Happy Day After Thanksgiving: Some informative links for your review...

So much going on, so little time to get to the heart of various matters. But thankfully, there are people smarter than I am who are doing a great job of reading, analyzing, and writing that help. So, if you are spending your day after Thanksgiving online instead of in stores, you can read these at your interest or leisure.

Presidential Politics--Rosenberg's "Final Four." For those following the Republican primary campaign, Joel Rosenberg has done us all a favor by reporting and opining on the seven candidates who came to a forum in Iowa and discusses their faith and its impact on their lives. More than that, Rosenberg looks at field and comes up with a "Final Four" that deserve serious consideration by those holding a biblical worldview, and he explains why. I largely agree with his analysis. You can find his article here.

Mars Hill Loses Another Pastor to an Edgy Faith. I'm not surprised, but the successor to Rob Bell at Mars Hill Bible Church has resigned. Being pastor of the megachurch seems to have convinced Kent Dobson that he isn't really sure what we mean when we refer to "God" anymore. You can read the depressing story here. What is very sad personally to me is that Kent is the son of the late Ed Dobson, long time pastor of Calvary Church, Grand Rapids, whose faithfulness in engaging hard issues, including his fatal battle with ALS, was such a tremendous testimony to grace and truth.

Survey stating "religious" kids were mean and stingy was "flawed," according to researcher. News outlets and social media fell all over themselves featuring a study that proclaimed non-religious kids were nicer and more generous than religious ones. It was trumpeted by many whose opposition to religion and its effects are well established. Now, another report has come out looking at the study and the reporting on it and concludes that the study was flawed and the reporting was over the top. Surprised? Here is the report on the study.

One Pastor's Call for Action in Response to the Chicago Shooting. Thabiti Anyabwile is an African American brother who pastors in the Washington, D. C., suburb of Anacostia and is a part of The Gospel Coalition. He has gained a bit of a reputation of calling the larger evangelical movement to greater concern for issues related to racial divides and injustices. He has responded to the release of the video of the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald and the charging of the Chicago PD officer who shot him with murder with a call to action on the part of pastors. Read his blog and see what you think. I'm seriously pondering his points. The blog is here.