Can I be honest with you? Every time a Christian responds to the numerous nonviolent teachings of Jesus by asking, “But what about … ?”, I cannot help but hear those objections as another way of asking: “What are the scenarios where I don’t have to obey Jesus?” In other words, if our posture as Christ-followers was genuinely focused on how to best follow his teachings, then we wouldn’t spend our time trying to discover situations where we wouldn’t have... Read more
The story of Creation and the origins of humanity are told in the book of Genesis, and throughout the unfolding narrative of the Bible. While I do not take these stories as literal anymore, I do find a fascinating sequence of events play out that I only just noticed recently. In the beginning, God is all alone prior to creating the universe. Once this is set in motion, however, we notice a few interesting details: God makes man in the... Read more
While I hesitate to bring any more attention to Skillet’s John Cooper than is absolutely necessary [and it’s almost never necessary], I felt the need to respond to something pretty awful he just said at a recent concert. As reported by Relevant Magazine, Cooper made statements about how Christians need to “declare war against this Deconstructing Christian Movement.” Now, it’s no secret that those in the Reformed, Evangelical Christian camp are getting pretty freaked out about Deconstruction these days. They... Read more
Just a few days ago I receive a private message from someone on Twitter asking me to explain what the Unforgivable Sin was all about and wondering if it was something they may have inadvertently committed. Unfortunately, this comes up all too often. People read about this, or possibly the other verse in the New Testament that talks about “sin that leads to death” and wonder if they have somehow crossed this imaginary line into the no man’s land where... Read more
JERUSALEM, 2022 – Archaeologists working in the same cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered made a startling find recently. For the first time in over 60 years, a new fragment of papyrus has been found that belongs with the original cache of ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts. “The discovery was quite accidental,” Dr. Amanda Hugenkiss, the Associate Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, told the Associated Press. “We were searching through the ‘Cave of Horrors’ [where the... Read more
The more I think about it, the more I find it strange that a religion so focused on being right has had such a long track record for getting it wrong. I mean, Christianity today has become so much about having the right information about God that it’s almost as if we’re all going to have to pass some Cosmic Theology exam to enter the pearly gates. Believe the wrong things about God – miss any questions on this test... Read more
Taking inspiration from my fellow Heretic and Apostate, Matthew Distefano’s post here on Patheos – “10 Things That Aren’t In Your Bible” – I decided to write a follow-up. So, here are 10 MORE things you won’t find your Bible: 1 The Father Turning His Face Away From Jesus On The Cross – Not only is there no verse that ever says this happened, the verse that some Christians believe does say it comes from a chapter [Psalms 22] which... Read more
The great philosopher Aristotle once said, “Time is the most unknown of all unknown things.” That was nearly 2,500 years ago, but it’s still as true today as it was then. Some of the smartest people on the planet can’t really explain what Time is, or how it works. What we believe about Time is that it’s a dimension and that it’s also a measurement. In other words, it can help us understand when something happens, or happened, and that... Read more
Today’s post is a very special one for me. First, because I get to share something with you that I wrote around 3 a.m. a few days ago that really felt like an “A-ha” moment for me. But, after I share that you need to stick around to see how that turned into something even more amazing just a few days later. So, here’s what I wrote a few days ago: Why can’t I stop thinking about God? Maybe because... Read more
It’s no secret that Evangelical Christians are terrified of the Deconstruction movement. First of all, they have no idea why it’s happening, and they have no clue how to stop it, and the best they can think of in response is to demonize the entire process, create strawmen arguments to counter it, and use as much fear and misinformation as possible to ensure the few people left in the pews don’t get too curious about it and start asking questions... Read more
