“When you are seeking your own glory, your own social media clout or recognition or attention, then you are not being courageous. You are being self-serving and petty. You are merely adding to the noise and heat of the contemporary world.” @oalannoble.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/oalannob...

Informative, encouraging episode on the state of evangelism and apologetics to Muslims, debates over style and method, and groundbreaking findings in Koranic studies. Great admiration for the burden and boldness of the Christian workers featured. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

“Love is never saying, ‘You’re wrong’” is a lie.

“Scientism is the real threat, not science.” -Hans Madueme www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/real...

Francis Schaeffer on the problem of getting to the good news prematurely:

Demonic spirits promote creation-denying teachings such as the rejection of marriage and certain foods because they, like everything created by God, are good, and meant to yield gratitude to their good Creator. See 1 Timothy 4:1-5.

“I want to say to you that nobody who is fighting the battle in our own generation can float by on a Beautyrest mattress. If you love God and love men and have compassion for them, you will pay a real price psychologically.” -Francis Schaeffer

“Can we stop telling our kids that if they are seeing something bad online they should ‘look away’ and instead confront the reality that terrible things can be etched into our memories in milliseconds?” www.frontporchrepublic.com/2025/09/when...

“‘Entertainment’s chief job is to make you so riveted by it that you can’t tear your eyes away, so the advertisers can advertise,’ Wallace explained. He went so far as to describe this as ‘sinister’—surprising many who saw these things as harmless diversions.” open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia...

Good advice (except that first tip 😬) for upping your reading. youtube.com/watch?v=PSPk...

“If there’s one thing I would tell any student (or anyone new to using AI) it’s this: the machine doesn’t know you. It doesn’t care who’s on the other side of the screen. It isn’t capable of feeling. It is a tool. Nothing more, despite the language it uses.” open.substack.com/pub/fitzyhis...

When it comes to politics, it seems people are often willing to sacrifice truth in the name of morality, overlooking the fact that truthfulness (or lack thereof) is a moral matter.

“It is tedious to listen to so many speculate about the cause of moral decline, when online we reward the most anti-social behaviour without hesitation, so long as the target is someone we oppose.” open.substack.com/pub/ayishata...

“What I find in much evangelicalism is not only weakness in sensing the lostness of the lost, but a tremendous weakness of compassion for the needs of my kind in the present life.” -Francis Schaeffer

The Kindle version of Neil Postman’s 𝘈𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘖𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 is only $1.99. You know what to do. a.co/d/hXCul5m

“I don’t know what field any particular student should major in…But I do feel strongly about what skill they should value. It’s the very same skill that I see in decline. It’s the skill of deep thinking.” open.substack.com/pub/derektho...

“Words have become so devalued today that we often have to use cumbersome terms to ensure that what we mean is understood.” -Francis Schaeffer

With more people turning to LLMs for answers to life’s big questions, counsel for daily problems, and alleviation of loneliness, how should Christians respond? I had the pleasure of being one of Sarah Zylstra’s guests to talk about this in this episode. www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/rely...

“Charlie Kirk's murder and other recent acts of violence should warn us as parents that we need to opt out for our kids. But we don't have to despair. It is possible to choose a smartphone-free life for our kids. And the time is now.” -Clare Morell open.substack.com/pub/claremor...

“Orthodoxy without compassion is ugly to God.” -Francis Schaeffer

Believing that God’s acceptance is based on my performance gives me an illusory sense of being in control. Sheer grace can be frightening because it confronts me with my helplessness and utter dependence.

A thoughtful critical review of 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘖𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 to which I was a contributor. modernagejournal.com/can-our-scre...

“Sadly enough, there is a kind of anti-intellectualism among many Christians; spirituality is falsely pitted against intellectual comprehension as though they stood in a dichotomy. Such anti-intellectualism cuts away at the very heart of the Christian message.” -Francis Schaeffer

Social media is better for catharsis than persuasion.

“Having been made in the image of God, man is magnificent even in ruin.” -Francis Schaeffer

“In an age of relativity the 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 of truth when it is costly is the only way to cause the world to take seriously our protestations concerning truth.” -Francis Schaeffer

“May the Lord direct [our] hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5 ESV)

Erika Kirk’s expression of love for her husband, her testimony concerning God’s goodness in the midst of her deep pain, her challenge to husbands and wives, and her willingness to forgive her husband’s killer are among the most beautiful and powerful things I’ve ever heard.

“How do we expect a world to take us seriously when we say we believe truth exists and then live in a relativistic way?” -Francis Schaeffer

“When we see men ignore or pervert the truth of God, we must say clearly—not in hate or anger—‘You are wrong.’” -Francis Schaeffer

“It is not the case that for a society to benefit from the culture of print that every citizen must be a bookworm. And yet if one habit unites the leaders, inventors, scientists and artists who have forged our civilisation it is reading.” open.substack.com/pub/jmarriot...

“American colleges, especially the most selective ones, are confronting the dual problems of rampant grade inflation and declining rigor,” @rosehorowitch.bsky.social writes. “Teacher evaluations are a big part of how higher education got to this point.”

Parents and educators should carefully read (and support) the guidelines Brad Littlejohn proposes to the Trump administration and Congress regarding the regulation of AI in K-12. americancompass.org/teaching-to-...

Morning reading

Brashness is not boldness.

“𝘖𝘶𝘳 country is under the wrath of God!…It will not do to say how great we are. It will not do to say the United States is God’s country in some special way.” -Francis Schaeffer, 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺

“Educating 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 AI isn’t the same as educating 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 AI. However, this fundamental distinction has been blurred in much of the White House’s guidance on this issue, and the various statements that have come out of the agencies tasked with implementing it.” open.substack.com/pub/bradlitt...

A lot of problems are caused by finding antitheses where they don’t exist and ignoring them where they do.

What is cultural apologetics? I enjoyed trying to answer that question with my friends TrevinWax, Rebecca McLaughlin, and Andrew Wilson. www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/tgc...

“There is a difference between the declarative statement that we sin daily and the normative statement that such sinning is acceptable. We can say that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed without resting upon our oars and excusing ourselves.” - Francis Schaeffer

"Screens can be like a Swiss Army knife at a meal. The extra features distract from what’s important." @andrewnoble.bsky.social ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/phys...

“Those of you who mean to be tellers of the Word of God to a generation like our own must understand that men are going to say, ‘You’re cutting out the optimism and therefore we’re going to bring every pressure to bear against you that we can bring.’” -Francis Schaeffer

This, from Francis Schaeffer in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, is so good. God’s law and biblical truth lay the tracks upon which love runs. We’ve gone off the rails.

“See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15 ESV)

In 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩, @bradedwards.bsky.social exposes subtle but potent assumptions about institutions & individualism that distort our view of the church’s goodness/beauty. He joined me to talk about them in this episode. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

Each day it becomes easier to think that one of the great services to humanity we can perform is to not be on social media.

Dr. David Powlison was an extraordinarily wise, skillful, and gracious guide to Christian living. The idea of exposing teens to his influence by way of a devotional is wonderful. www.wtsbooks.com/blogs/2024-e...

Francis Schaeffer on the necessity of Christians simultaneously exhibiting the holiness and love of God:

Designing chatbots to be excessively flattering, validating, and sycophantic for the sake of user engagement and positive feedback, leads some to terribly dark places. We’re subjects in an alarming global experiment. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...