I love the song “Cuss a Little,” by Kylie Morgan. It’s about sin, hypocrisy, and authenticity. She says: I’m just human, buried in denial. I judge people, and I read the Bible. I’ve got tattoos but my body is a temple I love Jesus but I cuss just a little Each line of the song describes a standard of behavior upheld by conservative Christians. Next, the singer flips it on its head by saying she does something seemingly contradictory... Read more
Why do we worship God? Does God need to be worshipped? Throughout the Bible, people performed sacrifices and other acts of ritual worship. Today, Christians gather each Sunday for worship services. Here are four wrong reasons why some Christians think they ought to worship God (though most would never admit it): Mistaken Reasons to Worship Groveling Before God. Is our worship based on fear? Too often we model our worship after the way peasants might do obeisance to a king,... Read more
When Jesus said, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine (Matthew 7.6),” what did he mean? Christians often quote this phrase as a sideways insult, implying their own value and another person’s piggishness. Somehow believers think they can disparage each other and get away with it, just because they’re quoting Christ. When Jesus said this, did he intend it as an insult? Was he stroking the egos of his listeners, telling them that they were full of pearls of wisdom, compared... Read more
As a progressive Christian, I have deconstructed many things about my faith – but not my view of angels. For many Christians, religious deconstruction often results in a better understanding of theology but a regrettable loss of spirituality. But when you have a supernatural encounter like the one that I had, you know that spiritual reality is undeniable. I’m about to tell you a story that I’ve told very few people. It’s how I learned that even in the face... Read more
If you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he will have food for life. There’s a lot of truth in that aphorism. But if you try to teach a man to fish while his belly is empty, he’ll be too distracted to learn. It’s not either-or, but both-and. Biblical Law The Bible has a lot to say about humanitarianism. The Jewish law did not provide for a... Read more
Evangelical pastors look at me as if I’ve grown two heads when I say I don’t believe in church discipline. “How can you lead a church without church discipline?” they ask. I look at the ministry of Jesus, who never disciplined people, but discipled them instead. When you “Matthew 18 someone”, you bring them under Church control, as if it is your religious duty to enforce behavior modification. When you first “Corinthians 13 somebody”, you disciple them in love. If... Read more
How do you handle it when your relatives believe differently? Cain killed Abel because of a difference in their faith—but your religious differences don’t have to end in tragedy. Growing Up in His Shadow Two people could not have been more different in their faiths, even though we had the same beginnings. My older brother and I are twenty-two months apart, a good age gap to grow up as best friends and worst enemies. There were times when he was... Read more
The Church often uses internal discipline to cover up crime. Because the church believes itself a spiritual authority (rather than influence) in society, it oversteps it’s bounds with church discipline. So far in this series, I’ve talked about how Jesus’s words in Matthew 18 have been twisted into an excuse for spiritual bullying. We’ve seen how Paul’s pharisaical notion that church leaders should be God’s morality police. We’ve deconstructed the doctrine of spiritual covering that allows excommunication to be a... Read more
Recently, I saw a meme of a father wielding the Shield of Faith to protect his young children from the “gay rainbow” that streamed toward their bed like a weapon. His other arm wrapped around them, he holds the Bible as they read together. The message is clear: Parents need to protect their children from “the gay agenda.” Faith and the Bible (as interpreted by the conservative church) are the covering that will help them do this. Not only is... Read more
Are pastors supposed to function as God’s morality police? Is there a better way than trying to control people’s sins and modify their behavior? In part one of this series, we looked at how “Matthew eighteening” church members we view as sinners is an abuse of scripture and people. Another Bible passage that leaders use to justify their spiritual bullying is 1 Corinthians 5:1-11. Here, Paul rebukes the church for allowing sin in their midst. 1 Corinthians 5:1-11... Read more
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