Why my wife is not the most amazing in the world
Despite his wife being accomplished, godly and lovely, Mike Paget wants to resist the impulse to call her the most amazing wife in the world. This is a helpful musing on the power and danger of language, in particular, the word “most”. “My problem is not with the word ‘amazing’. I trust that the world is filled with amazing wives, and amazing husbands, too. Rather, I object to the qualifier, ‘most’. ‘Most’ brings into play the language of comparison. ‘Most’ is a superlative. It implies that the value of what is being qualified is only found in comparison to other, lesser objects.” Read the full post here.

Pinterest for Christians: Godinterest
Christians tend to be keen social media users, so the Christian version of the social networking website Pinterest was only a matter of time. Godinterest allows members to upload and share Christian content from around the internet with other users and create photo boards. The curating website was founded by Dean Jones, a 35-year-old project manager from London, to allow people to post without the risk of running into bad language and offensive images. Trending content on Godinterest this week include inspirational images accompanying Bible verses, particularly Proverbs 22:6: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it’. But if you scroll enough, you’ll find a recipe for Pimms. Hmmm …

Intolerance against European believers on the rise: report
There were 241 documented cases of intolerance against Christians in Europe last year, according to a new report . The Vienna-based report claims hate-related incidents are on the rise,with 133 cases of vandalism against Christian sites and churches in 11 countries in 2013. The agency says intolerance against Christians in law and politics includes limitations of conscientious objection, the curbing of free speech by hate speech legislation, discriminatory equality policies and the limitation of parental rights in the area of sex education. Read the full report here.

Getting people to change their minds
Why is it so hard to convince people with facts? Whether it’s health, politics, science or religion, it can be hard to change people’s deeply held beliefs. A study has been done into why people resist changing their opinions in the face of facts, and found that people are more likely to have accurate beliefs when they are feeling secure and affirmed in themselves. Crucially, ideology must be set-aside for people’s opinions to change, so that the information becomes “decoupled from notions of self-perception.” For example, the risks of smoking have become widely accepted, but, “if smoking were just for Republicans or Democrats, change would have been far more unlikely.” Read the full article here.

Mothers are the most influential people in our lives
McCrindle research has found that 52 per cent of Australians consider their mother to be the single biggest influence on shaping where they come from and who they are today, while 4 in 5 (79 per cent) put Mum in their personal Top 3 Most Influential Persons list. The next influential is Dad, followed by a spouse. They found the trend is the same for younger people as well. Read more here.

Cranky Christians against asylum seeker policy 
An hilarious article by Father Chris Bedding explaining the actions of two groups of Christians who staged prayer sit ins this week in the offices of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten: “Cranky Christians aren’t going to burn your office down. We’re going to come and sit in it and pray. And awkwardly sing. And we’ll be super polite and thank the staff as the police take us away. Then we’ll show up to court in mismatched suits and make friends with the bailiffs. If you fine us, we’ll pay on time. And we’ll pray like crazy, and so will a thousand women named Doreen.” Read the full article here.