An Ecumenical Ministry in the Parish of St Patrick's Catholic Church In San Diego USA

米国サンディエゴの聖パトリックカトリック教会教区におけるエキュメニカル宣教

Friday, January 9, 2015

The Galli Report - Friday, January 09, 2015






The Galli Report newsletter



Friday, January 09, 2015 


One more top ten list and I'll be done until next year. Theologically, one person's conversion is never more miraculous than another person's tale. It's all grace for all the converted. But among the testimonies we publish in the back of each issue of Christianity Today, some really take off. Here are the ones that were shared the most on social media in 2014. Seeing them all together instills gratefulness and awe at God's grace, at least in this sometimes too cynical journalist.

A week into New Year's resolutions, many of us find ourselves thinking about food. We've rearranged our diets—again—to see if we can better manage our weight or energy. Among the recent trends is a return to natural, organic, fresh foods. But as the article "Why Is It So Difficult to Eat Real Food in the 21st Century?" puts it:
Those who wish to eat real food as a matter of course are made to feel like snobs and, given the centrality of food to social interactions, oftentimes outcasts among their own kin.
Combine the ubiquity of artificial food with this anecdote: As a child, I heard an adult say that someday we would buy water like we buy soft drinks. His listener laughed, as did I. This is the world we now live in, for better or worse—depending on how much you like Oreos.

Another interesting transformation in the last half century is "The Remarkable Collapse of Our Trust in Government," which said article reveals "in one chart." People of my age can remember watching that trust crumble during the debacles of Vietnam and Watergate especially. It's now hard to imagine how or why one would trust the government. This does not bode well for the social fabric. But it is unclear how to turn it around.

We're about to embark on another massive social transformation, this one in transportation: self-driving cars. I'm excited about the possibility while recognizing that a few bugs need to be worked out. Apparently, when a liquid drops from the sky and settles on pavement, it messes with these cars' visual systems, as this piece shows.

Grace and peace,

Mark Galli
Mark Galli
Mark Galli
Editor, Christianity Today

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