Larry Lin

I now affirm female ordination in the church. Maybe you are surprised I would embrace such a stance. Maybe you are surprised I took so long. Either way, I finally got the courage to publicly share about my journey. Read away. larrylin.com/2023/07/17/how…

Okay so, 1) an American citizen exercises his First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and his Second Amendment right to bear arms, out of apparent concern that a tyrannical federal government is violating basic protections afforded under the Constitution 2) after coming to the aid of an unarmed woman who's been shoved to the ground by a masked federal agent, the citizen -- impaired by pepper spray, holding nothing but a cell phone -- is dragged to the ground by a group of other masked agents 3) during the scuffle, shortly after one masked agent removes the weapon from the restrained citizen's person, several other masked agents open fire, unloading 10 shots from close range and killing the unarmed citizen 4) despite video evidence, a spokesman for the federal government says the citizen approached agents with a gun, provoked a violent confrontation, and planned to "massacre" law enforcement You really want to defend this? Go ahead. Just know, you look like an absolute fool.

So far in the 21st century, the U.S. has bombed Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. But that wasn’t enough. And so today, the U.S. bombed Iran. And still we wonder why so many people around the world dislike America.

@BibleU777 Everybody involved on January 6 received due process. In fact, among those charged for the January 6 event, 1,010 people even pled guilty.

@_larrylin_ Who got due process? Who was thrown into solitary or starved or tortured w/o a trial? Who was isolated from children, spouses, for just walking through doors held open by cap. police?

Rep. McIver “assaulted” two federal agents, resulting in 0 injuries, 0 hospitalizations, and 0 deaths. Jan 6 insurrectionists “assaulted” hundreds of federal agents, resulting in 140 injuries, 15 hospitalizations, and 1 death. Who should be charged? Who should be pardoned?

“Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present.” - N. T. Wright, Surprised By Hope

In the midst of these federal cuts, Trump just announced that we will have a record-breaking $1 trillion defense budget. In other words, Trump is not downsizing the government. He is just reallocating funds.

In the midst of these federal cuts, Trump just announced that we will have a record-breaking $1 trillion defense budget. In other words, Trump is not downsizing the government. He is just allocating funds.

The way Americans sometimes treat government employees is similar to the way church folks sometimes treat A/V volunteers. They don’t know what these employees actually do. But they have a lot of opinions. And when things don’t work properly, these employees are to blame.

“Marriage requires a radical commitment to love our spouses as they are, while longing for them to become what they are not yet.” - Dan Allender and Tremper Longman, Intimate Allies

The majority of Americans did not vote for Trump, and they should not be held guilty for the actions of the Trump administration. And in the same vein, the majority of Gazans did not vote for Hamas, and they should not be held guilty for the actions of Hamas.

I feel all of this.

“Hope is the belief in the probability of the possible rather than the necessity of the probable.” - Marshall Ganz

One of the most important habits of a church community is healthy lament. Healthy lament is not masking suffering with trite sayings, nor is it surrendering to uncontrolled despair. It is to intentionally and uncomfortably sit in the pain with God by your side.

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m… “I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family and even politicians advocating for me. Yet, I was still detained for nearly two weeks. Imagine what this system is like for every other person in there.”

The human brain was not built to cope with such frequent displays of death. We cannot handle it. But the alternative is ignorance and apathy. And that destroys our souls as well. 2/2

One of the consequences of the globalized digital age is that we see images and videos of death all the time now. All the world’s violence and all the world’s wars are easily accessible in devices we carry in our pockets. 1/2

A full year and a half later, the true story was revealed, and the coverup was over. There were in fact no enemy soldiers at all. Only innocent civilians. And the U.S. killed at least 347–mostly women, children, and elderly men. 2/2

Today is the 57-year anniversary of the My Lai massacre. On that day, U.S. soldiers were sent to attack the Viet Cong in a village in South Vietnam. Upon returning, they reported that they were victorious. 128 Viet Cong soldiers were killed in a fierce fire fight. 1/2

Not their public transit culture, their universal healthcare, their multi-party political system, their gun control policies, or their wind power initiatives. It’s their ban of synthetic food dyes. Of all the things we can learn from the E.U., that’s the one they picked. 2/2

For decades, American conservatives have criticized the E.U. for their progressive sensibilities. But recently, the current U.S. administration has actually platformed the E.U. as the gold standard for one specific issue. 1/2