I’ve always found it strange that Christians in America act as if tax exemption were a God-Given right, or that it was somehow commanded in the Bible somewhere. The truth is quite the opposite. In Matthew 17: 24-27 a group of tax collectors asks Peter if Jesus pays taxes and his answer is, “yes, of course he does.” Here’s how the rest of that passage goes: When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you... Read more
SAYING 72: A man said to him, “Tell my brothers to divide my father’s possessions with me.” He said to him, “O man, who has made me a divider?” He turned to his disciples and said to them, “I am not a divider, am I?”
It has come to my attention that several people object to my conclusion that word “exomologeo” in the Greek should be translated as “gladly confess” in Philippians 2:10-11, as I have asserted in my previous article – HOW EVANGELICALS CHANGED THE BIBLE TO SUPPORT THEIR BELIEFS. In this post, I point out that most translations of this passage render the word as merely “confess,” leaving out the “gladly” part since it conflicts with their assumption that sinners will only confess... Read more
After working with over a hundred people who are deconstructing their faith over the last 4 years, I’ve noticed something I think needs to be called out. When former Evangelicals start to deconstruct their faith, they tend to go through a few stages. I’d say it’s fairly common that one of the first early stages is protection. This is where the person deconstructing experiences so much angst and mental/emotional/spiritual suffering as the result of deconstruction that they sincerely want to... Read more
SAYING 70 Jesus said, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” Here we have favored the translation
I have a friend who always challenges this assumption that God is Love every time someone mentions it. He’ll say something like “What if God isn’t love? What if God is Gratitude? Or something else?” I guess it’s a good question. Why do we think “God is Love” is a true statement? For many of us, as former Evangelical Christians, the answer is that “it says so in the 1 John 4:8 “Anyone who does not love does not know... Read more
A friend brought up the character Jacob from the Bible in conversation with me last week and it got me thinking about how this Biblical character provides the perfect object lesson for the religious mindset. First, we read that Jacob was blessed and chosen from birth to subvert his firstborn brother and obtain God’s favor. His own mother receives a prophetic sign that “the elder shall serve the younger.” But, in spite of this sign, Jacob and his mother conspire... Read more
SAYING 69: Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their heart; these are they who have known the Father in truth. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled.” Here, Jesus gives us two beatitudes to
SAYING 68 Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they should hate and persecute you. For they will not find the place [the Kingdom] where they would pursue you.” This saying seems to suggest that those who cannot see the Kingdom are the ones who
Earlier this week I published an episode of my solo podcast, SECOND CUP WITH KEITH, where I interviewed my friend, Lisa Martinez, about her family’s experiences working with International Justice Mission to help end the use of children as sex slaves and child labor in India. In our conversation, Lisa talked candidly about the very real factors that contribute to the use of children as cheap labor for American manufacturers, and as sexual slaves for [mostly] American sex tourists in... Read more
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