All Things New

Wayne E. Fowler

I invite you to consider some thoughtful topics on faith and culture in a quieter tone. My goal is to inform, educate, challenge, inspire and motivate you! wayne505598.substack.com

  1. 2d ago

    Celebrating Weakness

    A lesser man would not have tried again. My friend’s first sermon could hardly have been more embarrassing. After reading his text, he dove into exposition and emerged with impressive admonitions. He was confident in his message about Jonah and the ark. Afterwards, a kindly old man took his hand, leaned forward, and whispered, “It was Noah, not Jonah.” Another story. I hired a young man to help split wood for the woodshed. I enjoy my wood stove and the aroma of hardwood smoke on a cool fall morning. Anyway, his first swing resulted in a glancing blow. He immediately laid down the maul saying, “I can’t do this.” For my preacher friend, lack of perfection did not waylay his career as pastor. (It did humble him!) The young man, however, suffered from “maladaptive perfectionism.” He tied his self-worth to his ability to perform, which led to an intense fear of failure. We Christians have a unique view on failure. As you grow in faith, you learn to recognize the providence of God more and lean less on your own understanding or ability. You trust God for what is missing and for the outcome. When you feel weak, can you trust God to display His power in your life? It’s a Biblical theme. Noah (not Jonah) needed God to close the door of the ark. Abraham decamped from his home, trusting God to lead him. God led Gideon to victory with only one percent of his army. Peter walked on water only because Jesus was there. Paul could not endure his life-threatening burdens but for God, who raises the dead. You can trust that God “is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12). But in an unexpected twist, God is also glorified in your imperfections. Paul wrote, “I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:9). My preacher friend gives God the glory for his ministry. But he will never forget that cringy sermon when he confused Noah and Jonah. As for the young man, he now knows that to fail is to learn. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

  2. Oct 29

    A Certain Contentment

    Do we have more reasons to be anxious than previous generations? The onset of artificial intelligence gives us pause, given all the warnings. But some see AI not as the cause of anxiety, but their personal solution for it. Is AI the cause of your anxiety? Will artificial intelligence steal my job, money, or privacy? Can our country win the AI race? Will it have guardrails to protect humans from unintended consequences and runaway machines? The deeper issue is what AI reveals about humans. A Google engineer said, “What is going to be created will effectively be a god … If there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else can you call it?” That is a simplistic view of god defined as apparent omniscience. It confirms the age-old seduction of creating or acting like a god. The temptation to take the place of God first happened in the Garden of Eden. Idolatry has always been around. Is AI the solution for your anxiety, loneliness, or fear? If not a god, AI can be your girlfriend! It applies its data to have a conversation with you, making it appear to have consciousness. Waiting in the wings is transhumanism, the merger of machines and people. Can godlike technology really solve human problems like unhappiness and death? The real God already offers reasons for joy and the hope of life beyond death. This is why Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). That peace is attractive and contagious. Professor John Lennox discussed AI on Steven Bartlett’s podcast. The conversation turned to Bartlett’s anxious question, “Isn’t there a bigger picture that can make sense of my world and my life and give it some meaning?” Lennox answered by offering Bartlet reasons to believe in Christ and receive His peace. At the end of the podcast, Bartlett said, “You have a certain contentment that I rarely see in people that I interview. One of the most compelling arguments for God that you’ve presented … is not necessarily anything you’ve said. It is actually – YOU!” Is it you, too? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

  3. Oct 21

    Intelligent Alignment

    Dario Amodei is the CEO of Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company that created the large language model “Claude.” Amodei earned a Princeton PhD, so he is no teenaged whiz kid on a high-tech rush. Amodei published an article about AI security. He wrote, “I agree with Secretary Bessent that a Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the United States and the world.” He also expressed concerns about “alignment” issues, i.e., respecting human values. “We’ve made clear progress training models,” he wrote, “so that they remain safe, ethical, compliant with our guidelines, and genuinely helpful (the principles that are embedded in Claude’s constitution).” Others agree about risks. Former diplomat Susan Rice said, “We face very real and proximate risks that this technology can be misused in cyber attacks by terrorists.” Commentator Mollie Hemingway warned about ideological control. “He who wins algorithmic control,” she said, “controls the world for the decades to come. That’s really important because these people support censorship.” These and more voices compete for ears, declaring what AI ought to be. “Ought” is your clue that morality is in play. Indeed, Claude ought to have guidelines, but whose? Quibbles turn into battles over AI alignment based on a priori assumptions about what is good. Such discussions are yet more evidence that we live in a universe created to be moral. A convergence of what is and what ought to be is on the way. The dysfunction happens when you misalign with the Creator by crafting your own moral framework. “You be you!” sounds so liberating. But those who reject Divine morality for the sake of freedom and reason end up discarding freedom and reason if only to reject the Divine. Yet there is hope! Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19). By faith you can know Him who is good. One day you will see the convergence of what is and what ought to be, regardless of AI. “According to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). That is good news! When that day comes, you will have no more concerns about Claude’s alignment. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

