The popularity of Colton Burpo’s story, called Heaven is For Real,, about experiencing heaven while undergoing surgery raises very mixed feelings for me. On its own, it’s a nice story. It presents a hopeful outlook of what happens to us after death, and there’s little in the short tome to get worked up about. But it’s a story. It’s an account retold by a pastor’s son while under heavy anesthesia, offering imagery of the afterlife that props up nearly every... Read more
My friend, Todd Rainwater, recently appeared on CNBC to talk about his and his father’s foundation, the Rainwater Foundation, and the work they are doing to help find cures for dementia-related illness. Todd’s father, Richard, suffers from a rare neurological disorder (explained in the clip), which spurred the family’s interest in not only helping him, but hopefully in finding cures for other illnesses such as Parkinson’s, Dementia and Alzheimer’s as well. Please take a quick look to learn more about... Read more
I was pretty sure my parents were insane when I was a kid. It never made any sense to me when they’d talk about how they’d rather have something bad happen to them instead of to me. Well folks, that makes three of us, I guess. Being the good little narcissist, I agreed that I didn’t want anything to happen to me, damn the consequences to anyone else. We all go through that developmental stage; some grow out of it... Read more
In honor of my new memoir, PregMANcy, coming out, my son (the subject of much of the book) decided he would like to share a newly discovered talent with a toy he recently bought. We’re pretty much oozing with pride. Read more
Two recent articles grabbed my attention, partly because they resonate quite a bit with the pieces I’ve written about Why Young Adults Leave Church. It’s also interesting to me that so many people seem to be talking about this at this particular time. Rachel Held Evans and I came out with some pieces at the same time, and then a similar story by Andrew Sullivan hit the cover of the April 9th issue of Newsweek. My wife, Amy, sent me... Read more
I didn’t see Tim Tebow’s Easter Sunday appearance in Texas. For one, it’s in Texas and I’m not. Plus I kind of have a standing gig on Sundays. But more than that, I was irked when I heard about the big event being planned on, of all days, Easter Sunday. For the most part, I admire Tim Tebow, even though I don’t agree with him theologically very much. He made one statement about getting back to what this country was... Read more
Not all of these have an Easter theme, but there are a few real gems in here. Bet you can figure out which ones on your own. Church Sign Epic Fails, Part Six Church sign epic fails, part five Church sign epic fails, part four Church sign epic fails, part three More church sign epic fails Church sign epic fails Read more
Personally, I think this is fantastic. For one, I hope it serves to normalize the Mormon/LDS faith for the rest of the world, much of which seems to perceive the religion as monolithic. Second, I hope it serves to help normalize LGBT identity for fellow Mormons. They’re gay, they’re Mormon, get used to it. These are all students at Brigham Young University, a predominantly LDS school. In coming out publicly, they are hoping to let others like them know that... Read more
Given the themes during Holy Week of death, suffering violence and, ultimately, resurrection, I thought I’d share an excerpt from my memoir, PregMANcy: A Dad, a Little Dude and a Due Date. It’s about witnessing the birth of my son, Mattias, which didn’t exactly go as we had hoped it would. Just goes to show that creation is a messy, sometimes ugly, process. Mattias: “I made a wish.” Christian: “For what?” Mattias: “For chicks.” -Mattias, 3 years, 6 months We... Read more
I’ve never liked the fact that we call the day on which we remember Jesus’ crucifixion “Good Friday.” What’s so good about it anyway? Personally I find the entirety of Holy Week – save for Easter – pretty depressing. Sure, the days are getting longer and things have started to grow all around us, but until Easter, the focus of the week is the suffering and death of an innocent man. It turns out that, although plenty of folks have... Read more
Christian Piatt
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