PhD in English, 2025-26 Karlson Scholar at Bethel Seminary, Columnist @RNS, Contributing Writer @TheDispatch, The Priory substack.com/@karenswallowpr…
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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
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#jeffreyepstein was first reported to the FBI by a victim in 1996.
1996.
Let that sink in.
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When I was attacked by a dog while running two days ago, two sweet, older women who were driving by saw me staggering in the road and turned around to come back and help. They stayed with me until the police and ambulance arrived. They helped me sit down and gave me water to drink. And then, today, just now, they found my house, drove over to check on me and to deliver these. The world is full of good people. 💐
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Our work now is just starting: we must help and support moms, dads, and babies. Love them all—and in so doing making abortion unimaginable.
#RoeVsWade
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Christian:
if you speak of women’s roles more than women’s dignity and worth,
if you speak of masculine traits more than Christlike character,
if you fret more about an abuser’s reputation than a victim’s safety,
then for the love of God,
please,
lay your idols down.
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While I did not ever vote for Trump, I did vote for local and state @GOP candidates. (I am a lifelong conservative, after all.)
I am now embarrassed and ashamed that I did so.
What a bunch of money-grubbing, power-hungry, partisan cowards who care nothing about conservatism.
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Hey @FedEx, the other day one of your drivers was at a business and as he was exiting, he held the door for my elderly parents who were coming in.
My mom was going pretty slowly across the parking lot, and my dad—thinking the driver must have a tight schedule to keep—told him he needn’t wait for my mom as it might take her awhile.
But the driver did wait, and he continued to hold the door for them.
I wish I could convey to you how choked up my dad got when he told me this story—and how much I feel it just typing this out. A little kindness goes so far.
So, I just wanted to say thanks.
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I will never, ever get over all the nice Baptist men who wear suits and ties, quote the Bible, expound on fine theological points, go to seminary (or, God forbid, teach there) —and rationalize voting for this guy.
Never.
There is a massive TikTok trend going viral right now with women reacting to audio of Trump's disgusting remarks about women. They are making the case to the men in their life to vote with their interests in mind. These videos are racking up tens of millions of views.
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Think of masks like pants: even if you prefer not to wear them in public, do it for others.
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I argued with my mother this morning about something stupid. She was wrong, and I just had to tell her so.
In the process, I made her cry.
I said I’m sorry, but I know she is still very hurt.
Being right is sometimes the least important thing in the world, you know?
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They said they believed in the sanctity of human life. I believed them.
They said they believed that character matters. I believed them.
They said they believed in biblical principles. I believed them.
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The devil wants us to think we have to choose between the worth of unborn human life and the worth of women.
Don’t believe him.
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I remember decades ago when I first became pro-life being confused by Christians who were pro-choice. I still am.
And now I am also confused by Christians who do not stand up for racial justice—or worse, promote fear of it.
Justice for ALL—unborn and born, of every race.
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You can definitely survive getting hit by a bus. (Believe me, I know.)
But you should definitely be afraid of it and take every possible precaution to avoid it. (Believe me, I know.)
...
(Let the reader understand.)
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This is me! Surgery for pelvic fracture went well this morning. My many cracked ribs are still interfering with my breathing, but that is getting better too. Please pray that the recovery that will be needed before I can walk again will be quick. I’m feeling better overall. 🙏💕
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We Christians are going to have so many new kinds of opportunities to model Christ to the world in coming days.
I don’t know what form this should take in each situation, but God has called us to this task in this time.
Brothers and sisters, let’s do this.
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List of vaccinations I’ve had over the course of my lifetime:
—Smallpox
—Diphtheria
—Tetanus
—Pertussis
—Polio
—Measles
—Mumps
—Rubella
—Flu
—Covid-19
Thank God for modern medicine.
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We don’t need to sacrifice orthodox Christian doctrine to pursue racial equality among people and within institutions and structures.
