The Friday Update - Gen Z Stare

Happy Friday,

We hear a lot of things. We listen to far fewer. So Jesus admonishes all seven of the Asia Minor churches to be sure to listen — and obey — what the Spirit says. To the church in Smyrna he also promises that those who do “will not be hurt by the ‘second death’” – i.e., by hell. As E.V. Hill used to say, “Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once.”

Without Comment

1) According to internal documents, TikTok’s algorithm gets people hooked “in as little as 35 minutes, with an average increase of 40% more time spent on the app after only the first week.”

2) Three of the six U.S. science winners for this year’s Nobel Prizes are foreign-born.

3) Testosterone levels in the US have been declining 1% every year for the last 20 years, on average.

4) In 2024, the average score on the ACT was 19.4—the worst average performance since the test was redesigned in 1990

5) Fox News reported that an average of 5.2 million people watched its coverage of Kirk’s memorial service, with the audience spiking to 6.6 million viewers during Erika Kirk’s remarks.

Three Cheers

I'm more than a day late, but I wanted to commend Dave Butler – the Latter Day Saint who raised $100K to support the family of the man who rammed his truck into a Mormon Church, which injured eight and killed four. I'm not a Mormon, but you get what you celebrate, and we need a lot more of the grace he (they) showed.

GKC

G.K. Chesterton wrote so much so well on so many different topics that some thought GKC stood for a committee. But the original Christian Sherlock — who looked like Santa, wrote like a sword, and thought circles around everyone else — was very quotable. Here are just a few of the GKC quotes I ran across this week: 1) “When people feel uncertain, they’d rather have someone strong and wrong than weak and right”; 2) “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried”; 3) “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions”; and 4) “Christianity has died many times and risen again, for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.”

Overheard

1) Americans know everything about the last 24 hours, but very little about the last 24 years – and virtually nothing of the last 2,400 years.

2) Satan’s chief labor is to misrepresent God.

3) Love has a speed, and it’s slower than you are.

4) We are currently moving faster than Moore’s Law.

5) Digital technology is like a razor – in the hands of a 3-year-old.

Trending

The number of folks dunking on social media is climbing. This FT piece reports usage has declined 10% since ‘22 and that more people describe themselves as “anti-social media.” This Guardian survey reports that: 1) 46% of teens wish the internet didn’t exist; 2) 68% feel time spent online is detrimental to their mental health; and 3) 70% feel worse after being on it. BTW, per Pew, it appears that sports betting is also on a toboggan that is gaining momentum as it races down the hill.

This Week’s Sign that the Apocalypse is Upon Us

I just saw a bumper sticker that read, “It’s Time to Face Your Own Truth.” I’m guessing it’s a call to be “authentic” – i.e., to look deep inside and embrace your feelings. But what if your feelings tell you “’m not sure”? When I look deep inside my heart, I’m pretty sure my truth is that I don’t want to face my truth.

WOTW

Honorable mention goes to: escapers (those who make it to 100 without any outward signs of dementia). Full honors go to the Gen Z Stare (which is explained in this 9 minute video. When I told my Gen Z coworker about this week’s WOTW, he replied that his Gen Z stare is matched by my “boomer glare.” Touché.

Quotes Worth Requoting

1) “Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2) “A man is not hurt so much by what happens, as by his opinion of what happens.’ And our opinion of what happens is up to us.” — Montaigne

3) “Unfortunately, too often Christians have treated the modern world as if it were a fact, a reality to which we were obligated to adjust, rather than a point of view with which we might argue. When we speak of reaching out to our culture through the gospel, we must be reminded that the gospel is also a culture. In the attempt to “translate” the gospel into the language of the culture, something is lost. We are learning that you have not said “salvation” when you say “self-esteem.” The American Way is not equivalent to the kingdom of God.” — Will Willimon

Coffee

Over the last 30 years, I’ve collected a host of coffee-related sayings that other daily grinders (AKA, Brew Crewers, Brew-hahas, Roasted philosophers, Java-Scribes and Café Crusaders) might enjoy: 1) There is no such thing as strong coffee, only weak people; 2) I don’t have stamina; I have coffee; 3) I only need coffee on days ending in ‘y;’ 4) “Decaf? No. I like my coffee like I like my mornings — real;” 5) “Behind every successful person is a substantial amount of coffee;” and 6) “My blood type is Arabica.”

The Grandparent Test

Years ago, a doctor warned me that, “If your grandparents wouldn’t recognize something as food, don’t eat it.” I think a similar warning should be issued for ideas. If grandpa or grandma would have thought something was crazy or wrong fifty years ago, we should at least slow down before we embrace it.

Resources

Click here to read Glenn Wishnew’s review of Alec Ryrie’s book, The Age of Hitler. As background, Ryrie critiques those dissing on Winston Churchill (and minimizing the Holocaust), and Wishnew — one of Lakelight’s more popular and promising Associate Directors — suggests that Ryrie gets the diagnosis right but the prescription wrong.

Closing Prayer

“Almighty God, give us wisdom to perceive you, intellect to understand you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to behold you, a heart to meditate upon you and life to proclaim you, through the power of the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Benedict - 480-543)

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