Starting a new feature, one that I hope serves you as much as it helps me. Each week I read widely, in print and online, and only occasionally share links on social media. This Friday Four will be a quick endeavor to illuminate helpful articles, links, videos, books, and quotes that deserve to be read all the more. I’ve visited as a traveler and guide you back to them. A travelogue is “a movie, book, or illustrated lecture about the places visited and experiences encountered by a traveler.” While traveling the Interwebs, here’s what I’ve encountered this week and commend to you.

(Why four and not five? Because four is a superior number.)

Apatheism* > Atheism

We live in a culture of and ME and “meh,” not so much ardent anti-God hostility. In a stellar essay, Kyle Beshears explores the latent apatheism* underpinning a lot of people’s lives:

Sometimes, the disinterest comes from the kind of person you would expect—an agnostic who, after years of oscillating between religious and areligious beliefs, has finally thrown their hands in the air and given up. Other times, the disinterest comes from the kind of person you would least expect—a self-described religious person who, for one reason or another, is utterly indifferent to the very foundations upon which their worldview was constructed. Either way, the result is the same.

…
But dismissing God does not terminate our quest for meaning. The very moment an apatheist sets down GQs is the same moment they pick up a feeling that there must be something more that is missing. [Charles] Taylor argued that our age “suffers from a threatened loss of meaning.”

—Kyle Beshears, “Athens without a Statue to the Unknown God,” Themelios, Volume 44, Issue 3.
*Apatheism is indifference and apathy toward the existence of God. More specifically, it’s “a general attitude of apathy or indifference regarding how we answer [existence questions relating to God].”

The case against God is a case for God

Speaking of Atheism, noted adherent Richard Dawkins, PhD, published a new book, Outgrowing God, in which he attempts to give a fresh vision for, well, outgrowing god(s), as a believer in science as opposed to religion. Rebecca McLoughlin (author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion) reviews Dawkins’ book and surmises:

Rather than offering the best case for atheism in an accessible form, Dawkins’s book consistently fails to engage opposing arguments and frequently falls short of the research standards we should expect of an academic author—whatever his beliefs.

I read it eagerly, hoping it would offer fresh insights into the latest atheist arguments. I like to keep my finger on that pulse. But I was disappointed.

—Rebecca McLoughlin. » Read the whole article: “Richard Dawkins’s Latest Case for Outgrowing God”

Don’t Worry About Anything

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” —Philippians 4:6 was the most-read Bible verse of the year on YouVersion.

Renew Church just finished a journey through Paul’s letter to the Philippians: The Path to Joy. Dawson Hunter recently preached on 4:1-9, including that anxiety-ridding verse.

Not a “Networking” Pastor

I enjoy relationships with other pastors, especially in our city. We’re all different, and multifaceted. Yet I find a lot of pastors either are hyper-networkers (sometimes) or more introverted and averse to this type of collegial investment in knowing others and being known. This is ministry as a human being. To that end, Benjamin Vrbicek (a pastor in PA I met in person this year!) muses on some common themes for the year:

” … for whatever reason, I hate the word networking. It feels greasy. When I hear it, I think cheap suits, slick hair, gaudy gold chains, and a guy who points with his index finger as he talks (cf., Prov. 6:12–13). Even if this is a cliché, at one point or another, we’ve all had the miserable experience of being used. I call it networking after Genesis 3, east of Eden.”

—Benjamin Vrbicek, “Networking for Pastors who Hate Networking,” an article for Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

Travelpixels: a bonus GoPro photo