Racial equality is orthodox Christian doctrine.
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Watching the new footage from the #CapitolInsurrection, my heart is sick. I’m incapable of understanding how any member of @GOP can place party above democracy, order, and human life. Having voted Republican most of my life, I’m also incapable of imagining ever doing so again.
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Christian, the next time you go on a short-term missions trip to help the poor and needy (or write out a check for someone else to go) look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself honestly if you are willing to help only if “those” people stay in their land and stay out of yours.
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Everyone: How do you feel?
Me: Like I’ve been hit by a bus.
.....
[Been holding back on that one for a few days]
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I believe children are a blessing from the Lord.
I believe God withholds some blessings while giving other blessings.
I don’t want anything that doesn’t come from his hand.
This tweet is for you, unmarried or childless. His ways are not ours.
He’s got you. Remain in him.
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My niece isn’t a Christian. She’s been watching this controversy around me, which has been, um, difficult to explain to her (to say the least).
She just sent me her form of encouragement: Taylor Swift’s video “Shake it Off.” 😂💜
I pray she sees the real Jesus in this somehow.
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A Christian who claims that “empowering women makes men weak” contradicts the example of Paul who, in Colossians 1, says his prayer is that his brothers AND SISTERS in Christ would grow in the knowledge of God and be strengthened with all POWER according to God’s glorious might.
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If you would not speak to or at a person face-to-face the way you are here on Twitter, then please don’t do it here.
A digital platform is no reason to abandon basic human decency, respect, and integrity.
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For years, I’ve taught church history in the context of literature. I’ve often wondered how Christians in different periods of history could not see how the faith was being exploited as a means to power and domination. How could they be so naive and blind, I wondered?
Now I see.
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I don’t know, guys. It seems so simple to me.
We must fight with all we can all that harms God’s creation: racism, sexism, abortion, human trafficking, animal cruelty, oppression, injustice, misogyny, abuse, litter.
And we must conserve all the goodness and beauty he created.
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Caring for aging parents is harder in ways I never could have imagined.
It is a school for virtue and grace.
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We had a second trial today in the case of my attack by a dog last year. The biggest point of contention in the case—I KID YOU NOT—was whether or not I WAS WEARING SOMETHING THAT MADE THE DOG ATTACK ME.
Reader, I was not.
Thankfully, the judge agreed.
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I don’t care what you think is at stake or how messed up you think she is—but if you are a grown man (let alone one who claims to be Christian, let alone one who is a church leader)—you have no business speaking any word except love and concern to a young woman who’s been abused.
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The man who sent me the recent nasty email has apologized.
Truly and sincerely.
.
.
.
Don’t give up on people. 🤍
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I still believe in the sanctity of human life, in character, and in biblical principles.
Even if I don’t always believe them.
2/2
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I got my husband a book of dad jokes for Christmas. He’s talking to someone on the phone right now, has the book open, and is casually dropping the jokes into the conversation.
My stomach hurts from laughing.
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Our beloved @freedomsbride has asked us to pray for her right now.
She has been hospitalized with Covid and is experiencing very severe effects. She is scared.
Please pray for her. Pray for the doctors and nurses helping her.
Thank you.
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At the ER with my mom. We took her in with stroke-like symptoms a few hours ago. She’s getting a CT scan now.
Prayers for her (and my dad) appreciated. Thank you.
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I don’t know who needs to hear this, but:
Do not grow weary in doing good.
(And don’t let the others get you down.)
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I am not a “fundamentalist” pretending to be a “moderate.” I am not a “progressive” pretending to be “conservative.” I am not pretending to be a “feminist” or a “liberal” or pretending to be anything.
Maybe our 20th C. American categories don’t work & we can get over it.
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I was moved to the burn unit at Vanderbilt because of a room shortage in the trauma center. (With the holiday weekend, the trauma center is extra busy).
There’s a baby here in the burn unit. Roy has seen her, and we can hear her cries now.
