Dr Paul Allen

By Rachel McDonald Following Jesus’s command to love our neighbour can be challenging for all of us, but Gen Z may struggle differently than other generations. One simple reason is that we don’t know our neighbours. We can order anything from Amazon instead of asking the family next door. But there’s a deeper issue than our tendency to rely on technology over people—the meaning of love has changed. While philosophers and poets have pondered the nature of love for centuries, my generation states their definition as fact: love is to accept someone, and acceptance is to never criticize who she is and what she does. Fellow Gen Zers, we can’t rely on our generation to tell us what love is. We must look to the gospel. Here are three ways the gospel teaches us to love others. 1. Let your light shine. No generation has liked being told they’re sinners, but now even disagreeing with others is often equated with hating them. If some Christian beliefs are considered toxic, if praying for someone ...

Nearly every week, I hear from pastors, ministry leaders, or parents about the ethical challenges they face as they encourage those under their care to love God and love their neighbour (Matt. 22:37–39). Many of these questions centre on the digital advances of our day—especially social media. As we enter another year, here are three truths to equip yourself and your people to wisely follow Jesus in a digital age. 1. The Christian ethic is more than sufficient for our day. We tend to believe we’re facing novel issues the writers of the Bible didn’t foresee and couldn’t address. While it’s true these writers never talked about social media, algorithms, or ChatGPT, the assumption that the Bible is insufficient for the challenges of our day is misplaced. It’s driven by thinking of the Christian ethic as a set of rules rather than as a rich framework for pursuing wisdom no matter what comes our way. Many, if not all, of our current ethical issues, are rooted in deeper questions of what it ...

Have you seen them? There is a new kind of Pharisee today. Things like social media have paved the way for them. And they are not rare or quiet. Here is a partial profile of the new Pharisees: They have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. The tactic of the new Pharisees communicates that they are in the highest seat of judgment and above questioning. As such, they behave as if God has charged them to prosecute those who do not conform to their law. In this way, they make themselves and their standards well-known on social media. They hand out violations on partial information and without the full story. They lack grace and learning. They’re watching you, waiting in the shadows to trap you in a statement, plotting together how they might trap you in what you say. 2.  They are judgmental in the true sense. Ironically, the most abused verse in the Bible can safely be said of them: “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” (Matt. 7:1). In the name of compa...

Proverbs 17:10 : “A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.” So how do we receive rebuke as a wise man seeking greater wisdom?  How do  you deal with personal criticisms from others? How do you process them, learn from them, and determine which ones are accurate and which ones are not?” www.hopecollege.com That question, of course, is all the more relevant in a day of social media . You not only have a few dozen people in your family and church or neighborhood or network at work who might criticize you, and you can deal with face to face, but you have a few million people who might get wind of your opinion on Twitter or Facebook or a blog or wherever you happen to be talking. They might get wind of your opinion and call you the vilest names in the world. In one sense, this world of social media is unrealistic because we simply can’t deal seriously with thousands of opinions about ourselves. And yet, on the other hand, t...

If I am being honest, I have to admit that my iPhone habits have been largely unchecked, undisciplined, and unhealthy. And in a recent survey of 8,000 of our readers, many of you honestly admitted the same struggle. We asked you to finish this sentence: As I evaluate my life right now, my use of social media [ Facebook , Twitter , Instagram ] is . . . (A) . . . under control, limited, and healthy. (B) . . . not controlled or restricted, but also not having a negative influence on my life. (C) . . . uncontrolled and unhealthy. I check my social networks compulsively though out the day, and it’s probably not good for me. About 40% of you answered (B) — you don’t intentionally limit your social media use, and you don’t notice harmful effects as a result. Those of you who chose (C) — who admit your unlimited social media habits are unhealthy — were noticeably younger. Readers 18 to 39 are nearly twice as likely to call their habits injurious (38.5%) than those over fo...