbaugh's apology fails" over at Confessions of a Small Church Pastor
4. Many preachers also serve as supervisors of employees. A tongue-in-cheek article from the WashingtonPost explores the best ways for a supervisor to "completely, utterly destroy an employee's work life."

Illustration-a-day: Doubts that Shout

Frank Schaeffer recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post entitled, "Franklin Graham, Religious Extremism, Dad, God and Me (Confessions of a Former Religious Nut Leader)". His basic argument is that people with the most doubts tend to shout more loudly and more harshly than others. Actually, that's not quite his point. He has plenty of doubts and doesn't seem to be prone to shouting anymore. More accurately, perhaps, is the idea that people with repressed doubts shout with a ferocity that leads to extremism.

Another insightful point in the article is Schaeffer's assertion that all Christian leaders suffer from the temptation to be relevant. This temptation leads them to use a rhetoric of certainty that often goes beyond the reality of their own beliefs. Whether we should paint all Christian leaders with as broad a brush as Schaeffer does, the article raises some challenging thoughts that might work their way into a sermon.

• What do the struggles of the children of celebrity Christians (who have seen their fathers' feet of clay) teach us about the tendency of Christians to treat their leaders as infallible? Do just the children of the leaders suffer or do we all suffer in some way?


• What is the role of uncertainty and doubt in faith? Is uncertainty the same thing as being humble? The Pharisees in John 9 had lots of certainty, but they didn't have faith, nor were they very humble.


• What is the role of being relevant in the proclamation of the gospel? In what ways does attempting to be relevant, important, significant create problems for the church?

Illustration-a-day: Chesterton

Some great one liners from one of my favorite authors, G. K. Chesterton.


"The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank."

"Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian."

“Jesus tells us to love our neighbors and to love our enemies, because often they are the same people.”

"The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild."