Dr Paul Allen

Thaddeus Williams Apple co-founder, black-turtleneck enthusiast, and former Pixar chairman Steve Jobs once remarked, “There is no reason not to follow your heart.” For most of human history, feelings could be embraced, resisted, ignored, celebrated, chastened, silenced, trained, or challenged. Our ancestors could do a whole lot with their emotions. The “freedom” of our day is far more limiting. You have one option when it comes to your heart—follow it. The ‘freedom’ of our day is far more limiting. You have one option when it comes to your heart—follow it. Under the trendy orthodoxy of expressive individualism, life is no longer about bringing our inner selves into the tempo and key of beauty, goodness, and truth. It’s about finding our inner tune, marching to our beat, and conducting those around us to play along with our anthems of autonomy. The truth is, to answer Steve Jobs, there are plenty of good reasons not to follow your heart. Here are five. 1. Our hearts are too dull. Valida...

This Sunday, I experienced a contrast between the beautiful worship I had experienced earlier in the day — the holy presence of God, the purity of the Word, the glory of the Spirit — and the filthiness of this carnal world. I turned on the TV when I arrived home from church. The headlines were not only filled with bad news. They were also filled with venom and malice. They were meant to provoke and enflame and divide. They were earthy, carnal, “of this world.” They were defiling. We are Manipulated by Biased News Let us drink from healthy, pure, beautiful, and glorious streams. Not only will we ourselves thrive and bear much fruit, but we will be able to give nourishing drink to others as well. The truth be told, and more than we would like to admit, we are manipulated and defiled by the news — by which I do not simply mean the latest reporting of the facts. I mean the biased, partisan news that bombards us every day. It does not build our faith. It does not bring us closer to God. It ...