Communal Table is back. If you missed last week, catch up.

Here are Nick's picks for the week:

Harry Potter Readers Appear More Likely To Dislike Donald Trump

This study is pretty fascinating. I've been a Potter fan from the start. My dad was always trying to get me to read books, and Rowling's wizarding world was my King's Cross station to reading. If my dad only knew it would make me dislike Donald Trump down the road, I'm sure he wouldn't have placed The Sorcerer's Stone under the Christmas tree so many years ago. 

The Individual Sufferer and Preaching Like a Bad Kid

This one is great if not only for all of the Capon quotes :), such as:

In most sermons, he says, “we’ve hidden the gospel of grace under a bushel of moral judgments. We’ve eclipsed forgiveness as the Good News and made guilt the touchstone of our relationships — with God and everybody else…The free gift of grace, without a single pious response, is all that counts.”

Stephen Hawking Angers Trump Supporters With Baffling Array of Long Words

This is really funny. Really, really funny. 

Ten Basic Facts About the NT Canon That Every Christian Should Memorize

Michael J. Kruger has done an exceptional job of concisely summarizing ten facts about the origins of the New Testament (NT). This is immensely helpful to Christians, young and old. It is also helpful to those who are curious about why Christians trust the authority of the NT canon.  

Try Breaking All of Your Bad Habits At Once

I recently just finished the book, The Power of Habit. I honestly didn't like it much; I was hoping it would have more to it than a bunch of case studies. It was interesting for the first fifteen minutes and then I got bored. In the book the author advocates for focusing on one habit intently, and more habits will usually follow. However, this recent study is interesting and seems to contradict that advice. Apparently we can take on changing multiple habits at once. 

Why America Is Moving Left

A long, but worthwhile read. There are some fantastic insights scattered throughout, especially with Black Lives Matter and Millennials. Here's one:

Millennials are not liberal primarily because they are young. They are liberal because their formative political experiences were the Iraq War and the Great Recession, and because they make up the most secular, most racially diverse, least nationalistic generation in American history. And none of that is likely to change.

Are We Distracting Ourselves To Death?

Technology is numbing our attentiveness to real-life threats and dangers. What do Pokemon, porn, and politics have in common? Read this by Karen Swallow Prior via Her.meneutics over at Christianity Today.

Unsteady By X Ambassadors (Video)

This music video is intense. It shows the detrimental effects of alcoholism in a relationship. Early on there were signs of alcohol abuse and at first, it was "cool." When the mom has a child to look after, however, that mood changes. Powerful.