Sam Jolman

In the wake of the #metoo movement, I sat with the rest of the world troubled by the amount  of harm done in the name of male sexuality. From outright sexual violence to the almost universal stories of women enduring daily catcalls.

@SpeakerJohnson It's clear you did not listen to the American people and our concern over the lawless tactics of ICE and DHS. They are proposing reasonable and essential reforms for ICE.

209 Democrats just voted to keep the Department of HOMELAND SECURITY closed — in order to protect the illegal aliens they allowed into our country. It’s outrageous, dangerous and inexcusable, and every American should hold them accountable for it.

@RepJeffCrank You are not listening. Americans DO NOT trust DHS. The proposals for ICE agents to wear body cameras, remove masks, gather warrants, and get better training is exactly what you should be supporting.

It's a shame to see Members of Congress continuously vote against critical public security services that protect our homeland. We are now into the third week of the DHS shutdown, which poses a great risk to our nation during a heightened threat environment from our adversaries.

@RepJeffCrank @DHSgov What they are asking for is very, very reasonable. And you should compromise with them. Simple.

The threat from Iran is real and dangerous. Yet Democrats would rather continue to keep the Department of Homeland Security CLOSED. It's time to stop the political games and reopen @DHSgov.

@RepJeffCrank You just abdicated your vote to a madman. And I don't think you care one bit.

For the last half century, Iran has targeted and killed Americans, attacked our allies, funded terrorism across the world, and pursued a nuclear bomb. That ends now.

@RepJeffCrank What should matter more to you is the unlawful declaration of war by our president. You are passively laying down your vote. That is an abdication of your duties. I live in your district.

Ayatollah Khamenei was directly responsible for the murder of more than 600 Americans and was actively planning to kill more. In recent months, he killed tens of thousands of innocent protesters, sought to rebuild his nuclear weapons facilities, and, by many reports, was planning a preemptive strike against the US and our allies. President Trump made every effort to find a peaceful, negotiated solution to this crisis. Khamenei only sought Death to America. I believe that because of his death, the U.S. and Israel have avoided a prolonged conflict that would have killed many Americans. Our country, the Middle East, and the World is a safer place tonight because of his death. What comes next is just as important. The Iranian people must have a voice in deciding their next leader and the surviving members of the dictatorship must be hunted down and brought to justice. I will continue to use my role on the House Armed Services Committee to provide oversight and support of our efforts. Please join me in praying for the safety of our troops and the success of their missions.

@alisa_childers @PhilMiller2911 But the writer of 2 Samuel puts Amnon raping Tamar literally right after the story of David and Bathsheba. A strong textual case can be made the writer did this to make a point. The sins of the father being passed down... David's inaction against Amnon screams.

I don't disagree that the power imbalance was more significant for David/Bathsheba than Joseph/Potiphar's wife (even though the imbalance is still considerable). Here's what I'm getting at...many people who interpret this story as rape/coercion argue that any sexual relationship involving a power imbalance automatically constitutes abuse. I'm suggesting that this isn't always the case, and should not imported onto Scripture when Scripture isn't making that point.

At the risk of throwing a grenade into the X-sphere, I have a question for those who interpret the David/Bathsheeba story as rape. (Genuine question... not a gotcha, and not an attempt to minimize David’s sin, which Scripture clearly condemns.) This morning I read the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife in Genesis 39. My question is... If Joseph had slept with her, would he be considered not morally responsible considering the power imbalance? He risked his life saying no, and ended up in jail. If significant power differential removes meaningful agency in one case, does it not also in the other? How does Scripture present the idea of personal agency in these types of situations?

@MBurtwrites @soli_Jesum Exactly! Well said.

@SamJolman @soli_Jesum 💯💯💯I think the fact the narrator puts Amnon directly after is further implication of David. Is he going to act against Amnon violating Tamar when he has done the same? Against Absalom killing when he has done the same?

