Are old names for God limiting your faith? Renaming God as “The Way” and “The Tao” can open new spiritual insights. Why Would You Want to Rename God? Recently, I rewatched Stuart Hazeldine’s movie The Shack (2017), based on Wm. Paul Young’s novel of the same name. In this amazing story, Mack feels God has abandoned him. Because of his childhood trauma and a recent devastating loss, he misunderstands God’s nature. Instead of a loving parent, he views God as... Read more
Jesus and Lao Tzu warn against good intentions like knowledge, wisdom, charity, and righteousness. They can go awry. Curious? Keep reading… Even the things that seem like virtues can sidetrack faithful people. Similar to the last verse of Lao Tzu’s writing, verse nineteen addresses people’s inclination to sacrifice the best on the altar of the good. The sage contrasts the seeming virtues of knowledge and wisdom with the simplicity he invites you to embrace. Next, he places charity, righteousness, and... Read more
What’s on your bucket list? In just a few days, I will achieve a lifelong goal and visit Mayan ruins. What do you want to do before you die? In the city where I work many businesses decorate the outer walls of their buildings with interesting murals. One has taken a different route, covering their parking lot-adjacent wall with a single writer’s prompt. The wall leaves lots of room for the public to fill in the blanks with chalk. The... Read more
I live on one side of the US/Canada border and work on the other. Because of my commute, people often ask about my border experience. I think about borders more than most people. I am an American, living in Canada. Growing up in the US South, I never thought anyone would call me a Yankee. But up here I get it a lot, mostly with good-natured ribbing. Honestly, though, I don’t see much difference from one country to the next.... Read more
Christians spend so much energy trying to live right! But are we exchanging the best for the good? What’s better than righteous living? Jesus and Lao Tzu agree: the best thing is to quit trying to live right. That’s because, when we try to live right, we trade perfection for mere performance. Verse eighteen of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching disturbs many Christians who believe they can cultivate godly virtue through rule-following. These scrupulous believers give up the best thing... Read more
Too often, people abandon spirituality because Christians give God a bad name. But renaming God can rescue a floundering faith. “God” Doesn’t Work for Everyone Unfortunately, God doesn’t work for everyone. What I mean is, that the word “God” doesn’t resonate with many people anymore. Each person who has given up on a traditional Judeo-Christian concept of God has their reasons. Some have suffered emotional abuse and physical violence in God’s name. For others, God is too tied together with... Read more
Recently, someone told me that Christianity needs a new holiness movement. I agreed with them—but I meant it differently than they did. Usually, when you hear the term “holiness movement,” you get the image of Pentecostal camp meetings with revival preachers calling people forward for salvation. Holiness, they say, involves turning from sin to avoid the fires of hell. It involves things like baptism (in water and/or the Holy Spirit’s fire), personal piety, modest attire, and abstention from all things... Read more
Many know that George Lucas based The Force in his Star Wars movies on the Tao. Yoda exemplifies Taoist teacher Lao Tzu’s leadership style. Like Yoda and Lao Tzu, Jesus teaches servant leadership. This is vastly different from many leaders you see today. Instead of putting themselves forward, servant leaders put others in the driver’s seat. Here’s what Lao Tzu has to say in the seventeenth verse of the Tao Te Ching: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Verse 17... Read more
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Trump claimed to be a god in his inauguration speech. Oh wait—I do, and he did! That’s a bold claim, I know. But read between the lines, and you’ll see there’s a lot that Trump isn’t telling you. One of those things is his claim to divine power. My last two articles examined Trump’s inaugural statements as they pertained to religion. My first article in the series, “Trump’s Inauguration Speech: Reading Between the... Read more
If you’re not careful, you might believe the religious rhetoric coming out of Donald Trump’s mouth. But what is he NOT telling you? In Donald Trump’s inaugural address, the President made nine statements pertaining to religion. My last article, “Trump’s Inauguration Speech: Reading Between the Li(n)es” examined the first three: “Give people back their faith” “One nation’s glorious destiny” “My life was saved for a reason” In this second of the series, I will look at three more statements the... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In