  4. Oct 14

    The Red Bandana

    For months after 9/11, Allison Crowther looked for clues about what happened to her son, Welles. She finally found one. Welles worked in the South Tower. After the plane hit, his volunteer firefighter training kicked in. He led and carried multiple people to safety down the sole remaining stairwell. He returned to save more until the tower collapsed. Months later, Allison found a survivor’s story about a young man with a red bandana, who saved many lives. It was him. Wells always carried that bandana, a gift from his father. Welle’s story is appealing, not just because we need heroes and admire courage. It is because we know how he will be remembered. His red bandana displayed in the 9/11 memorial museum symbolizes a life well-lived, though cut short. Remembering Welles reminds us of our own desire to be known and valued. Call it the longing to leave a legacy or the impulse for immortality. Is my life more than carvings on a tombstone? Will the world be a better place because I was in it? To condense these questions to a word: purpose. There is a path to a deeper joy. But note, a purposeful life is not necessarily meaningful. The difference is simple – does the purpose serve others or oneself? Herein lies one of the secrets of life, revealed by Jesus Christ. After explaining that the foremost commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, He pivoted to this: “The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37ff). Those form your God-given purpose. What Jesus’ hearers did not know was that He created in us a delightful response to an act of altruism. It activates the brain’s reward system, giving you the warm glow of a dopamine hit. It has a calming, stress-reducing effect. But more than momentary pleasure, loving God and loving neighbor is your path to a deeper joy, even in a world of hurt. May God bless the Crowther family with grace and peace. Welles will forever be known as the rescuer in the red bandana. He was 24. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

  5. Oct 7

    Ordinary Miracles

    Wendell Berry is known as an agrarian, a simple Kentucky farmer. He is regarded as a pacifist and environmental activist. He also collected accolades and awards as a writer, who was at times a bit punchy. Berry described himself as “a person who takes the Gospel seriously.” He identified himself as “a Christian, albeit of an eccentric kind.” He held the modern church at arm’s length because his views on the sacredness of the material world were rather intense. His 1993 essay, “Christianity and the Survival of Creation,” takes Christians to task for not preventing, even participating in “the destruction of the natural world.” I will not quibble over his Biblical hermeneutics, even though his conclusion - that Creation’s survival depends on Christianity’s “renewal” – strikes me as a non sequitur. Much more contemplative are his observations about what you see outdoors. There, he says, miracles are the “common mode of existence.” You benefit from the ongoing and ordinary miracles of creation! Berry makes his point with this challenge: “Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air, and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances, will hardly balk at the fuming of water into wine - which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water is fumed into grapes.” In God’s creative care, rainwater becomes grapes. He brings something from nothing and order from chaos, thermodynamic laws notwithstanding. Into non-life He breathes life. He imprints reason and morality into our material brains. These are but a few of the ongoing and ordinary miracles of creation. I agree with Berry that God still reveals Himself through ordinary, outdoor miracles. The Bible says, “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made” (Rom. 1:20). Berry forever left his Kentucky farm, family, and writing as of August 2026. The soul of this “eccentric kind” of Christian who “takes the gospel seriously” is in his Creator’s hands. He was 92. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

