Tag: Gary Furr

Disabled, Disease, Institutions, Jesus

In His Right Mind  

Gary Furr

Reading the Bible Amid the Culture Wars  A lot of questions could preoccupy us as we think about reading scripture. The whole idea of demons and devils is unsettling, disturbing.  But we can get sidetracked onto a lot of other questions.  We could ask the scientific question, “Are demons real and how would they go into pigs?  Or were the pigs disturbed by the commotion?”  We could ask a psychological question, “Is this just a description of mental illness?” which is our own modern preoccupation.  Or the moral question, “Hey, what about the destruction of that property?  Someone owned those … Continue reading In His Right Mind  

America, Christian Nationalism, Christianity, Citizenship, Culture, Ethics, Hope, hope, Humor, Jesus, Justice, Leadership, Love, Politics, Politics, reconciliation1 Comment

Chaplain of the Day

Gary Furr

When I was a pastor in South Georgia, our congregation had a member by the name of Senator Jimmy Hodge Timmons. He went by “Hodge” around the church, and he was our state senator  in the legislature and I think during his time he worked hard to be a friend of the community an effective representative. One year while I was there, Hodge came to me and invited me to be the Chaplain of the day for the Georgia Senate. This was an honorary event when you would come and offer a devotional and prayer for the elected representatives. It’s … Continue reading Chaplain of the Day

Story1 Comment

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

Books, change, Christianity, Citizenship, Culture, Ethics, humanity, Institutions, Modern Life, Politics, REVIEWS--Books, Movies, Music, social media, Story, Technology, Theology

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