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Michael Foster

@thisisfoster

May 17, 2023

1/ “Are you patriarchal, complementarian, or egalitarian?”

Well, it depends what is meant by these terms.

If by patriarchal you mean God uniquely designed men to be the leaders in society, then I’m patriarchal.

2/ If by complementarian you mean men and women complement each other through different roles God assigns to them per their sexual nature, then I’m a complementarian.

3/ If by egalitarian you merely mean both men and women were equally made in the image of God, then (believe it or not) I’m an egalitarian.

Read 5 tweets

Michael Foster

@thisisfoster

Apr 4, 2023

1/ A thread for parents in the trenches.

I got this text:

"Do you have a recommendation for helping a preteen w/ porn addiction? Sad question, I know."

Here was my reply...

2/ Tell them that you love them, aren’t ashamed of them, and that this is temptation that you have had to overcome.

Tell them they can do the same. Then pray with them.

3/ Warn them.

Tell them that porn is bad for them spiritually, physically, and relationally.

And then explain how.
Be detailed without being crass.

Read 7 tweets

Michael Foster

@thisisfoster

Feb 19, 2023

1/ Do you pray enough?

I think I hate that question.

Why? Because it is so unhelpful.

How much prayer is enough?
How do I measure that?
What’s metric?
Is it quantitative or qualitative?
How can I know?

2/ Is it just about minutes or hour spent in prayer?

Is it about the majesty of your prayer language?

Is it about the number of people or countries or situations you pray for?

Is it about powerfully feeling the presence of God in prayer?

What’s the metric for praying enough?

3/ I also don’t like it because it tends to merely generate guilt.

Now guilt has its place in the economy of God.

But even then guilt is a momentary motivator. It’s like a spark that starts a fire but it, in of itself, can’t keep it going.

Read 8 tweets

Michael Foster

@thisisfoster

Feb 19, 2023

1/ Everyone keeps asking about the vival that's happening at East River Church.

It's true that for the last 2+ years people have been gathering every week to…

2/ …praise God, confess their sins, be assured of their forgiveness, sit under the preaching of the Word, enjoy the Lord's Supper as a family, and be sent out back into their daily responsibilities with the blessing of God.

And here's the kicker…

3/ …they aren't just gathering. It's an important part of it but it's also a springboard to help them to aspire to live quietly & to mind their own affairs & to work with their hands, as Paul instructed us, so that they may walk properly before outsiders & be dependent on noone.

Read 4 tweets

Michael Foster

@thisisfoster

Feb 15, 2023

1/ This is about localism.

There is a sort of formalism I see among many reformed folks.

I think of it as labelism.

That’s not a real word but it captures the “check the box from a distance” attitude.

I have a particular growing subsection of reformed folks in mind...

2/ They tend to fall into one of two categories:

Category 1 - They spend a lot of time on social media consuming reformed content or debating issues popular in all the various reformed niches.

Or...

3/ Category 2 - They came to their reformed convictions mostly from online content and largely independent from their local congregation

Basically, their labelism is a series of words or phrases that work as a litmus test for the quality of a church.

For example...

Read 11 tweets

Michael Foster

@thisisfoster

Feb 9, 2023

1/ A mega-thread on how to escape conflict deadlock in your marriage?

Here's how Emily and I like to approach it...

We like to take a “solution focused” approach as opposed to a “problem focused” approach to couple’s counseling.

It also can be applied without a counselor.

2/ “Problem focused” is where I say, “What seems to be the problem?”

And you then respond by walking me through your individual interpretation of the intentions of your spouse behind particular actions or inactions in the past.

This is problematic because...

3/ ... it can turn this time together into something like a courtroom. This causes two problems:

First, this will frame the conversation around a cycle of attack-blame-defend. A person can only actively listen for about 10 secs in a contentious conversation. After that...

Read 26 tweets

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