John and Maria discuss how the Governor race highlights more than how one political party can win future elections. John shares how worldview is underneath the movement in Virginia politics and how looking to the future we shouldn't look through a political lens but one that understands the human person. Maria asks John to provide a more in-depth understanding of school and what the role of education is in society.

To close, Maria and John revisit a handful of commentaries for the week. First, they revisit a commentary from Shane Morris on how some in science are grasping to explain the apparent reality that the universe had to have a creator. Then they revisit The Most Reluctant Convert, the new movie by Max McLean and the Center for the Performing Arts. John shares that the movie did incredibly well in theatres, and many theatres are extending the premiere for two weeks.

-- Recommendations --

The Most Reluctant Convert The Movie>>

The Limits of Pleasure
Paul Bloom & Sam Herris | Making Sense | November 3, 2021

Surprised by Joy
C.S. Lewis | Harper One | 2017

CRT and Woke Christianity
Owen Strachan vs Jermaine Marshall with Justin Brierly | Unbelievable Podcast | October 15, 2021

-- Story References -- 

Parents Find Support from Schools
Kuyper believed that societal breakdown was inevitable whenever a God-ordained authority either abandoned or exerted authority outside of its ordained sphere. That's an ominous analysis today when so many, including gubernatorial candidates, see the state as society rather than as a mere element of society.
BreakPoint>>

 

How this suburban school board became the hottest issue in the Virginia governor's race
Amid school board chaos across the country, Loudoun has become particularly prickly, as Youngkin and McAuliffe argue about so-called critical race theory, the potential banning of books like Toni Morrison's "Beloved" and how to navigate COVID-19 protocols in schools.
USA Today>>

The Most Reluctant Convert's Journey to Faith and to the Big Screen
Today, too, we need a revival of the Christian imagination. One of my favorite scenes in The Most Reluctant Convert is when Lewis reads George MacDonald's Phantastes for the first time. MacDonald's gripping imagery and deep love of goodness did something incredible for Jack, long before his conversion: it taught him to long for holiness. "That night," he would write years later, "my imagination [was] baptized."
BreakPoint>>

Intelligent Design without God?
This is Ockham's Razor on a cosmic scale. As Meyer concludes in his book, the "God hypothesis" is still the most scientifically reasonable explanation for the universe, one that does not "unnecessarily multiply explanatory entities." While it's an improvement that some modern astronomers and physicists are willing to consider intelligent design, given a choice between a transcendent God and an infinite number of immanent alien designers (or turtles?), the answer is obvious.
BreakPoint>>