If Joseph could say "No," then Bathsheba could have as well. It was no less dangerous for him to refuse. That is unless the "trauma informed" crowd are only interested in feminist class warfare. That is.

@MBurtwrites @soli_Jesum Agreed, Marissa. Also, it's very possible she did try to resist to no avail, much like how Tamar pleaded with Amnon. And David's inaction on Amnon raping Tamar can imply the sins of the father being passed down. Amnon did evil in the eyes of the Lord just like his father.

This is silly. Nowhere does either text indicate either was consensual or even a "temptation." In fact the details indicate the opposite The key diff is that Joseph, as a well-build young man, could flee his female assailant, whereas Bathsheba could not flee the 2+ king's men who came to get her.

@alisa_childers "Slept with her" entirely changes not just the narrative outcome but its entire tone. It's a story of sexual assault not mutual desire. Do you mean, what would have happened if she succeeded in her assault? Also, it's very possible Bathsheba resisted just the same to no avail.

@TylerLeeConway Spot on. Really good work here.

One other thing about the dumb “toxic empathy” argument is this. Allie’s framing boils down to “this virtue can lead to something bad, and when it does, it’s toxic empathy.” But Aristotelian Virtue Ethics understands that virtue is the mean between excess and deficiency.

@alisa_childers @conservmillen There is no such thing as toxic empathy. It's any oxymoron, like dry rain or warm snow. Just like you can't have too much love. If its too much, its become something else. You can't have too much empathy. If it's toxic, it's something else, most often codependency or enmeshment.

The overwhelming number of posts I've seen saying something along the lines of "Empathy isn't toxic!" is just staggering. Even if someone doesn't want to engage the argument at all, a quick google search will tell you that @conservmillen is not saying empathy is toxic. But rather, she argues that empathy *becomes* toxic when it causes you to validate lies, affirm sin, or support destructive policies. Genuinely curious...what is the disconnect? I can't figure out why people keep doing this.

@conservmillen It's no longer empathy once it does the things you say it does. I think that's the point and it's spot on. Toxic empathy is like "dry rain" or "warm snow" or "too much love." It's an oxymoron. It just doesn't exist.

The same article over and over and over again is not going to make your argument more compelling. Empathy becomes toxic when it causes you to affirm sin, validate lies, and support destructive policies. This isn’t hard, it is obviously true, and you don’t have to pretend to disagree with it anymore.

Politics cleave in half so many virtues meant to be whole

@loswhit Kendrick still has my vote. That was so good last year. But this year's stage and story did it solid.

Not gonna lie. Best halftime show in a decade. Holy cow.

@BethMooreLPM I so deeply appreciate your moral courage. True courage. It’s inspiring and a gift to so many including myself in deep ways. The madness that is the spell of this man is wild beyond measure. Let us all be the called out ones, given to Jesus.

