The Absence of God: A Kinder, Gentler Hell?

Last updated on: January 12, 2015 at 6:20 am By John Shore

These days Christians rarely assert that hell is a place where people get burned alive. It’s become de rigueur for Christians to instead say that hell is “the absence of God.” We’ve all heard that a million times; Christians—especially of the emergent/leftist/progressive persuasion (my peeps!)—fairly love saying it. The idea is that existing outside of the presence of God is a kinder, gentler fate than is having one’s mortal body burned alive. The problem, though, is that the new Christian... Read more

Right-Wing Christians: 1, Leftist Christians: 0

Last updated on: July 7, 2011 at 11:30 am By John Shore

So early last week The Christian Left (website; blog; Facebook page) took out this Facebook ad: Yesterday Facebook sent TCL an email, which in part read: (more…) Read more

Obey Rob Bell In His Most Recent Sermon: Give It Up For Me

Last updated on: July 6, 2011 at 6:56 pm By John Shore

So today I got an email from HuffPo notifying me that they’d published my Time To Get Your Clark Kent On? So I went to look at it — and there I saw, in the little Twitter box HuffPo has right above the comments to any blog post, that @candicewilkins5 had tweeted: Loved hearing @realrobbell quote one of my faves @johnshore in last Sunday’s @marshillorg sermon …Woot woot! 🙂 (more…) Read more

“Gays Can Be Priests; But Marriage Should Be Between a Man and a Woman.”

Last updated on: July 6, 2011 at 9:23 am By John Shore

Below is an email I got in last week. I’m sharing it with you (with the writer’s permission, of course) because I think it so perfectly captures so much of what those who believe in full Christian acceptance of gays are up against. This woman reflects everything with which the historical Christian church has for so long been inculcating people that they now think it’s natural to their natures. And yet you can see that this woman feels profoundly uncomfortable... Read more

Time to Get Your Clark Kent On?

Last updated on: July 5, 2011 at 11:24 am By John Shore

As everyone knows, the newspaper industry certainly isn’t what it used to be. Print circulation numbers across the board are dramatically down; ad revenues have crashed. (more…) Read more

A coming out letter to her family

Last updated on: January 3, 2014 at 6:10 am By John Shore

A young woman has shared with me this letter to her family. What better day to share it than Independence Day? (more…) Read more

Gays and Hell: How Can God Break The Great Commandment?

Last updated on: July 1, 2011 at 7:18 am By John Shore

A sane Christian must admit that no one actually, in an objective sense, knows if there’s a hell, or knows how God feels about homosexuality. We can pretend that we know about either or both of those. We can certainly guess about them. But we cannot know about them. The Bible is open to an infinite number of perfectly legitimate interpretations. That’s one of the its great miracles: in so many ways, and about so many things, the Bible insists... Read more

Progressive Christians: It’s Awful to Waffle!

Last updated on: June 29, 2011 at 3:14 pm By John Shore

I like progressive Christians. They’re a fun bunch: witty, conversational, tending toward expressive body language. And they always have lots of wine they purchased at a reasonable price. What’s not to like? One thing it’s pretty easy for progressive Christians not to like, though, is, sadly, me. (more…) Read more

Why Did I Pray for Emily?

Last updated on: June 28, 2011 at 12:48 pm By John Shore

Dear Lord, please be with Emily during her operation. Please be with her doctors, and nurses, and everybody connected with her operation, and see that it all goes perfectly well, and that Emily is completely healed. That’s part of a prayer I said yesterday for the daughter of my dear friend Daren, who yesterday underwent some major orthopedic surgery. (more…) Read more

“I Came Out to My Evangelical Family. And Guess What?”

Last updated on: June 26, 2011 at 10:02 am By John Shore

On January 2 I received this email: John Shore, I’m not sure who you are or where you came from, but I’ve spent the morning reading your blogs and I’m compelled to say a very sincere “Thank you!” Your thoughts ring true to what I’ve always felt in my heart. (more…) Read more