This article is part of my blog series inspired by Jesus the Forgiving Victim: Listening for the Unheard Voice by James Alison.* Lots of Christians get tied up in knots about forgiveness. When we’ve been hurt or abused, we understand that it’s our Christian duty to forgive the ones who have wronged us. But what about perpetrators who show no remorse? The nation was stunned by the forgiveness the families of the victims of the massacre at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in... Read more
My blood boiled with rage as I read the New York Times article “ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape.” ISIS has been promoting the systematic rape of women and girls, some girls even younger than 12. The article starts with a horrific description, He bound her hands and gagged her. Then he knelt beside the bed and prostrated himself in prayer before getting on top of her. When it was over, he knelt to pray again, bookending the rape with... Read more
We now have an agreement with Iran to restrain their pursuit of nuclear weapons, but just how good a deal is it? President Obama, congress, presidential contenders, and political commentators are debating that right now. Sojourners offers clear-eyed support for the deal as “better than the alternatives” and clearly better than military strikes which “would be, at best, premature, as well as highly unpredictable and morally irresponsible in creating yet another U.S. war with a Muslim country.” Even so, Sojourner’s President Jim Wallis... Read more
It has been a year since the death of Michael Brown, and seventy years since the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am in mourning. I am in rage. I am struggling to plow through with hope and faith in the God of Love who can redeem all of this suffering and senseless murder. I am struggling to live into that hope by learning and shouting the truth and acting upon it. Michael Brown and the people of... Read more
I recently dropped my daughter off at her elementary school’s summer kindergarten program. When I opened the side door of our mini-van, the Girl* had a huge smile on her face as she held up a Darth Sidious Pez Dispenser. I was a little shocked by the juxtaposition of my daughter and Darth Sidious – who is arguably the greatest fictional depiction of pure evil during the last 35 years. I was shocked partly because I have no idea where... Read more
This article is part of my blog series inspired by Jesus the Forgiving Victim: Listening for the Unheard Voice by James Alison.* Do you recite the psalms during your Sunday worship? How about the Our Father? What about at home, in your private prayers –do written prayers play a role? Reciting written prayers by rote leaves many people empty. It seems inauthentic to rely on someone else’s words. We want to be ourselves before God and so we feel that... Read more
Franklin Graham recently made a stir with his 2.1 million fans on Facebook when he posted about the murder of four US marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He wrote, Four innocent Marines (United States Marine Corps) killed and three others wounded in #Chattanooga yesterday including a policeman and another Marine–all by a radical Muslim whose family was allowed to immigrate to this country from Kuwait. We are under attack by Muslims at home and abroad. We should stop all immigration of Muslims to... Read more
Pastors have a frequent question when they begin to discover mimetic theory. “That’s great. But how does it preach?” Reverends Tom and Laura Truby shows that mimetic theory is a powerful tool that enables pastors to preach the Gospel in a way that is meaningful and refreshing to the modern world. Each Wednesday, Teaching Nonviolent Atonement will highlight Tom and Laura’s sermons as an example of preaching the Gospel through mimetic theory. In this sermon they explore the abundance of God.... Read more
President Obama just laid to rest all the speculation that he isn’t a Christian. During his speech in Kenya, he said one of the most Christian things any U.S. president has ever said. No, he didn’t shove Jesus down anyone’s throat. He did something much more important. He definitively pointed to what makes the United States a “Judeo-Christian Nation.” “What makes America exceptional is not the fact that we are perfect. It’s the fact that we struggle to improve. We’re... Read more
This article is part of my blog series inspired by Jesus the Forgiving Victim: Listening for the Unheard Voice by James Alison.* On 2004 my denomination, the United Church of Christ, chose as a slogan the phrase, “God is Still Speaking,”. They cleverly ended the phrase with a comma, the perfect punctuation to represent the ongoing nature of God’s communication. Unfortunately, if God is indeed still speaking we are having a hard time discerning that voice among the din of... Read more
Teaching Nonviolent Atonement
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