With all the recent bills passing state legislatures (by white men primarily) restricting or limiting access to abortion, I’m struck once again with how we label our views—what we are supposedly for or against. There are many aspects to all this we could discuss, but quick disclaimer, I do so hesitantly, because, as a man, I’m beginning to think we (men) should just shut up when it comes to this issue. Our physical inability to know what it’s like to... Read more
I want to take a quick moment, to extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to Dan Evans and their children. I believe Rachel Held Evans will be seen, in the future, as a pivotal person God used to bring people out of fundamentalism-evangelicalism, into something much more love and mercy driven. But also, justice driven. She has joined that great cloud of witnesses, but she will be greatly missed. As Christians, we don’t believe politicians, the state, kings, or empires... Read more
Growing up in the fundamentalist-evangelical world, along with the fear of a girl’s rejection, test taking, and the general anxiety and guilt of enjoying “worldly” music, movies, and television, I also worried about being, “left-behind.” In the late 70’s, sermons, songs, Bible studies, and best-selling books were rife with the eschatological belief in a “rapture” of “true” Christians, while the unfortunate rest, the doomed, are, “left-behind.” There have been many books and scholarly works over the years debunking the eschatology... Read more
There is a scene in the Wizard of Oz, at the beginning, when Dorothy has been transported to Oz and after her house has landed on the Wicked Witch of the East. As we know, her sister shows up. She puts on a big show and tries to intimidate Dorothy. But Glinda, the good witch of the North, with laughter summarily dismisses and rebukes her: “You have no power here. Now, begone, before someone drops a house on you!” Apparently,... Read more
Something I’ve heard most of my life is a sentiment along the lines of, “Government should be run like a business, with balanced budgets, a savings or reserve, and efficiently/cost effectively.” The idea is that a “bottom-line” mentality should prevail. We look around at, say, Microsoft, or Starbucks, and we say, “See how successful they have been—we should run our governments like that!” I’ve even heard church people say the “business” side of a church’s ministry should be run like... Read more
I came across this recently. Where to begin. When I read things like this, I often wonder how it was possible I spent so much time in that world. Was I really that obtuse? Was I really that impervious to logic and a proper hermeneutics? Yes, yes, I was. And I am still often obtuse and still often unmoved by logic; and yet, even I can see these sorts of arguments for what they are: Nonsense. Let’s work our way... Read more
Even though I was born and raised in the Western United States, I grew up attending Southern Baptist Churches, graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary, and pastored a Southern Baptist Church. Weird, I know. My point: I have some familiarity with that world. Recently we learned of a history of sexual abuse within this tradition. While the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is large, the extent of the abuse was still sobering. The report found that over 200 pastors and leaders,... Read more
We’ve heard of people, or read of people, who have asserted that God chose Trump to be president, but most of these were likely people who believed all sorts of other nonsense. It is something though to hear it from a person, who in all other respects, seems to have normal cognitive functioning. When I read Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s statement, my first thought was, well that explains the constant spinning and lying. After all, if you are doing it for... Read more
Something that has bothered me for some time, even when I was in that world, was the way we were taught to think about, and go about, sharing our faith with others. Our “witness” was more a strategy, a plan, a method, than it was anything about just “being” living, and walking through this life in love and service to others. We’ve all encountered the faux niceness, smile, and eagerness of those who approach us to sell us something. We... Read more
What to do when our departures and reversals from prior positions or statements are this blatantly self-serving—oh the hypocrisy. What are we to make of people who, it turns out, haven’t much of a memory? I believe people will look back at the years of the Trump presidency and see any evangelical defender as either blissfully ignorant, or intentionally complicit in support of the idea power trumps ethics and decency. And that brings me to Wayne Grudem. Grudem, he of... Read more
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