INLE LAKE, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival, a major Buddhist celebration and world-class tourist attraction, has seen some of its celebratory spirit diminished, with locals and visitors citing a confluence of challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, political ...
By Mark Wilmoth If the Apostle Paul ever decides to write our church a letter (Yes, I know Paul’s been gone a while!), I hope it’s like Philippians. I don’t want a letter like 1 Corinthians, that lists all the problems in the church and dictates corrections. I certainly don’t want a letter like Galatians. In that one, Paul is so disturbed by the direction the Galatian church is taking that he skips the customary courtesies and begins to scold, saying, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a ...
By Mark Wilmoth Kelsey Piper, a well-respected Stanford grad who is appreciated in liberal circles because of her consistent emphasis on effective altruism and her association with publications like Vox and The Argument, recently raised eyebrows when she published a column headed “Giving People Money Helped Less Than I Thought It Would.” In the column, Piper laments the failure of a liberal tenet: Guaranteed Basic Income. Piper, like many on the left, once believed that those in crisis – single moms, the homeless and families struggling with poverty – would be able to turn their ...
By Mark Wilmoth People don’t assess risk very well. Ask folks to list dangerous occupations and you’ll hear about folks in the military and about first responders who risk their lives on behalf of others. In fact, though, firefighters’ risk of death is only 3.4 per 100,000 and in Fiscal Year 2021, the last date for which statistics have been published, the on-duty ground Soldier fatality rate was 1.3 fatalities per 100,000 Soldiers. By comparison, the fatality rate for trash and recycling collectors is 34.9 deaths per 100,000 and being a truck driver is actually 4 times riskier ...
By Mark Wilmoth Some folks try to live life by following a door philosophy. If they try a door and find it open, they interpret that to be God’s choice for them, a sign of his approval for them to enter that door. Alternatively, a “closed door” is interpreted to be God’s sign that they should move along and try something else. That philosophy is attractive. It’s comforting to feel like you’re living within God’s will and a relief to feel like God is in control of your life. A lot of the worries and burdens of life feel lighter when viewed through this ...
By Mark Wilmoth Would you like to know God’s plan for your life? About 40 years ago a respected Bible scholar, Knofel Staton, wrote How To Know The Will of God. In his book, Staton taught that God’s will for your life is revealed in Scripture. Here’s what God wants for you: First, you are to exercise dominion over the creation. In Genesis 1:28 (NIV), God instructs humanity to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Thought must be ...