Please pray for this precious child.
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Three years ago today, God preserved my life.
Pretty much what he does every day, tbh. Still—I’m extra thankful today.
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A dear friend who is part of a long-standing group of us who’ve gone to movies together for years and years is in a rehab facility and will be there a while.
So tonight one member of our group brought her smart television to the facility. The rest of us brought chairs and real popcorn from the theater, and we gathered around our bedridden friend and watched a movie together. With hot buttered popcorn.
We had so much fun.
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Tonight I told my husband something I experienced during my accident four years ago.
“You never told me that before,” he said.
“I’ve never told anyone,” I said. “I’m
just now realizing it myself.”
It can take a long time to understand our stories well enough to tell them.
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Married for more than three decades (and being one prone to fret and worry overmuch), I think some of the most important words a husband can say to a wife, words that contribute to the flourishing of both the marriage and each person, are:
“We’ll figure it out.”
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Twitter is like a supermarket of ideas and people.
When I go to the supermarket, I often look only for what I want. Sometimes I put new items in my cart. Sometimes I pick things up, read the label, and put them back.
Some of you spend an awful lot of time yelling at the cans.
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This is Karen’s friend with an update. Karen was struck by a bus while walking. She has multiple fractures and a collapsed lung. She will have surgery in the morning and appreciates all the notes and prayers. She has friends and family with her. Please be praying.
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I remember when George H. W. Bush was roundly mocked in calling for “a kindler, gentler nation.”
We really do get the type of government we deserve.
Rest in peace, sir.
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I know this is a confusing topic for many Christians today. Many, unfortunately, have been misled on this issue. But the truth is—are you ready for it?—here it is:
It’s ok to love your enemies.
(In fact, I think I heard it commanded somewhere...)
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The Lord Jesus is faithful, merciful, and kind. This morning he arrived to take his precious daughter Shirley Swallow home. We grieve and we give thanks.
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Twitter really isn’t the same without @rachelheldevans.
I miss her.
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Three of my pastors that I’ve had over the last almost 40 years (!!!) have reached out over the past couple of weeks to check in with me and offer encouragement and support.
Some pastors never stop being your pastor, and I love that.
This is the church being the church.
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People are dismissed, mocked, maligned, ignored, and doubted. When they stumble, they are kicked rather than helped up.
Then when they finally walk away from communities they yearned for and invested in, it is said, “See, told you so. They never were one of us.”
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Tomorrow I will make a presentation to the Evangelical Press Association titled, “The Great Divorce: Detangling Christian Publishing from Celebrity Culture.”
I pray my words both challenge and encourage.
Pray for me, if you will.
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In what universe is a pro-life Southern Baptist Evangelical orthodox Christian who believes in marriage between one woman and one man and speaks for these things publicly a “far-left activist”? Looks like someone’s bubble is so small he doesn’t know any actual leftists. 😂
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Twitter is designed to polarize.
Disrupt the system.
Don’t be Pavlov’s dog to every bad take.
Retweet truth, goodness, and beauty.
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In 1918, two years before women were given the right to vote in this country, the Southern Baptist Convention approved women as voting messengers at the #SBC annual meeting.
Give me that old time religion: when Baptists were pioneers in a biblical vision for human flourishing.
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If we don’t want reality television stars leading our nation, we should stop watching reality television.
What entertains us is what we become.
Elections are won not at the ballot box, but in our moral imagination.
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I have no problem with the wrath of God.
What good is a God who has no wrath over vile and wicked things?
God is good.
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We would not have 90% of the controversies we have in the church today (including the one on Twitter right now) if we focused less on particular people (like me) and focused more on Christ and his Word.
When you have time after doing that, read more great books and fewer blogs.
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Someone dropped a little pig off in my friend’s pasture. She just walked out there the other day and there he was. No way he could get in on his own. He loves the cows and they love him. People are the worst sometimes. But animals are the best.
