I do believe in hell. I just don’t believe in hell, the way most Christians, or the general public for that matter, does. I haven’t arrived at this understanding on my own. I didn’t imagine it or think it up myself. It’s not a belief I plotted and reasoned out myself. It was a view introduced to me by Christians in history and in the present. In other words, it’s not just wishful thinking or me picking and choosing which... Read more
Well, that was interesting. I realized when listening to passionate Trump supporters and Biden supporters, when both spoke of “landslides” and “blowouts” for their side, that it was probably going to be close. Even with the polls showing Biden to be doing well, I thought Trump could still win. Thus, I slowly exhale and breath. I relax, for now anyway. For me, it’s still a bittersweet moment. Am I happy Biden won? Of course. Still, how could it be this... Read more
I write this knowing every group, every segment of any religious, cultural, socio-political part of a national body has sown the wind, in their own peculiar ways. And the same for individuals, myself included. I don’t put myself outside the natural and spiritual laws of sowing and reaping. We all have debts coming due. We have all planted; a reaping and harvest await us all. I know that. Still. Please read Amos 5. Here is something that God communicates to... Read more
Disgraced evangelical leader, Jerry Falwell Jr., infamously noted in 2016 that we were not electing a “pastor” to the presidency, but a “commander” in chief. And many evangelical leaders have echoed that sentiment. Of course, they never did before Trump, but whatever. That’s just one aspect of the abject hypocrisy of 2016 on their part, so add it to the growing pot. Of course, the idea is we don’t want political leaders who would operate under the constraints of Christian... Read more
With the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court the topic of originalism is once again in the public conversation. It’s interesting to me that some in the Catholic academic legal community want to put some distance between themselves and Protestant fundamentalists when it comes to originalism. They try and do that here. And yet, it may prove difficult. There may, in fact, not be much distance between them and fundamentalists when it comes to this issue. See... Read more
I hear this all the time: “I’m tired of politicians. I want someone real, someone like me, someone from outside that world—I’m not voting for a politician.” I can understand, to an extent, those who are tired of “career politicians.” They’re tired of those who sound too polished, too smooth, and coached. They’re tired of people who don’t just “tell it like it is,” who are so balanced and cautious in their words, they offend no one and try to... Read more
I don’t normally engage other Patheos contributors, but sometimes, just for fun, I like any readers to experience my poor choices in real time. Consider this a work of translation with commentary. Here we go: “Progressives keep promising conservative evangelicals they’ll be our friends if only we stop harping on sex and serve people. The problem is that every time evangelicals try to serve people, progressives want to harp on sex.” Translation: We don’t see this as a discrimination issue,... Read more
Something I found growing up in the fundamentalist-evangelical world, was that having a closed mind was almost championed as a good thing. The more one knew about Scripture and the less one knew about “secular” literature, science, movies, music, popular culture, and philosophy, the more “spiritual” one was considered to be. Ignorance of things outside the Bible was often worn as a badge of honor. Looking back, I think, how very sad. Also, how very contrary to the Christian faith... Read more
(I wrote this at the height of the recent fires in Northern California) As I write this the landscape outside my window looks like some sort of dystopian hellscape of apocalyptic red and grey. Ash is falling. Smoke is in our nostrils. The sun is a blood orange orb floating in a sooty sky. One can easily glance at it due to the haze and smoke. And yet, I don’t want to as it looks like the all-seeing eye of... Read more
In my former life as an evangelical (really more a fundamentalist) I was always interested in the debate over eternal security and whether or not one could lose their salvation. Even at the age of 13 or so, I would read anything I could find regarding the Calvinist/Arminian debate. Yes, weird, I know (this may explain a lot about my childhood…). As an adult, and probably right before seminary, I became a fairly strident Calvinist. How, I wondered, was this not... Read more
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