Ending Christian Euphemisms: “Unbiblical”

October 20, 2009 By 79 Comments

In our attempt to exterminate Christian euphemisms from our vocabulary, Nathan nominated thusly:

“Unbiblical” when what the situation really is is
“I really, really DON’T like that” OR “I disagree” OR
“Your words challenge my deepest held idolatries posing as genuine
Christian faith.”

This euphemism seems to be more prevalent today than I remember it — or maybe I just ran into it less in the past. Of course, what it implies is that there is a consistent, reliable, and mutually agreed upon hermeneutic for a particular passage, or for the entire narrative arc of the Bible.

I ran into this at the Cornerstone Festival this summer, while on a panel discussing gays in the church. The two anti-gay members of the panel, both “ex-gays” who were affiliated with Exodus International, repeatedly stated that theirs was the “biblical” position, and that opposing views were “unbiblical.” They said this with no anger, and really no passion. It was said matter-of-factly, and simply, as though no counter-argument could possibly be summoned.

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Filed Under: bible, church, emergent church, random 79 Comments

Are Evangelicals (Slightly) Masochistic?

October 2, 2009 By 16 Comments

I was having a conversation with a friend about the evangelical interest in Jim Belcher’s book, Deep Church.  Jim’s written a good book, and I was happy to endorse it — albeit with the caveat that he and I disagree significantly on some theological issues like the nature of God and the nature of scripture.

masochism.jpgIn the book, Jim takes aim at the “traditional” church and the “emerging” church.  He offers a “third way” between the two, though any fair reader can see that he’s tougher on the emerging church than he is on the traditional church, and his third way leans significantly in the direction of traditional Reformed theology and worship.  Ignored are Catholic, Orthodox, Wesleyan, and Anabaptist visions of ecclesial life, and, as Jenell points out, women.

I don’t begrudge Jim any of those (except the ignoring of women) — he’s entirely entitled to his own opinions, and to publish them.  I wish him success.  And that wasn’t really even the point of my friend in our conversation.  Instead, he was intrigued that conservatives and Reformed folks would be so taken with Jim’s book when he’s pretty tough on them, too.

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Filed Under: bible, church, emergent church 16 Comments

Video Response: Natural Law, Gays, and the Church

August 18, 2009 By 24 Comments

Filed Under: bible, glbt, same sex marriage, theology 24 Comments

Video Response: Those Pesky Six Verses about Homosexuality

August 15, 2009 By 104 Comments

Filed Under: bible, glbt, same sex marriage 104 Comments

Me on Patheos on Gays

July 16, 2009 By 11 Comments

An interview with me on the issue of gays and the church just went live on the new interfaith website, Patheos.

Q: In a now famous post, you came to the conclusion that
GLBTQ folks can “live lives in accord with biblical Christianity” and
that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned by church and state.
Do you think this has given critics of the emerging church movement
another arrow in their sling?

A: Ha! “Famous” may be overstating it! Yes, surely this has caused
some conservative commentators to say, “See, I told you that the
emergent movement was just the newest form of liberalism.” But they
were going to say that anyway, no matter what we say. And it’s also no
surprise that they completely ignore it when I write something that
aligns with their own stances, like my recent affirmation of the
physical resurrection of Jesus. They go looking for what they want to
find, and, whaddya know, they find it!

They’ve also posted an essay I wrote for them on the same issue:

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Filed Under: bible, glbt, same sex marriage 11 Comments

Get a Deal on One of My Books

July 15, 2009 By

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Ask, Seek, Knock journeys through the prayers of the Bible and the history of the church and shows how you can use these prayers as your own.

Filed Under: bible, books, publishing

One Last Post on the Lectionary

June 4, 2009 By 6 Comments

More good comments under the second lectionary post (and here’s the first). So here are my concluding thoughts (for now).

When I began working as a pastor at Colonial Church in 1997, David Fisher had just introduced the Revised Common Lectionary as the general guide for preaching. I loved it, and here’s why: As the minister to youth and young adults, I got to preach a couple times a year — often the Sunday after Christmas or Easter.  The potholes that preaching youth pastors must avoid are many. For one, with so few opportunities to preach, one is often tempted to jam three or four sermons into one. Another is that, in a series-based homiletical environment, one is often squeezed in between two series that the senior pastor has planned, leaving the erstwhile youth pastor with the entire canon from which to choose.

So, the RCL helped me immensely, for it gave me guidance on what to preach, and it placed my sermon in the flow of the liturgical year. In some sense, it meant that the preacher was less important, since s/he was not choosing the text but being chosen by the text.

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Filed Under: bible, church 6 Comments

Praying the Bible – Praying with Paul

May 30, 2009 By 8 Comments

Paul’s pivotal life experience is referred to as the Calling of Paul or the Damascus Road Experience–the day Jesus confronted Paul. Luke recorded the original incident in Acts 9:

“Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?”

[Paul] said, “Who are you, Master?”

“I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down.”

(verses 4-5)

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Filed Under: bible, Prayer, spirituality 8 Comments

Praying the Bible – Praying with the Disciples

May 29, 2009 By 1 Comment

The next prayer we’ll investigate is straightforward enough, but the action the apostles took seems curious to us. Shortly after Jesus “was taken up and disappeared in a cloud” (Acts 1:9, technically called the Ascension), and some time before Pentecost, Peter persuaded the other disciples to replace Judas Iscariot, to return their number to twelve.

Peter quoted Psalm 109:8: “Give him a short life, and give his job to somebody else.” He went on to explain that the replacement needed to have been a part of the Jesus Movement from the beginning at Jesus’ baptism, through the years of Jesus’ ministry, to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension. The criteria seemed to have narrowed the choices down to two: Joseph Barsabbas, also called Justus, and Matthias. The disciples all apparently agree with Peter on the criteria, because they prayed,

You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way. (Acts 1:24-25)

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Filed Under: bible, Prayer, spirituality 1 Comment

Praying the Bible – Praying with Jesus

May 28, 2009 By 4 Comments

I can hardly imagine a person praying during his torture and execution. I find it even more difficult to imagine that person praying for his executors. But Jesus was no ordinary person.

He loved people to the end, and he prayed that his Father would forgive the people who killed him.

What an extraordinary accomplishment!

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Filed Under: bible, Prayer, spirituality 4 Comments