Tennessee / Nashville surprises:
—Much more lush and green than I expected
—Live music everywhere
—Hot chicken is not as fearsome as locals claim it is
—Everyone seems to have recently moved here from California
—Big hats, unironically
—Lyin Eyes is NOT Country, apparently 🇺🇸

Just landed in Nashville to speak at the THINQ conference. It’s my first time in the south, so I’m delighted that my first five minutes have included multiple guitars, southern twangs and people of both sexes in cowboy hats.

Wine in Communion: Questions and Responses thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/w… #communion

In my third day in New York, I have learned that:
—Cherry blossom is glorious
—Ross Douthat is boundlessly interesting on everything from demography to demonology
—smörgåsbord is Swedish not Danish
—Susannah Black Roberts is hilarious in person
—Matcha is bitter, fluorescent, vegetably & weird

New paper from Norway: Banning smartphones in school

- significantly decreased doctors visits for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls
- reduced bullying among both genders
- improved girls’ GPA and attendance rates
- largest effect sizes were among the poorest kids

It’s interesting that biblical teaching on divorce comes under the eighth commandment (don’t steal) rather than the seventh (don’t commit adultery). It’s true in Dt 24, and in the Sermon on the Mount:

6) Murder (Mt 5:21)
7) Adultery (27)
8) Divorce (31)
9) False oaths (33)

Why?

A glorious morning in the Upper East Side with Gavin Ortlund, Mike Kruger and Melissa Kruger.

One of the problems with Christian celebrity culture, especially as more high profile leaders are exposed, is the pendulum swing. The reaction is what I call ‘punch bag culture’, where it becomes the sport of wounded Christians to take out their pain on faithful leaders. Brutal.

Cultural apologetics from a great height, with Josh Chatraw, Michael Keller and ⁦Trevin Wax⁩:

The Case for Wine in Communion thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/t… #communion

A Yankees game! 😳

I only just realised that WhatsApp is a play on “What’s Up?” Did everyone else know this?

Just arrived at my favourite city in the world, with a stunning view and a bunch of good friends. So grateful. 🇺🇸

Conservatives today face a conundrum: conservatism requires institutions and institutional norms, but so many have now been captured by the Left that conservatives don’t trust institutions and no longer know how to think or act institutionally.

We are all Jacobins now. 🧵

“But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.”
—Deut 23:5

Curses turned to blessings, out of love. Classic Yahweh.

One of my favourite song lyrics in recent years comes in Is He Worthy, when after focusing on the glory to come, we sing: “Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? It is.”

Daily.

The book of Revelation was written before AD70.

The word of the Lord is a light and a delight, dew and honey, silver refined seven times and more desirable than gold, purifying fire and a hammer that breaks rocks. Come and hear it. Pray it. Sing it. Rejoice in it. Happy Lord’s Day.

Before you sin, Satan tells you repentance is easy. After you sin, Satan tells you repentance is impossible.

I thought Civil War was a great movie, and I really enjoyed these reflections on it from Brett McCracken: thegospelcoalition.org/article/civil-…