  6. Oct 1

    Resist the Distraction

    Meta agreed to an $18 billion payout over 10 years. States initiated the case claiming Facebook and Instagram are addictive and harmful to children. Meta denies wrongdoing, despite evidence that it exploited brain science for financial gain. What is not contested is that the information overload presented to users of smart phones and social media is a consuming distraction. Herbert Simon was one of the first to warn about this. In 1971 he wrote, “In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.” In short, mass information distracts you from more important matters. We now live in the attention economy, where platforms compete for your eyeballs. They use rage, voyeurism, and misinformation toward those ends. The result is individual isolation, political polarization, and cognitive fatigue. It’s as though some mastermind foisted upon us a grand conspiracy of distraction. Maybe so. The devil tried to distract Jesus with bread, power, and invincibility. Jesus refused the temptations by grounding His response in the words of Scripture. Much of Jesus’ teaching could be characterized as urging people to focus on what really matters. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. For example, Martha was a distracted hostess and Jesus commended Mary for listening to Him. A man wanted Jesus to arbitrate a family dispute over money. Jesus invited him to refocus and seek the kingdom of God saying, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34). Jesus told a parable about an invitation-only dinner. The first invitees were distracted by a real estate purchase, newly acquired oxen, or a new wife. The host then invited the poor, crippled, blind, and whoever else might be found, “so that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23). This story urges you to resist anything that distracts you from responding to Jesus’ invitation. Helen Lemmel wrote these familiar lyrics long before smart phones: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus…and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

  7. Sep 24

    Something Is Missing

    You may know Donnie Wahlberg from his acting roles in “Band of Brothers” or “Blue Bloods.” He says he has now become a follower of Jesus. He was baptized at Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch, California. It seems this has been on his mind for a while. “People in this industry are broken,” he said. “I’m realizing in this last year - I’m broken, too.” Most telling was his realization: “I’m missing something in my life.” His wife, Jenny McCarthy, was a few steps ahead of him on this journey toward Christ. One morning he told her, “I have to connect with Jesus. I have to give my life to Him now.” This yearning for completeness looms large in the human experience. Someone wiser than I observed that all human yearnings are ultimately fulfilled in a relationship with Christ Jesus, your Creator and Redeemer. So, we should not be surprised that the Bible anticipates this sense that something is missing and offers the solution. Do you ever feel like something is missing in your life? The Bible says in Christ, “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete” (Col. 2:9-10). To come to Him, admitting your moral failures have left you broken and in need of a Savior, is to be made complete. Note this is quite different than chasing the will-o’-the-wisp of pop religion offering the latest self-help therapy, rather than a Savior who makes you complete – in Him. There is an “already, but not yet” look about this. Through faith God deems you already righteous (complete) and your eternity secure. But living out your humanity, you are yet a work in progress. “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). So, you are complete while God continues to supply what is missing, like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness. “Looking back over the past year of my life,” Wahlberg said, “the Lord has been renewing my mind and redeeming my life! I don’t know where I would be without Jesus.” I do. Still feeling like something is missing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

  8. Sep 17

    Nose Against the Window

    Charles Murray was a casual agnostic, until he wasn’t. He deployed his intellect (educated at Harvard and MIT) to explore a change of direction. Murray discusses this change in his book, “Taking Religion Seriously.” In a self-deprecating way he said, “This is a book by a guy who has no natural talent for (exploring spirituality), but who had come to realize there is something there that I wanted to tap into, having watched my wife tap into it.” His wife Catherine studied at Oxford and Yale. But that did not equip her to understand why, when she became a mother, she loved her baby far more than evolution required. She felt like a conduit from something greater. Her pursuit of answers led her to the Christian faith. “I do believe; help my unbelief!” - a plea to Jesus That was Murray’s first nudge. There were more. The way mathematics fits physical reality, “It’s as if somebody planned it that way,” he said. He wonders why something exists rather than nothing, and points to the fine-tuning of the universe. He found evidence that consciousness exists independently of the brain, which suggests existence of the soul created by God. Not only are the nudges toward belief in God, he feels nudged toward Christianity. He sees that something transformative happened to Jesus’ followers after the crucifixion, explainable only by a resurrection. The book, “Mere Christianity” by Oxford don C.S. Lewis demonstrates to Murray that intellectuals actually can believe the God of the Bible. Murray’s journey is like the honest seeker who told Jesus, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). If you seek God, you will find Him. You will also find He has been seeking you all along. Murray’s story also validates this: husbands “may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives” (1 Pet. 3:1). Murray said, “When I’m around Catherine and others who have (experienced the joys of faith), I sometimes feel like a little boy whose nose is pressed against the window, watching a party he can’t attend. I’m not done trying to join the party.” He is taking this seriously, as his book says. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wayne505598.substack.com

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About

I invite you to consider some thoughtful topics on faith and culture in a quieter tone. My goal is to inform, educate, challenge, inspire and motivate you! wayne505598.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Wayne E. Fowler
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Wayne E. Fowler
  • Show Website
    All Things New