The Daily Briefing highlights the news of the day and research that reveals the spirit of the day.
The Daily Briefing is a newsletter sent straight to your inbox every morning that provides biblical insight on today's news.
Top News
6. Trump announces ceasefire in Lebanon (WaPo)
“President Donald Trump announced a pause in fighting in Lebanon on Thursday. Lebanon and Israel have “agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE,” Trump said in a social media post. The announcement came amid a wider push in the region to end the war in Iran, as U.S. and Iranian negotiators continue to exchange messages, without yet agreeing to a second round of talks.
“Trump’s announcement followed a call he had with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday, in which he expressed “his commitment to fulfilling the Lebanese request for a ceasefire as soon as possible,” according to a statement from Aoun’s office.
“The Trump administration has ramped up pressure on Israel and Lebanon to agree to a truce. Since Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran last week, Israel has insisted that Lebanon and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group backed by Iran, were not covered by the pause in fighting.”
Stop! In The Name Of Peace? One study tracked 196 conflicts from 1975-2011. Researchers found that an estimated 80 percent of ceasefire deals worldwide fail. However, they found the best predictor of a successful ceasefire agreement was… failure?
While only 20 percent hold from the start, the researchers found that failure outlines “a roadmap for future negotiations and establishes a mechanism not only to report violations, but to actually address those violations…. Most of the time, a new agreement tends to address weaknesses in the past ceasefire agreement.”
Shall the sword devour forever? During the civil war between the house of Saul (led by Abner) and the house of David (led by Joab), a fierce battle broke out. After heavy losses on both sides, Abner called out to Joab, asking, "Shall the sword devour forever?" At the pool of Gibeon, Joab blew a trumpet, and all the troops stopped. In this instance, we find a timeless echo in the house of David and Saul: the most courageous act is often the one that silences the battlefield before the cost becomes too great to bear. (2 Sam. 2)
5. Pope Leo's brother's home targeted with false bomb threat (ABC News)
“One of Pope Leo's brothers was the victim of a false bomb threat on Wednesday night, according to the New Lenox, Illinois, police department. Officers received a call at 6:29 p.m. for a reported bomb threat at a private residence, officials said. The incident comes amid an escalating feud between Leo and President Donald Trump over the first American pontiff’s criticism of the war with Iran.
"Upon receiving the report, officers were immediately dispatched to the scene and established a secure perimeter to ensure the safety of nearby residents. Out of an abundance of caution, surrounding homes were notified, and asked to evacuate," according to a statement from the police department. "Specialized units, including the Will County Sheriff's Office bomb sniffing K9 were requested to assist in the investigation."
"When conversations matter most, we're usually at our worst," according to Kerry Patterson. In his great book, Crucial Conversations, he defines a crucial conversation as a dialogue in which the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong. “When it comes to risky, controversial, and emotional conversations, skilled people find a way to get all relevant information (from themselves and others) out into the open.”
There are 3 archetypes that show up frequently in the mental stories we tell ourselves when dealing with conflict: villain, victim, and helpless. The villain exaggerates the ill intent of someone else. Consider VP Vance’s remarks in response to the back and forth between the Pope and the president, suggesting that it’s “very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.” The victim believes they alone have been wronged. Consider Franklin Graham’s response, asserting that the president’s “enemies are always foaming at the mouth at any possible opportunity to make him look bad.” And regarding being helpless, we wrongly assume that we cannot do anything about it, so that we justify irrational reactions, like threatening to blow up someone’s home.
A gentle answer turns away wrath… and hopefully bomb threats. It is alright to disagree with one another; it is unacceptable to threaten each other over disagreements. Nevertheless, our treatment of others is not contingent on how they treat us. Jesus stood silently while others mocked openly. GK Chesterton was right: “Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity.” (Pro. 15:1, Eph. 4:15, 1 Pet. 3:15, Zec. 8:16, Gal. 6:1)
4. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issues unusual apology over 'hurtful' remarks about colleague Brett Kavanaugh (NBC News)
“Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an unusual apology Wednesday for critical remarks she made about the upbringing of one of her conservative colleagues, Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that were inappropriate," Sotomayor said in a statement issued by the court. "I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague.”
