I am well aware, to the point of nausea, that the movement or institution or community so often called “church” has been a source of terrible suffering for many of my friends. Some experienced authentic spiritual abuse through stifling manipulation and control and others through marginalization or outright exclusion. I hear these stories regularly from both former and current church members as well as faithful leaders were mistreated by their congregants. It’s an ugly business that deserves careful attention until... Read more

I get it now. I see now the necessity of a cold and totalizing sovereignty to justify Infernalism that must finally deny “God is love” and redefine “Good” & “holy” & even “God” as beyond good & evil—as pure (sic) Will-to-Power. Nietzsche saw it: this is how God dies & how we killed him (Thus Spake Zarathustra). But the true sovereignty of infinite Love can never find its telos in eternal torment, for the river of fire that flows from... Read more

Covid-1 I have no medical assessments or advice to share. I’m a doctor, Jim, but not that kind. While some may be going stir-crazy, others suffer greatly and still others are working hard to flatten the curve. For my part, I will only ask a few questions for contemplation. Without minimizing how harsh this storm is—medically and financially—I’m pondering what social and spiritual fabric we might weave from the silver lining around these dark clouds. RESET QUESTION:WHICH NEW WAYS OF... Read more

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“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:6-8, 10 Embodied Worship Among the unknown losses I experienced as a young Protestant was embodied worship. While we would certainly deny that our theology was gnostic, in many ways our disembodied worship betrayed us. With the exception of camp “action choruses,” we worried that any bodily movement might become either too worldly (if it strayed too close to dance) or too religious (if it reminded us... Read more

Question How do we best harmonize the Bible’s ‘eschatological’ texts? Some described unmitigated judgment and permanent destruction for the majority of the human race, while other passages seem to announce the redemption of everyone in the end. How do we hold both descriptions together? Can we? Or are these really contradictory? Response   Yes, it’s true: those who pay very close attention to the actual words of Scripture note how difficult it is to reconcile its unmitigated judgment texts with... Read more

Question: How would you respond to the statement, “The spiritual realm is more real than the natural realm”? Response: I’ve thought about this type of statement a lot, having heard the statement in a variety of forms through the years. Similarly, the Catholic priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, once said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Both these statements affirm something important but invariably over-steer into a sort of... Read more

Question Hi Brad, I’ve run into a few guys that are saying that the Church Fathers were anti-Semitic. Consequently, they at least think the writings of the Church Fathers should be disregarded in what they had to say. There certainly was some anti-Semitism embedded in Christianity but it seems ill-advised to me to disregard the Church Father’s writings because of it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic if you can spare the time. Response Before I say... Read more