I share this post in earnest and (what may prove a naive) hope that a few people caught in the situation I’m about to describe will hear instead of rushing to the usual tropes, criticisms and caricatures. For what it’s worth, I offer this in good faith. Between 2016 and 2022, I faced a test of the genuineness of my faith so large and consequential, I’m almost at a loss to think of the right adjectives to describe it. It might not have been so big to someone else but it involved so much of my Christian identity, it was all but existential. Well more than that. It was a dying. It is this test that helps me understand why people who seem deeply devoted to the Lord Jesus and hold the scriptures in highest esteem also hold to a system, institution or leader no matter what they do and defend a side or individual to a degree that is baffling. I can tell you why because I had to face every bit of it. Identity, community, camaraderie, what we’ve known and loved, what part of it we still love, the people we loved, the people we still love, reputation, what people will think, how you will be judged and condemned and thrown over to the other side who doesn’t want you either. And to whom you also do not align and would not belong. Friendships. How you will be misunderstood and misrepresented. How adrift and alone you will feel. How disliked. And then there’s this and it would be a mistake to minimize it: your JOB. Your source of income. Your vocation. This is the part of the crisis I most write these words to convey because I think they are most in play for many right now, whether in media, ministry or politics. Let me try to put this in the words that were constantly resonant in my spirit in those years. And to this day. Though you have no other place to go, Beth, and no place to fit and it not only MAY have financial repercussions but WILL have financial repercussions to the ministry and to your family and will also make them targets and none of it will ever look the same or be the same, will you choose what you believe to be right and put everything else in your vocational life at risk? This is what is at risk for many people whose professional reputations and positions are tied up with leaders, institutions and political parties. Mine was, too. The cost is enormous and the options are often untenable. And so there we are. Having to cast ourselves on the mercy of God. Not for a third way. But as THE ONLY WAY. The only truth. The only life. I’ve made multiple errors in judgment. Jumped too quickly to condemn. Spoken wrongly. Remained silent wrongly and confusingly. I never get it completely together. But what I will tell you is that I believe we are meant first and foremost to call out our own house, our own side, and our own identity group for its mind-boggling hypocrisy. These were my people. Evangelicals. Conservatives. Claim what you will but I know who I am: I am pro life from conception to casket. I am pro small government. I am pro godliness and the pursuit of a holy life. I am pro marriage and family and pro-those God calls to remain single and sanctified and I’m deeply thankful for them. I am pro traditional sexual ethics. I am pro love of God and love of neighbor and the dignity of every person as an image bearer of Christ. I am pro love all. I am pro church. I believe in the community of the saints. I am pro Bible study to the death and believe the aim of all discipleship is to know and love and follow and emulate Jesus Christ. I am pro gospel. Dear God in heaven, I am pro gospel. I believe there is one name by whom we must be saved. Jesus. What I am not is pro Trump. Wasn’t pro Clinton. Wasn’t pro Biden. But those were not the candidates many in the world that I loved so much were cheering on. I accept that Donald Trump is my president. I pray for him on a regular basis. I’m a law abiding citizen and pay my taxes. But I believe Trump fosters something in people that makes them lose their way.

@dmichaelclary You believe it's more probable that a staffer posted this by accident at 11:44 pm than that a racist president (who called Somali immigrants "low IQ" two weeks ago) posted a racist video? And you think we are gullible?

Christians, last week I posted an article exhorting us all to stop being gullible. Today is a good day to revisit that subject. The President posted a serious video about election integrity, which was a screen recording. The video was one minute long. At the very end, the video of the Obamas looking like monkeys popped up for one second before the screen recording was stopped, and that ending was not edited out. Find the original post and watch the whole thing. It was OBVIOUSLY an editing error. Whoever recorded it did a sloppy job editing and they've created a lot of unnecessary drama. But to take this as smoking gun evidence of Trump's unhinged racism is absurd. Yes, the White House needs to have tighter controls on this sort of thing to avoid embarrassing debacles like this. That said, it's also embarrassing how many people were quick to go online and issue their denouncements of Trump's "racist" and "deranged" post. So I'll say it again. Christians, stop being gullible.

@MikeCosper Also, calling Somali immigrants "low IQ"

Let’s be very clear: Donald Trump, who took out a full page ad calling for the summary executions of the Central Park 5, who was the chief profligate of the Obama Birth Certificate conspiracy theory, who made sh**hole countries comments in his first term in the oval… I’m supposed to believe there’s no way he intentionally reposted a racist meme presenting his black predecessor and his wife as apes? Okay folks.

We all saw what we saw and it was rotten racism to its core. But I guess "intern" is what our president has decided to call the racism in his heart. You can be a person of moral courage and root out your sins. Or you can give them nicknames. We all get to choose.

They are trying to sleep with the church. Always trying to seduce God’s bride to cheat on Him. God is a jealous God. He will not stand for this.

There is no such thing as toxic empathy. It's any oxymoron, like dry rain or warm snow. Just like you can't have too much love. If its too much, its become something else. You can't have too much empathy. If it's toxic, it's something else, most often codependency or enmeshment.