“She was referring to an appearance last week in which she had sharp words for an opinion Kavanaugh wrote last year relating to a decision that allowed the Trump administration to conduct broad immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area.
“Without mentioning him by name, Sotomayor on April 7 referenced Kavanaugh’s opinion, which sought to explain why he joined the majority, according to a Bloomberg Law report. “This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.”
Do you, like Chicago, find it Hard To Say I’m Sorry? In his book The 5 Apology Languages, Gary Chapman compares an apology to a bridge that “leads back to the path of restoration." However, there are different types of bridges: expressing regret, accepting responsibility, making restitution, genuinely repenting, and requesting forgiveness.
Expressing regret focuses on empathy, acknowledging that you caused pain. Then there is accepting responsibility, which consists of saying the words "I was wrong" without adding "but..." Making restitution is more than words. It is a concentrated effort to compensate for the loss, whether that’s a lost item or a lost sense of security. For genuinely repenting, this focuses on the future, requiring a plan for change to feel safe in the relationship again. Finally, there is the request for forgiveness, putting the power back in the hands of the offended person. You can’t demand forgiveness; you can only ask for it.
Do you have a cemetery? Henry Ward Beecher believed that every man “should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends.” Instead of punishing your brother or sister, you join them in bearing the burden for the reason they should be punished. Tim Keller put it like this: “Forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering. In forgiving, rather than retaliating, you make a choice to bear the cost.” (Eph. 4:28-32)
Cultural News
3. Ads Are Popping Up on the Fridge and It Isn’t Going Over Well (WSJ)
“Walking into his kitchen, Tim Yoder recoiled at a message on his refrigerator door: “Shop Samsung water filters.” Yoder, a supply-chain manager in Chicago, owns a Samsung Electronics Family Hub fridge. He paid $1,400 for an appliance that came with a 32-inch screen on the door that allows him to control other Samsung gadgets, pull up recipes or stream music. But since last fall, it’s been intermittently serving up ads, part of a pilot program being tested on some of Samsung’s smart fridges sold in the U.S. The response? Not warm. “I guess this is another place for somebody to shove an ad in your face,” said the 47-year-old Yoder, recalling the first time he noticed one.
“Samsung launched the banner-type fridge ads that come as part of the widget via an October software update. In a footnote of a news release at the time, Samsung pledged to “serve contextual or non-personal ads” and respect data privacy. The banner ads can be turned off in settings… Samsung said the purpose of the pilot is to explore whether ads relevant to home chores can be useful to owners, and that overall pushback has been negligible. The “turn-off” rate for the pilot ad program remains in the bottom single-digit range, it said.
“We are not surveillance capitalism’s ‘customers’… we are the sources of its surplus,” according to Shoshana Zuboff. In her fascinating book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Zuboff argues that we the consumers are the “raw materials” for others' economic gain and the object of instrumentarian control. There are 3 movements in this process: behavioral surplus, shifting reality, and instrumentarian power.
In the first movement, Zuboff writes how companies like Google and Facebook discovered behavioral surplus. This is the abundance of data accumulated when consumers use their services. Surveillance capitalism was born when firms realized they could make money using this behavioral data.
Then there is the shift from observing behavior to shaping reality. Surveillance capitalists use the behavioral surplus to create “behavioral futures markets.” They use this data to predict human behavior and sell these predictions. “The surest way to predict behavior is to intervene at its source and shape it.”
Then there is the movement toward “instrumentarian power.” This power is “defined as the instrumentation and instrumentalization of behavior for the purposes of modification, prediction, monetization, and control.” Drawing on the work of BF Skinner, Zuboff argues that there will come a day when they will know more about the consumer than the consumer knows about themselves.
While God knows everything about us, that doesn’t mean the internet needs to know it too… In Proverbs 1:20, we read how wisdom cries aloud in the street, raises her voice in the markets. As stewards and image-bearers of the divine, having nothing to hide is a good thing, but hiding nothing isn’t necessarily a wise thing, especially given the unknowns of who might use our data and how it might be used.
News You Can Use
2. When your dad was yelling at your older brother and you knew your were next
Watch it here. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.” (Josh. 1:9)
1. Three-year-old little leaguer Vince went viral
Watch it here. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn. 13:35)
