CHICAGO, IL (January 8, 2016) — Many Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos with one another that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

The Biggest Loser Returns Despite Critics’ Warnings

We know intellectually that reality shows often have very little to do with reality, but still we want to believe. I had found this show inspiring, but I won’t be watching again. At least one expert said it was a miracle that nobody has died yet.

From story: “(Third season winner Kai) Hibbard also said contestants engaged in dehydration tactics prior to weigh-ins to make it appear as though they had lost more pounds. ‘We would put on a ton of clothes, shut all the doors and windows and work out for two to three hours to sweat out as much weight as we could.’ ”

How Nitpicking Liturgy Turns the Church Against Itself

It is one thing to discuss doctrinal and worship differences, but to ridicule them is another. Why do we feel the need?

From the article: “We are one Body of Christ, yet the Church consistently undermines its own parts to the detriment of the whole. By badmouthing unfamiliar devotional practices, we cast unnecessary doubt on the prior religious experiences men and women have had.”

The Wheaton College Controversy and Christian Higher Education

Roger Olson is no liberal theologian, but he takes issue with Wheaton’s firing of a professor because she said Muslims worship the same god as Christians. She also was clear that the two religions weren’t equally correct. The analogy would be Christians saying they worship the same God as Jews even though Jews don’t believe in the Trinity. Also at issue is the idea of academic freedom. The Covenant once suffered a heresy trial, but fortunately the professor kept his job, and I learned much about the Old Testament from Fred Holmgren, whose love for Jesus was obvious when you spoke with him.

From the story: “As editor of Christian Scholar’s Review in the 1990s I heard many horror stories from faculty members of evangelical Christian colleges and universities—about how powerful pastors and lay people were putting pressure on their institutions to censor faculty. There was then and continues to be a ‘chill’ over academic freedom in many such institutions even about matters not clearly stated in their official documents.”

30 Years of Christian Hip-Hop

Companion columnist Jelani Greenidge authored a piece for Urban Faith that is more than a trip down memory lane. He links to 30 of his favorite songs and discusses why they are important.

When Are You Really an Adult?

The Apostle Paul wrote, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11). For Paul, the way people think might be an indication of adulthood. However, society has varied thoughts on what makes an adult, and they don’t all agree. It might even depend on which country you live in.

From the story: “Age alone does not an adult make. But what does? In the United States, people are getting married and having kids later in life, but those are just optional trappings of adulthood, not the thing itself. Psychologists talk of a period of prolonged adolescence, or emerging adulthood, that lasts into the 20s, but when have you emerged? What makes you finally, really an adult?”