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It Makes Plain Sense! Or So I Was Taught…

January 31, 2012 in Faith Journey, Fundamentalism, Interpretation with 20 Comments

* Repost from December 2010

It makes plain sense… or so I was taught. When I was a youth and even in my undergrad program I was taught a phrase to guide solid biblical interpretation: “If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” What this advocates is to take the bible at the surface level of its meaning.

So, if Paul says something that to us sounds literal or “plain” on the surface, then we ought to be able to trust that. Certainly God’s Word is not something that is supposed to trick us. Therefore, whatever makes sense to us as we read various passages can be trusted as the authentic interpretation.

I believe that this approach to the bible is flawed, which is why I often call it the “surface level approach.” It seems quite arrogant to assume that the Holy Scriptures are simplistic to understand and do not require us to do any homework. The problem is that we live with gaps in-between the text and us. For instance, there is a considerable communication gap between the original authors of the Scriptures and our 21st century culture. We all know what it is like to have a communication gap. Think about it. How many husbands get themselves in trouble for saying something that sounds like something totally different than what they actually had in mind.

Wife says: How do I look in this outfit.

Husband says: It looks ok.

Wife says: Ok… (she says with a tone). That’s about as good of an answer as calling me fat! You jerk!

This is a communication gap to the extreme! Now take this stupid analogy and imagine that there is also a language, cultural, and more than 2000 years in our communication gap; that is what we have when we approach the Bible. Continue Reading…

John Hagee with Benny Hinn: Praying For War in the Name of Jesus

January 7, 2012 in (Series) Video to Ponder, Dispensationalism, Eschatology, Fundamentalism, Kingdom of God, Nationalism, Politics with 24 Comments

Thanks to my good friend Conrad Schweizerhof for sharing this video with me. Serious… this is the problem with Christian Zionism, which is fueled by an extreme version of Dispensational Theology. Here are three posts in which I demonstrate this is an un-biblical approach to Israel (outside of my known stance of Nonviolence). — 1) Does God Have Two People’s In His Story? 2) God’s Chosen People and God’s Chosen Politics 3) Even a Jewish Rabbi Thinks That Christian Zionism is Bad For Israel (Glen Beck’s Rally – Restoring Courage)

Also, although I affirm the content of this video (not the prayers but the critique) I’m not willing to say that I support the particular agenda of the organization who produced this video. Just want to be clear that my posting this video is not an endorsement of any organization. Now that we are clear on that, here is the video:

Emerging From Fundamentalism (Andrew Himes)

October 3, 2011 in Fundamentalism, Guest Contributors with 7 Comments

Last Thursday marked the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Sword of the Lord newspaper in Dallas, Texas in 1934. The Sword, founded by my granddad, John R. Rice, became the most influential fundamentalist publication of the twentieth century. In addition to editing the Sword until his death in 1980, John R. Rice preached thousands of sermons, wrote scores of books, and mentored hundreds of younger preachers such as Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham.

Granddad went at his task with single-mindedness, discipline, certainty of results, and a conviction that he was divinely blessed. He brooked no opposition. He seldom entertained or expressed any doubts about his course.

I was the first of his grandsons. I was his first male descendant, and the third eldest of all his grandchildren. Early in my life, I felt a powerful expectation from my grandmother, my parents, and other relatives that I would follow in his footsteps and inherit his mantle of ministry, his passion for preaching and for soul winning. As I became a teenager and started having notions of my own, I inevitably came into conflict with my grandfather’s notions of right and wrong, of morality and mission. Continue Reading…

N.T. Wright on the Death Penalty and American Christianity

September 22, 2011 in Early Church, Fundamentalism, N. T. Wright, Politics with 32 Comments

Source: Trevin Wax

This comes from a short article in the Washington Post “On Faith:”

You can’t reconcile being pro-life on abortion and pro-death on the death penalty. Almost all the early Christian Fathers were opposed to the death penalty, even though it was of course standard practice across the ancient world. As far as they were concerned, their stance went along with the traditional ancient Jewish and Christian belief in life as a gift from God, which is why (for instance) they refused to follow the ubiquitous pagan practice of ‘exposing’ baby girls (i.e. leaving them out for the wolves or for slave-traders to pick up).

Mind you, there is in my view just as illogical a position on the part of those who solidly oppose the death penalty but are very keen on the ‘right’ of a woman (or couple) to kill their conceived but not yet born child… Continue Reading…

Pat Robertson, Divorce, Alzheimer’s, & a Bad Step Away from Fundamentalism?

September 15, 2011 in Culture, Fundamentalism with 21 Comments

Surprise surprise.  Christians once again have Pat Robertson to thank for a ridiculous comment.  Watch this video: Continue Reading…

Seven Things Guys Need To Know About Post-Evangelical Women (Carol Howard Merritt)

September 13, 2011 in Fundamentalism, Women in Ministry with 23 Comments

Right now, in the US, many of us wrestle with the Evangelical movement we grew up in. There are a lot of reasons for that. Our questions are theological, as we struggle with the atonement, the Kingdom of God, or Hell. We ask sociological questions about the role of women, LGBTQs, social media and politics. And philosophical and generational issues arise regularly. We’re in this exciting moment of turmoil right now, and we can realize we make real differences.

For me, the questions (or lack of questions) around gender have been interesting. I find myself wanting to explain what it’s like to grow up as a conservative Evangelical woman and how difficult the transition into leadership is from that place. I work a lot in the conference world, and my issues often arise there. I hear the whispers that men don’t. So, even though I’m at risk of sounding like a bad Cosmo article, I decided to write 7 Things Guys Need to Know about PEWs (Post-Evangelical Women). Basically, it’s the stuff we’re saying or dm’ing when you’re not there.

1) We were told to keep silent in church. Sometimes it was overt and other times it was subtle—a youth or Campus Crusade for Christ director buddies up with the cool football guys, takes them to lunch, and focuses on their leadership potential while the young women were left stranded. To go from “you must be silent” to finding your voice can be a long, arduous process. Continue Reading…

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