Tag: Christianity

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Love One Another– part 2

Gary Furr

So today, let’s pick up where we were last time. In the New Testament, there are two injunctions. As I mentioned previously, we are to love God and love our neighbor. Romans 13.8 states, let no debt remain outstanding except the outstanding debt to love one another for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. But what about self-love? We’ve become bogged down in modern life by being sure that we love ourselves enough and have subtly reversed the emphasis of this commandment. Many people struggle with finding a sense of purpose and worth. The modern secular profession of counseling … Continue reading Love One Another– part 2

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Love Your Neighbor–part 1

Gary Furr

The phrase “love your neighbor as yourself,” which appears in nearly all religions as what we often call the “Golden Rule,” is the rule of reciprocity—love as you wish to be loved, treat others as you wish to be treated. Now this seems almost imbecilically obvious except that we are living through a ghastly moment of stupidity in our public life. “Strength” is exalted across the world by rightward mobs in reactionary anxiety of cultural and societal erosion. These changes, in my view, are mostly our own creations due to endless speeding up of life, isolation by our technologies of … Continue reading Love Your Neighbor–part 1

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AI, Social Media and the Future of Us

Gary Furr

Chris Hayes, The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became theWorld’s Most Endangered Resource. Penguin Random House, 2025 and Nicholas Carr, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart, W. W. Norton & Company, 2024. The latest issue of Christian Ethics Today has come out. I wrote an extensive twin review in the issue about these two excellent books that are well worth your time. A couple of short quotes from the review. Chris Hayes is the well known host of MSNBCs All In. From Hayes’ book: Nicholas Carr has written another book that profoundly shaped my understanding of the current technological … Continue reading AI, Social Media and the Future of Us

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The Gift of Doubt

Gary Furr

My children asked the question, “Have you ever doubted your faith?” This is what I wrote. I hope it reassures you to know that the answer is simple: Yes, of course. In some ways, the question itself could open so many different directions. Is the question, “Have I ever doubted whether I have faith?” Yes. Many times. Have I ever had questions that threatened to undo my sense of belief, everything I had trusted in my life? Yes, those are more about the subjective experience of faith. Sometimes it could be taken to mean, “Have you ever doubted the faith?” … Continue reading The Gift of Doubt

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The Mystery of Daddy Shucks: A Memorial Day Story

Gary Furr

Rev. Tommy Simons is the Pastor of Third Baptist Church in St. Louis, and a friend of more than thirty-two years. This week, his pastor’s email came with this reflection about Memorial Day. I asked if I could share it and he graciously agreed. Here it is: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was created to honor the U.S. armed forces members who served and died in the Vietnam War (1955–1975).  The winning design was Maya Lin, 21-year-old Yale architecture student. A V-shaped black granite wall, sunken into the earth, inscribed with over 58,000 names in chronological order—connecting the … Continue reading The Mystery of Daddy Shucks: A Memorial Day Story