Following up on Hannah Chao’s article, Burdens and Truth: Inspired by “The Farewell,” this week we shared excerpts from two essays from Fred Mok and Heidi Tai on Telling Our Stories of Asian American immigrants and their families. Contribute your own essay about your immigrant family by emailing us at hannah.chao@sola.network.
Many articles are being written regarding Joshua Harris’ divorce and his claim to no longer be a Christian. You can read On Caution and Keeping: Friends Reflect on Joshua Harris’s Deconversion by Kevin DeYoung and The Tragedy of Joshua Harris: Sobering Thoughts for Evangelicals by Albert Mohler.
I was at FCBC Walnut’s young adult retreat last weekend when I heard about Joshua Harris. I discussed the news with Pastor Hanley Liu on our Walnut Commentary podcast. Listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Podcasts, and send us your feedback or ask us your questions by tweeting me @musicgoon or emailing me at aaron@musicgoon.com.
Link Roundup
1. Jen Yamato: Bruce Lee’s family calls ‘Once Upon a Time’ ‘a mockery.’ Is it insult or homage?
“In Quentin Tarantino’s Tinseltown fantasia “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” Bruce Lee faces off with Brad Pitt’s fictional stuntman Cliff Booth in a scene that some say makes fun of the martial arts icon.”
2. ChinaSource: China’s Earliest Known Hymn
“Hymns and Christian worship have a long and rich history in China. This article from Gospel Times details the first known hymn in China, dating from Nestorian missionaries during the Tang dynasty.”
3. Frank Shyong: The Workers Who Make Korean Barbecue Possible Deserve Better
Writer Frank Shyong, via Twitter: “I wrote about Korean bbq, the enclave economy and all the widespread, long standing illegal labor practices that make our food cheap and our restaurants plentiful.”
4. Jen Wilkin: On Daughters and Dating: How to Intimidate Suitors
SOLA Editorial Board member Daniel K. Eng tweeted about this article: “Leadership is not about the strong looking for weaker people to lead. It’s about the humble looking for those whose strengths offset their weaknesses and complement their strengths. Strong leaders surround themselves with strong people, not with weak ones.”
5. Christina Xu: Bullet Time
“[Bullet comments] represent the essence of Chinese internet culture: fast-paced and impish, playfully collaborative, thick with rapidly evolving inside jokes and memes. They are a social feature beloved by a generation known for being antisocial. And most importantly, they allow for a type of spontaneous, cumulative, and public conversation between strangers that is increasingly rare on the Chinese internet.”
Weekend Recommendations
1. Albert Mohler: The Briefing
Albert Mohler starts the fall season of my favorite podcast providing a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. The first episode features commentary on Joshua Harris and purity culture, as well as Dr. Lena Wen and Planned Parenthood.
2. Tabletalk Magazine: Columns from August 2019
“The August issue of Tabletalk looks at several commonly misunderstood passages in the Bible, asking the question, What does that verse really mean?”
3. FCBC Walnut: Looking Up To Christian Leaders with Pastor Hanley
After returning from our young adult retreat, we discuss Joshua Harris, purity culture, and looking up to Christian leaders. Listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Podcasts.
From SOLA
1. SOLA Network: Telling Our Stories: Taiwanese Immigrants and Chinese Refugees
“Asian immigrant stories have been more prevalent with the rise of mainstream films like Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell. However these stories are not foreign for many of us who’ve grown up surrounded by the immigrant experiences of our parents and grandparents. And yet, there is still much of their stories we do not know.”
2. Ben Shin: The Venue & the Guest List: The AA Guide to Premarital Counseling (Part 2)
“I want to examine two Asian dynamics that influence the upcoming wedding ceremony — the honor-shame dynamic and the concept of collectivist thinking — and how they might play out in wedding preparations. […]This cultural practice is prevalent not only in different Eastern cultures today but was also prevalent during biblical times and seen in many occasions.”
3. Patreeya Prasertvit: The Glory of the Small Things
“Most of our time is spent in the smallness of life. In the small, God prepares in us a faithfulness that can persist in the big moments of tragedy, that can choose wisely in the big decisions, and that can withstand the allure of success. And small faithfulness is not sexy. It doesn’t often make the headlines.”
4. Jiwon J. Lee: Gen Z: Search for Treasure in a Scattered World
“We must battle with Gen Z in the arena of value and worth. [We] must talk about why pursuits like money, education, and career are good and why our eyes desire them. But we must also show why these good things ultimately fall short of Christ. We must communicate why choosing Christ is better in this fading world.”
5. Thank God It’s Friday: Weekend Roundup
In case you missed it, here are the highlights from last week: Burdens and Truth: Inspired by “The Farewell,” 10 Easy Ways to Blow Your Influence as a Worship Leader, The Asian American Guide to Premarital Counseling: Part 1, and Can You Be a Christian Fashion Influencer?