finland | The Simple Pastor

The Curiosity Index (10.06.2019)

10th June 201910th June 2019 Phil WhittallEnvironment, finland, homelessness, india, race, sweden, TV0 comment

White or Wrong? Andrew Wilson on form as usual: Should people self-identify as “white”? In normal conversation? In the church, or other specifically Christian contexts? On a census form or diversity survey? It might seem that the answer is yes to all of the above, and that even asking the question is the height of politically correct silliness. But I think there are at least seven reasons for taking seriously the possibility that the answer is no. Church Planting Mistakes: “I’ll Take Who I Can Get” The Simmonds brothers interviewed…

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The Curiosity Index (11.10.2018)

11th October 201811th October 2018 Phil Whittallbible, finland, geography, podcasts, reading, skills, survival, sweden0 comment

It’s been a while? Anyone missed it? No, you can’t see inside my bible Chris Green explains why: If I only ever read it to teach others, I will never catch my breath in wonder what Christ has done for me, and that is fatal. How can we expect other to experience what we have only heard in the telling? Guns, Germs and Steel Why do some societies develop faster than others? Why did China develop faster than the people who used to live in southeast Asia, and thus displace them? Why did…

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The Curiosity Index (19.06.2018)

19th June 2018 Phil Whittallbible, christianity, finland, football, government, happiness, Mexico, women0 comment

What the Bible really says about government Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry writes: The Bible is a tricky text to interpret. Some people think this is because it’s a grab bag of various texts from many centuries; you can make that argument, but there’s no important text from human history that is straightforward to interpret, probably because otherwise, people wouldn’t find them so interesting, and they wouldn’t tell us interesting things about this messy reality we inhabit. The Bible is unclear, but so are Plato’s dialogues, Shakespeare’s plays, and the Constitution of the…

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The Curiosity Index (15.06.2018)

15th June 2018 Phil Whittallelves, finland, football, Iceland, Japan, libraries0 comment

Machine learning predicts World Cup winner Researchers have predicted the outcome after simulating the entire soccer tournament 100,000 times. Turns out the computers know what we all know – Germany will win and on the way knock-out England. Typical. *Team of the tournament is Iceland simply for being there: The Planning Lesson in Iceland’s World Cup Miracle – remember Iceland only has 350,000 people (although the computers think that’s unimportant). *Bonus Iceland article: Rock Piles and Elves: Secularism and the Supernatural in Iceland Soccer Fields Around the World Sticking with football, I…

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The Curiosity Index (14.05.2018)

14th May 2018 Phil Whittallbooks, boys, Christians, finland, Indonesia, mothers, sweden0 comment

11 killed in Indonesia church bombings A sobering reminder that in many parts of the world it’s a dangerous and brave thing to show up for church on Sunday morning. Muslim Refugees Are Finding Christ—And Facing Backlash While back in Sweden, some good news. A fascinating conversation on Muslims coming to faith in Sweden. Hernando Columbus deserves to be as famous as his father, Christopher I’d never heard of Hernando but he was, it seems, extraordinary and not just because of his large book collection. How to Teach Boys to…

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The Curiosity Index (20.04.2018)

20th April 2018 Phil WhittallChina, christianity, Ethiopia, finland, gender, genesis, india, society, travel0 comment

Too many men I find these demographic insights and their implications for the future fascinating. But it’s also going to be tragic for millions. In India and China alone there are 70 million more men than women. 70 million, that’s like imagining a country the size of the UK with just men (Chinese and Indian men)! Finland’s two-year universal basic income experiment is coming to an end It will be interesting to hear what lessons they’ve learned but 2 years is not a long time for this sort of experiment.…

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The Curiosity Index (07.12.2017)

7th December 2017 Phil Whittallafrica, Chad, finland, gospel, islands, lifestyle, simplicity, travel0 comment

100 years of Finland Yesterday Finland celebrated 100 years as an independent nation, it’s a beautiful country. But 100 years isn’t all that long and reminds me that nations are not permanent. What Christians believe…in 90 Seconds! I have a very high regard for the way Glen Scrivener presents things. Lake Chad: The world’s most complex humanitarian-disaster There is a lot of tragedy around the world that most of us are completely ignorant of. The Spiritual Disciplines: Simplicity December is an excellent month to try to practice this important discipline.…

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The Curiosity Index (30.11.2017)

30th November 201726th November 2017 Phil Whittallart, compassion, dancing, discipleship, finland, Theology0 comment

Art story of the day I did not know this, but I think it’s great. How Skilled Copyists Leave the Louvre with a Masterpiece Every Year Rebuke of the day This one is actually from a couple of weeks back, but as the story is still going on I thought I could get away with it. Anthony Le Donne throws the knock-out blow to anyone trying to defend Roy Moore by comparing it to Joseph and Mary. Historically speaking, Zeigler’s statement is in error. Literarily and theologically speaking, Zeigler’s statement is perverted.…