As more and more Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians insist on gathering in large crowds and move to defy Government guidelines on holding religious services, I can’t help but wonder if one of the byproducts of this Coronavirus pandemic will be a massive die-off of those Christians who still believe that their rights to worship are worth dying for, and putting others in jeopardy for. It’s also likely to whittle down the number of Christians who believe that praying “In Jesus... Read more
Back in 2017 I was in Nashville helping to co-host the Unconference with Richard Jacobson and Steve Simms. The night before I was supposed to share, I had a dream. Here’s what it was all about: I was sleeping soundly after our first Friday evening session at the Unconference in Nashville when I awakened from a dream. In the dream I saw myself speaking at the conference – something I was scheduled to do first thing on Saturday morning –... Read more
Today is Good Friday. This is the day that Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross. It’s also the day Jesus forgave everyone at once when he prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And it’s especially significant because it’s the day we celebrate the moment that the Father refused to turn away from his Son on the cross. That’s right. On Good Friday we celebrate the fact that God did not hide His face from... Read more
A few days ago someone asked a very good question in the Heresy After Hours group on Facebook: “For those of us who appreciate Richard Rohr’s thoughts on the Universal Christ (i.e., Christ being all in all, in everything, etc.), here’s a question I’ve been mulling over the past few weeks. If Christ is all (because what else could anything be?) can we also see the Christ in something like COVID-19?” Honestly, I’ve been thinking about this question ever since.... Read more
A few years ago I was having coffee with a friend of mine. He asked how our little house church was going. I let him know it was going great and asked about his group. What he said next really shifted my paradigms in a good way. He said, “Well, we’re all learning how to love God and love one another…” I nodded and sipped my coffee, but then he kept going and added this: “…and we’re all learning... Read more
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that I need other people. Human beings were created for community. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, the fact is you need people in your life to grow, learn, heal and thrive as a human being. None of us will ever survive alone. This is why solitary confinement is considered an effective form of torture. Because no matter who you are, you were created to experience human connections. So,... Read more
For most of my life I was told a lie about the Gospel of Jesus. It was only a few years ago that I heard the actual Gospel message of Jesus, and everything has changed since then. See, I was raised Southern Baptist. I was even licensed and ordained as a Minister of the Gospel and served in numerous Christian churches as a pastor at various levels. During that time I only knew the False Evangelical Gospel which went... Read more
I hear so many people saying they’re still trying to find their purpose in life. As if they need God to slip a message inside a fortune cookie or appear to them in a dream and anoint them for a specific mission that will accomplish something critical to God’s plan for the Universe. It doesn’t work that way. Not for anyone. Those who do say they’ve discovered their purpose in life didn’t hear any voices from heaven or receive an... Read more
Christians have a unique problem. We know some verses of scripture so well that we can’t see clearly what it really says. For example, the Lord’s Prayer. Even non-Christians I know can recite the words, “Our Father, who is in Heaven; Hallowed be your Name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…” etc. But repeating the words from memory isn’t the same as understanding what is... Read more
The way our media portrays the news about Coronavirus may be more dangerous than the actual virus, at the moment. In other words, the tone of fear that pervades every news story about this virus is creating more harm than the virus itself. For example: We read about the NBA shutting down all games, and the NCAA playing to empty stadiums; Disney closing their theme parks; certain states have shut down restaurants and bars; movie theaters are closing down,... Read more
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