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An update:
While I adore my students and colleagues at SEBTS, it has become clearer through heartfelt discussions with leadership and much self-reflection over the past few years that the institution and I do not share the same vision for carrying out the Great Commission.
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“Accusations from a narcissist are confessions.”
And just like that—so much makes sense.
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My parents love their church immensely. For health reasons, however, they’ve had to join the service online for some time now.
Yesterday, I was taking them lunch and unintentionally arrived before the service had ended. It was communion Sunday.
When I saw the two tiny cups of juice and two tiny crackers my father had set on the kitchen table, I felt like I had entered some of the holiest, most sacred ground I’d ever been honored to enter.
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Guys, I can’t even RT something without it ending up in an article that results in all kinds of false accusations and drama piling on here. It’s exhausting.
I need to spend some time with more thoughtful, edifying, and permanent words. Taking a short Twitter break. 💙
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I marched with Charlie Kirk for life, probably one of the few things we agreed on. But being pro-life means being pro-life for *everyone* because all human lives are inherently valuable.
Pray for Charlie. Pray for his life. Pray to end the violence.
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Today marks four weeks since I was hit by a bus while walking in downtown Nashville.
Though it will be another two months before I can walk unassisted, I am almost completely off all pain and other medications.
I have never felt the presence of God or God’s people more. 💕
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This is more than biblical illiteracy. This is regular illiteracy.
This is not to mock or make fun. This is to show where we are right now. This is the problem.
This is going in my book.
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A bit of an encouragement (or challenge) to all the parents schooling their children at home (whether temporarily or ongoing):
If you can ensure your children know how to write complete sentences, avoiding fragments and run-ons, they will stand out in college.
I do not kid.
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Number of US abortions every 24 hours in 2017:
2,362
Number of US Covid-related deaths in the past 24 hours:
2,380
We value life far too little.
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All of a sudden “conservatives” are all about getting those “government schools” open.
You can’t make this stuff up.
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Imagine reducing the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ—who is the source and sustainer of the very universe and of every breath each one of us takes—to a debate about where one stands on Cracker Barrel.
My soul weeps.
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And this is how democracy dies:
A resolution designating the Washington Post and CNN as “fake news” and “part of the media wing of the Democratic Party” is moving through the Tennessee state House of Representatives. knoxnews.com/story/opinion/2…
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Overthinkers unite!
Or at least consider uniting. Or maybe just convene for a bit. Discuss amongst ourselves. Or perhaps wait until next year. Or not at all. I’m not sure now. Let me think about it some more.
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This evening I hiked with my walker into our backyard, which I hadn’t seen since May 22.
I also threw the frisbee to Ruby and Eva a few times.
Life is good. Really, really good.
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I have a little cervix;
I keep it close at hand.
It does a lot of funny tricks,
Like make me not a man.
Individuals with a cervix are now recommended to start cervical cancers screening at 25 and continue through age 65, with HPV testing every five years as the preferred method of testing, according to a new guideline released by the American Cancer Society cnn.it/2XdboNl
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I don’t know what the Lord has next for me, but I'm excited to see how he directs my steps.
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Thank you everyone for all your prayers, wishes, and concerns about my mom. Despite all our efforts, her cancer has returned and metastasized. We are bringing her home from the hospital for hospice care. We don’t know how long she will be with us, but we will treasure every day we have with her.
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The best way to prevent our heroes from crashing down from their pedestals is to not put them up there in the first place.
Celebrate good works with clear, sober eyes that don’t make idols out of the ones who did them.
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I’ve been around the evangelical industrial complex long enough to learn that there are no secrets.
Just silence.
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“Barrett’s nomination raises a question: Why is a highly educated, professionally successful, Catholic mother of a large family so threatening? I think part of the reason is that according to the prevailing cultural narrative we are not supposed to exist.” usatoday.com/story/opinion/v…
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