Patriot. Father of four, Christian, and software developer. Making hand-made things at @theFinleyShop and music at @MinotaurGuitars. Fide et Fortitudine.
Southern Illinois
Joined August 2008
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“Solitude is the homeland of the strong; silence is their prayer.” - Gustave Delacroix de Ravignan
James Finley retweeted
Friday night family pick— board games, read-aloud, or sea shanties? We know our answer.
James Finley retweeted
A weekly church "small group" where men eat store-bought muffins and discuss their feelings is not brotherhood.
It is a support group for defeat.
Real brotherhood is forged in shared labor, shared liability, and shared danger.
It is men who co-sign on land, trade equipment back and forth, train each other’s sons, and show up with work gloves and tools when a brother’s roof caves in.
David’s mighty men didn't bond over coffee talks. They fought shoulder-to-shoulder in the cave of Adullam.
Turn your fellowship into an operational phalanx.
I'm rolling over here. I love that MAGA is now a pre-existing condition. Do y'all remember the looneys during the lockdowns that demanded us take an experimental vaccine or lose our insurance coverage?
Anyway, join CrowdHealth.
James Finley retweeted
I'm a huge fan of batching production. Set up the routing table station and do roundovers for an hour. Get the sanding sticks and sand for a couple hours. Set out cardboard and shellac rattles every fifteen minutes.
But I'm in the weird middle right now where I've got over 50 toys on my table that are not finished. Lots moving.
Make sure you feel accomplished by tasks, not just completion. Feel good along the way.
James Finley retweeted
Kids don't need more stuff. They need good stuff, and somebody on the floor with them.
James Finley retweeted
Twenty toys a week? No problem! Here are twenty-two baby rattles I cut this morning and am now rounding over to begin sanding.
James Finley retweeted
William Gouge called the household a little commonwealth and a little church.
You reduced your home to a commuter dormitory where strangers raise your children. The state loves a scattered family because an isolated man has no defense. Rebuild the domestic economy. Keep your daughters close and train your sons under your roof.
Wife had me find a recipe on her phone. Found in her search history that she looked up the definition of nugatory.
I definitely married the right woman.
James Finley retweeted
Interesting. I didn't realize that we've been using that term For Fawkes' Sake.
I've got a @bot that monitors my @canonpress and @audible_com book progress. Sure, it keeps my website up to date invisibly, but it also cheers me on.
Now is no time for a loser theology. Men, hone. Read deeply, get involved, raise the next generation, build something, and take dominion.
Why are conservative Christians so weak in the public square?
We've been taught that strength and power are morally suspect. Using power to restrain evil feels “icky,” like we’re betraying the gospel.
Progressives have no such scruples. They will gladly use power to crush us.
As long as we keep handing it to them, we will keep losing.
James Finley retweeted
Conservative Christians were among the biggest losers in this election, and a lot of them chose to be. Many simply stayed home.
I’m sure the experts will give us the official reasons in due course, but anecdotally, I’ve heard a lot of people saying they just didn’t like the candidates.
Early numbers suggest evangelical turnout dropped 7 points this year from the last midterm cycle.
I'm sure the experts will give us the official reasons in due course, but anecdotally, I've heard a lot of people saying they just didn't like the candidates.
Responding to this, many Christian leaders have said we're always choosing the lesser of two evils in a fallen world or something like that.
Of course, Christians would love to have godly, virtuous people to vote for. People that fit that description are becoming increasingly rare these days, so we've got an electoral supply and demand problem. There's just not a lot of virtuous people running for office for us to vote for.
In much of the country, the choice was between a radical leftist or a "conservative" Republican who would have been to the left of Bill Clinton. That was simply a bridge too far for many Christians.
Some Christians said, "they didn't earn my vote." So they stayed home. And we ended up with a blue wave.
Here's my question: if we want godly, virtuous candidates running for office, where will they come from?
Churches.
And what have churches been doing the last twenty years to encourage talented young men to run for office?
Not much.
On the one hand, Christian leaders will lament the lack of virtuous candidates worthy of their vote.
On the other hand, godly Christians who might consider a life in politics are warned about the dangers of power and told "Jesus' kingdom is not of this world."
You can't expect godly political candidates to seek political power while simultaneously warning them that political power is evil.
Our purity tests for political candidates eliminate a lot of options, but we also discourage the men who would pass the test from pursuing office. We tell them they'd be better off serving as missionaries or going to seminary.
I'm not against godly men being missionaries or going to seminaries. But somebody is going to run for political office, someone will win, and someone will make decisions.
If politically gnostic pastors tell their congregants that seeking office is selfish ambition or sinful "grasping for power," then don't be surprised if the only options on the ballot next election are a Democratic Socialist and a "conservative" Republican homosexual atheist.
This is why we lose. And we’ll keep losing until churches start raising up men for public office.
